[pronut-hiv] Coconut oil and lipid enveloped viruses

[Judy Canahuati <jcanahuati@care.org>]

Coconut Oil and Lipid enveloped viruses???
Judy Canahuati


Dear all,

While looking at this website for information related to virgin coconut oil 
and hypothyroidism
http://www.coconut-info.com/links.htm , I came across the lauric.org's 
website. They have a human milk project that is attempting to do some research on the possibility that 
increasing  lauric and capric acid levels in human milk, may protect infants from MTCT. Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid that is rich in coconut oil.
http://www.lauric.org/milkproject.html 
http://www.lauric.org/protocol_a-0118_1.jpeg 

There is also a book on nutrients and HIV that I looked at. There is an excerpt from one of the chapters.

Also, browsing further I found the following:

Why a Human Milk Project? Human milk fat has a unique fatty acid 
composition. It is approximately 45 to 50 percent saturated, about 35 
percent monounsaturated and 15 to 20 percent polyunsaturated. Of the 
saturated fatty acids made in the mammary gland, up to 18 percent can be 
the antimicrobial fatty acids lauric acid and capric acid. These 
antimicrobial fatty acids give the infant protection against viruses such 
as HIV (when you click on this it goes to this page, which has information 
on what lipid coated viruses are inactivated by lauric acid) 
http://www.lauric.org/lcv.html and herpes, bacteria such as chlamydia and 
heliocobater, and protozoa such a giardia lamblia.
The levels of these antimicrobial fatty acids can be as low as 3 to 4 
percent, but as noted below, when lactating mothers are fed coconut fat, 
which is readily available food products that contain desiccated coconut, 
coconut milk, etc., the levels of lauric acid and capric acid increase 
significantly in the milk (see below for quote from study published in 1998 
in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition). This gives an important 
added benefit; the milk supply has increased amounts of the protective 
antimicrobials lauric acid and capric acid, which will give even greater 
protection to the infant.


Probable Levels of Lauric Acid Required For Antimicrobial Effect Based on the amount of lauric acid found in human milk, which is known to be effective in its role as an antimicrobial component for the infant, the 
percent of calories that would be appropriate can be determined. For example, human milk provides at least 3.5% of calories as lauric acid for the human infant. Mature human milk has been noted to have up to 12% of the 
total fat as lauric acid (approximately 6.6% of calories. The upper end of this range represents approximately twice the amount of calories as lauric acid (i.e., 7% of calories) as does the minimum. When developing lauric-rich diets for adults, one can use this range as the starting point for calculating the amount of lauric fat to be consumed. 
Based on the upper end of the range, we see that this would entail providing an adult consuming 3000 kilocalories a day with 52 grams of coconut oil (approximately 24 grams of lauric acid). This could be accomplished by use, for example, of two 250 ml cans of a calorically dense enteral formula (e.g., Carnation Nutren 2.0) if that product was made with full coconut oil. As it is, that product is made with MCT oil and corn oil and provides no lauric acid.

Lauric acid-rich diets can be developed readily for infants and children. 
For infants, a formula made with coconut oil that supplies at least 7% of 
the calories as lauric acid would be needed. When infants progress to solid 
food, these foods can be enriched with added coconut oil. Cereals and 
strained baby foods make ideal bases for 2-5 gram additions coconut oil 
(0.5-1.0 teaspoons). This would add approximately 1-2 grams of lauric acid. 
Children can utilize the same protocol as outlined for adults with 
alterations in the portions of food depending on the caloric needs of the child


Does anyone know anything about this?

Judy
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