Purposeful Primitive Online

The following is to be used for informational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice.  The information below and any related correspondence does not imply a physician/patient relationship with the author.  Please consult your personal physician for your medical care and/or before beginning any exercise or nutrition program.  Dr. Hardy’s opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Johns Hopkins University or the U.S. Navy.

MCTs, Coconut Oil and the “Lipid of Choice”

An ongoing nutritional conversation between Marty Gallagher and Dr. Chris Hardy

Marty Gallagher: Let’s talk further about the highly contentious topic of lipids, nutritional fat, and how much of it should be allowed into the diet of the serious fitness devotee. The subject of nutritional fat is difficult: I think it akin to walking through a minefield blindfolded; saturated fat is demonized and regarded with the same approximate distain society normally reserves for child molesters. Yet as you know from your medical research, and as I know from my hundreds of interviews with competitive bodybuilders, (the world’s most effective and sophisticated dieters) not all fats are bad and not all fats are created equal.

Dr. Chris Hardy: Right you are. There is one classification of nutritionally-derived lipids that is downright beneficial. Medium-chain Triglycerides are a type of saturated fat that provides the caloric density of a fat without any detrimental effects. When MCTs are consumed, they are carried directly to the portal vein and then onto the liver. MCTs do not require digestive enzymes that other fats require, such as pancreatic lipase. MCTs follow a completely different digestive journey. Conventional fats, long-chain triglycerides, are digested in a competently different fashion then MCTs.

MG: It is my understanding that MCTs are used for energy and are virtually impossible to end up as stored body fat – I would assume this is due to their molecular makeup.

Dr. Chris Hardy: Exactly. MCTs travel directly to the portal vein after intestinal absorption and are then transported to the liver where they are preferentially used and used rapidly – for energy. Scientific studies have shown that MCTs are absorbed and utilized with the same rapidity as sugar.

MG: This seems profound: MCTs are not preferentially partitioned into fat storage as are convention LCT fat. MCTs are burned rapidly; ergo, the serious fitness adherent could supplement with MCTs and derive the caloric advantages of nutrient-dense fat, 8.7 calories per gram without penalty. The studied use of MCTs sets up all kinds of interesting dietary possibilities…we know that calories establish anabolism and we know that calories accelerate recovery from brutally hard training.

Dr. Chris Hardy: MCTs bypass the lipoprotein cycle more commonly known as the cholesterol cycle. The lipoprotein cycle is how normal fats are transported within the human body along with cholesterol. Long-chain Triglycerides must travel through the lymphatic system to systemic circulation and eventually reach the liver.

MG: MCTs avoid all this and are allowed to use a shortcut to the liver…

Dr. Chris Hardy: MCTs bypass the lipoprotein cycle altogether and because of their unique processing within the body, MCTs won’t to end up deposited in bodily fat depots. The news gets even better: if your MCT source is coconut oil, the specific 12-carbon MCT called lauric acid has tremendous anti-microbial properties that helps fight infection from viruses and bacteria. Lauric acid is broken down into a monoglyceride after starting off as a triglyceride; two of the fatty acids are cleaved off leaving a glycerol backbone and a 12 carbon fatty acid. In this final stage it is known as Monolaurin. Monolaurin actually interferes with the membranes of bacteria and lipid coat of certain viruses. Dozens of studies have shown how monolaurin has a demonstrated ability to fight infection.

MG: I have a lot of experience and exposure to MCTs through my long association with John Parrillo at Parrillo Performance. John uses MCTs in his pre-contest preparation of competitive bodybuilders. Parrillo has touted the benefits of MCTs for twenty years. John has been way ahead of the crowd and the curve and remains the lone voice in the bodybuilding world championing MCTs. What is your MCT of choice? I love Native Forrest Organic coconut milk – one 13.5 ounce supplies a breathtaking 700 calories. I will drink the whole thing after a particularly brutal workout, using the straight coconut milk as a post-workout replenishment smart-bomb.

Dr. Chris Hardy: I love coconut milk. My wife and I use coconut oil for cooking; you would think that the taste of coconut would infuse every food sautéed with a heavy coconut taste, but that is not the case. You can go to the gourmet or health section of your local grocery store and purchase this amazing cooking oil. Use it as you would olive oil or any other cooking lipid. Coconut oil stays solid up to 73 degrees and has a high smoke point, 365 degree, making it ideal for sautéing or frying foods.

MG: Since you turned me on to it, Stacy and I have become coconut oil fanatics; we use two lipids, extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil. Coconut oil is ideal for sautéing vegetables: one favored winter vegetable is thinly sliced carrots sautéed in coconut oil. I use a handheld slicer to create long thick carrot strips that I sauté in the hot coconut oil to which I add curry powder and hot chili flakes. This makes a fiber vegetable dish that is delicious to the point of being addictive.

