Todd,

I don't know too much about coconut oil specifically.  I'm going to
research it further.  I got the idea that it was beneficial from Ray Peat,
by downloading an article he wrote from:

http://garcia.efn.org/~raypeat/nutri.html

I don't have time right now to reread the article or look up more, so I'll
try to do that tonight.

John Pavao

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Somebody recently posted a message here to the effect that
coconut oil is a good source of beneficial stearic acid.  This is
incorrect.  Coconut oil is a poor source of stearic acid,
compared to beef tallow, for example.  On the other hand, coconut
oil is very high in lauric acid, which is one of the saturated
fats known to elevate LDL cholesterol (the other is myristic
acid).  This is why coconut oil is often used in animal studies
precisely to raise cholesterol.

It is true that coconut oil is very resistant to oxidation,
because of its high concentration of saturated fats, but in my
opinion this is not sufficient to consider it safe.