Coconut oil won't kill good bacteria

Some of us are nervous about taking natural antifungals that may kill our good bacteria as well as Candida. After all, killing our bowel bacteria with Antibiotics is what caused candidiasis for most of us.

I have spent the afternoon reviewing coconut oil, and I'm now satisfied that there is very little risk of it killing significant numbers of good bacteria.

The antibacterial components of coconut oil are lauric acid (47.5%), caprylic acid (7.8%) and capric acid (6.7%).

So you can see that lauric acid is by far the main antibacterial. The comforting thing about lauric acid is that it is a significant fat component in human breast milk (6.2% of total fats). Presumably part of its function is to provide protection to the baby from harmful bacteria (and other pathogens). So, one would expect that lauric acid will have a heavy bias towards killing bad bacteria compared to good bacteria. Certainly this is the case with lactoferrin, another antibacterial prominent in breast milk. Capric acid is also present in human breast milk (around 1% of total fats).

Caprylic acid is the only antibacterial which may kill bacteria indiscriminantly (good and bad alike). This is because it is not present in human breast milk in significant amounts. However caprylic acid is very easily digested. In fact most is digested/absorbed in the stomach and upper small intestine. Very little caprylic acid from coconut oil reaches the terminal section of the ileum, where most of the small intestinal bacteria reside. In fact if you have lots of bacteria in your stomach, duodenum or jejunum (SIBO), then it is a good thing if caprylic acid reduces their numbers.

Oils are normally digested in the stomach and small intestine, so none of the antibacterials in coconut oil should kill any bacteria in the large bowel, where 99% of your bacteria are located.

So, I'm pretty relaxed about using coconut oil now. It has lots of health benefits, including killing Candida in the stomach and upper small intestine.

It has also made me a lot more interested in the product Lauricidin (monolaurin), which is another way to benefit from the antimicrobial actions of lauric acid.