Dr. Chris Hardy: 90% of coconut oil is saturated fat and the remaining 10% is derived from polyunsaturated fat. 2/3^rds of the saturated fat found in coconut oil is medium-chain triglyceride and remaining 1/3^rd is long-chain triglyceride. Now not to get too crazy with the nutritional percentiles, but 50% of the overall fat contained in coconut oil is comprised of the profoundly beneficial Lauric Acid.

I find it fascinating that competitive bodybuilders use MCT oil. When it comes to favorably manipulating body composition, these guys seem to be way ahead of the curve. They have used their collective empirical data, their results, to sculpt their approach. Most bodybuilding diet strategies I have come across indicate that they subscribe to the high protein/high carb/low fat orthodoxy.

MG: They have definitely arrived at a collective consensus on how to shave off body fat while retaining muscle mass. If I were to encapsulate this articulated consensus into a short sound bite it would be this: competitive bodybuilders train all the time. They hit the weights 4-6 times a week and they perform cardio every day and twice a day leading up to competition. Parrillo found that his fleet of bodybuilders recovered from all this pounding far faster when they ingested copious amounts of MCT oil. His product is a coconut based liquid called CapTri. Under Parrillo’s supervision, his bodybuilder use MCTs for two distinct and diametrically opposed purposes: in the competitive “off season” MCTS are used to boost calories. The off season goal is to become as massive as possible – while adding a bare minimum of body fat. MCTs are ideal for this purpose. Empirical experience shows that very little body fat is accumulated as long as they stick to his strict dietary parameters (high protein, high fiber and moderate starch) and supplement with MCTs. Typically a competitive bodybuilder seeking muscle mass sprinkles 2 to 4 tablespoons of MCT oil onto each of their half dozen daily mini-meals. That adds up. It is nothing for these men to add an extra 1000 to 1500 calories a day, strictly through MCT supplementation. The beauty of it was they didn’t have to cook and eat each bite.

During the competitive in-season, the classical bodybuilding diet is to keep the protein intake high, keep the green fibrous vegetable intake high and gradually reduce the amount of starch carbs as the event draws closer. Over the last 2-3 weeks they live on lean protein, fiber and MCTs. This allows them to get ripped while retaining hard-earned muscle mass.  If they were to pull the starch carbs out of the diet without replacing the “lost” starch calories with MCT calories, muscles would deflate and strength and energy would plummet.  The solution is to replace starch calories with MCT calories. Handled properly, the bodybuilder retains 95% of off-season mass and competes carrying a sub 5% body fat percentile. Parrillo has used this procedure on thousands of competitive bodybuilders over the past 33 years.

Dr. Chris Hardy: This is clever: they keep the caloric intake high through MCT supplementation and by not starving themselves – as most people would naturally do in order to become as lean as possible they maintain muscle while melting away excess body fat. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue requiring calories to exist.

MG: On the downside bodybuilders pay scant attention to the quality of the proteins they consume. They are addicted to the boneless, skinless chicken breast taken from concentration camp animals. That the bodybuilding diet works is beyond dispute.

Dr. Chris Hardy: Since you brought up the subject of fiber, and we are speaking about triglycerides, let’s talk about butyric acid. This is a short-chain triglyceride (SCT) that is produced by commensal gut bacteria from dietary fiber…such as cellulose and pectin.  This fiber is not digestible without the help of our “natural flora” of colonic bacteria. This symbiotic system has been around so long that our modern colons use butyric acid as a primary energy source. Butyric acid also decreases intestinal permeability (a problem in inflammatory bowel diseases) and is anti-inflammatory with anti-cancer properties.  It is interesting that the richest food source of this beneficial SCT is real butter (from grass-fed animals) and good butter is 3-4% butyrate.  Butyrate is reason to find a good source of butter from grass-fed animals. Eat your vegetables!

MG: Here’s another technical question: fat cannot cause insulin to spike – correct?

Dr. Chris Hardy: There exists a biochemical phenomenon that people should be made aware of: fat eaten with protein or fat eaten alone doesn’t cause a significant spike in insulin to occur. Fat alone is typically insulin-neutral, while protein alone will increase insulin secretion somewhat – but this spike is balanced by glucagon. For whatever reason, when fat is eaten with a starchy carbohydrate, a massive insulin spike occurs, even greater than just the carbohydrate alone. We’re not really sure why it is synergistic in this manner.

MG: So never eat a starchy carbohydrate with a saturated fat.

Dr. Chris Hardy: A good rule of thumb is to avoid eating fat in the setting of an insulin spike (starchy carbs). Insulin promotes fat synthesis and storage. Here’s another tip: it is advantageous to eat vegetables with a fat. Fat-soluble vitamins in vegetables will be absorbed by the body with far greater efficiency when eaten with fat.  Here’s a great idea, have your vegetables with some butter!

MG: So eating fiber vegetables is a good excuse to load up on butter….

Dr. Chris Hardy: Yes indeed.

MG: Well that’s good news for all the real men out there.

Want more?

Anyone interested in phone training with Marty Gallagher can contact him at mgso@embarqmail.com