Known for years for its various healing and health-giving properties, virgin coconut oil, as one of its proponents asserts, is also said to be effective in boosting one’s immunity against COVID-19, reducing its severity and speeding up recovery among those already infected.
By Reggie Abang
If you pay close attention to The Smokey Mountain’s “Da Coconut Nut” from start to finish, you will notice that the novelty song enumerates the versatility and various benefits derived from the coconut tree, from its fruit which, as the song reiterates, is technically not a nut to its roots.
And with more recent technological advances, we can now add virgin coconut oil (VCO) to the list of products that come from the “Tree of Life,” thanks to the efforts of the father-and-son tandem of Drs. Conrado and Fabian Dayrit.
“The Miracle Oil”
A clear edible oil produced after extracting it from the coconut kernel without the aid of chemicals, VCO, according to the Food and Drugs Authority, has saturated medium-chain fatty acids and has a prolonged shelf life due to its antioxidants.
Like the fruit it came from, VCO has its uses – as a moisturizer, an ingredient for dishes and drinks, or as a supplement.
Once consumed in any form, virgin coconut oil is touted to regulate appetite and blood sugar levels, boosts the immune system, keeps the skin hydrated and protects hair from damage.
These benefits are the fruits of research that the late Dr. Conrado Dayrit did in his lifetime, which gave him the title “Father of Virgin Coconut Oil.”
His son, Fabian, a chemist, whose interest was first sparked because of his old man’s scientific papers on lagundi, continued his work and eventually focused on its potential capabilities of combatting the COVID-19 pandemic.
A “clear” solution
In an interview with PeopleAsia, Dayrit, a Men Who Matter 2022 awardee, recalled that he dug up his pile of notes filled with 20 years’ worth of research about the product when the coronavirus outbreak started in 2020.
“When there’s an emergency, you can’t start studying whatever that emergency might be. You use what you already know,” Dayrit said.
He then used the same research papers that he and his father wrote to conduct a study on the efficacy of VCO as a medicine against Covid-19.
In his research, Fabian proved that the compounds inside it could decrease the coronavirus count by up to 60 to 90 percent when there is a low viral load. It also highlighted VCO’s ability to boost one’s immunity against the virus.
The research was followed by clinical trials, both locally and internationally. During the first year of the pandemic, a case study conducted in Singapore showed that virgin coconut oil normalized the C-Reactive Protein (CRP) to equal to or less than five milligrams, resulting in the virus’ reduced severity and sped-up recovery of patients experiencing mild to moderate symptoms.
These are the same findings that the Department of Science and Technology-Food and Nutrition Research Institute (DOST-FNRI) provided in their community-based clinical trials in Santa Rosa, Laguna, and Valenzuela City after giving their participants food mixed with VCO. Only in their case, it takes up to two weeks for them to recover.
“It works, but you should take it early when you start feeling the symptoms. It’s even better if you take virgin coconut oil with or without symptoms,” Dayrit asserts.
