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In the islands of the Pacific it is a tradition first thing in the morning to lather coconut oil over the entire body. It is a daily ritual that starts the day a child is born and continues into adulthood and throughout life. Through generations of use, these people have discovered the many benefits of using coconut oil on their skin and do it religiously.

Applied topically, the oil softens the skin, protects it from the burning rays of the tropical sun, helps ward off mosquitoes and other insects, kills potentially harmful skin fungus and bacteria, helps prevent warts, moles, and other blemishes, and preserves underlying tissues maintaining a youthful, healthy appearance.

Research is now verifying many of the health benefits of coconut oil that islanders have known about for thousands of years. The antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties of the medium chain fatty acids that make up coconut oil are well documented in the medical literature. This characteristic of coconut oil has made it popular among indigenous peoples as an ointment for treating superficial wounds and skin infections. In an era before Antibiotics , coconut oil was the remedy of choice. It is still useful for this purpose.

Coconut oil applied to the skin helps to keep disease-causing skin infections at bay. Acne which is one of the plagues of modern civilization, is unheard of among the islanders who use coconut oil every day. Acne vulgaris (the official term for acne) is a skin disease that is most common during adolescence, afflicting more than 85 percent of teenagers in the United States. Acne is an inflammatory infection caused by the bacterium Propionibacterium acnes which colonizes the hair follicles and feeds on the natural oils (sebum) of the skin. Besides acne, the overgrowth of P. acnes in humans can cause many other diseases such as endocarditis and toxic shock syndrome.

Antimicrobial agents and Antibiotics have been used to treat acne for several decades and are still widely prescribed for this condition. Benzoyl peroxide (BPO) has been one of the most frequently used medications for treating patients suffering from mild to moderate acne. However, several side effects have been reported including redness, inflammation, scaling, and burning. In The Journal of Investigative Dermatology a study was published that showed that lauric acid, the primary fatty acid in coconut oil, demonstrated antimicrobial activity that was 15 times stronger than BPO, while not inducing any unpleasant side effects.1

Acne is often associated with oily skin. Since P. acnes feeds on the oil, the more oil produced, the greater the risk of infection. Some doctors may recommend eating less fatty foods in the belief that this will reduce sebum production. But reducing fat intake has little effect on the skin's production of sebum. Putting more oil on the skin seems counterintuitive. The medium chain fatty acids in coconut oil, like lauric acid, kill P. acnes.

After washing your face, put a thin layer of oil on the infected area once or twice daily. Some people notice an immediate improvement. Others have a lot of infection deep in their skin and acne may flare up for a week or two, before dying down and clearing up.

"Coconut oil has changed my life!" says A. G. "I had red, oily, sensitive acne prone skin with large pores for a long time. After two months of using coconut oil on my skin I cannot believe the change. I feel like I have new skin! My skin has undergone such a transformation that it is hard to believe. No more makeup to cove the redness and acne, no more expensive skin products, just healthy coconut oil!"

In a study published in the journal Dermatitis, coconut oil was shown to be effective in treating eczema, which is commonly infected by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Coconut oil was able to eliminate the infection in 19 out of 20 patients, and in the process sooth and moisten the otherwise dry, flaky skin.2

parasites are also vanquished with the use of coconut oil. Head lice are a common cause of infection in many parts of the world. Lice are tiny parasites that usually infect the scalp. Children are most susceptible. The most widely used medication is permethrin lotion—a neurotoxic drug. In a clinical trial published in the European Journal of Pediatrics a coconut oil based spray was shown to be "significantly more effective" than permethrin and considerably less toxic to the patient. The study involved 100 patients with active lice infections. The coconut oil spray cured 82 percent of the patients as opposed to 42 percent using permethrin.3

Coconut oil is an excellent wound healer. The primary purpose of most ointments used to treat wounds is to prevent infection. Coconut oil not only prevents infection but can sooth the injury and alleviate further injury whether it is topical or systemic. A study published in the journal Pharmaceutical Biology demonstrated that coconut oil possesses anti-inflammatory, analgesic (pain reducing), and antipyretic (fever reducing) properties.4

All of these properties make coconut oil a useful aid in relieving skin rashes, eczema, Psoriasis and similar conditions. "I was desperate to find something to help my son Jayden's severe atopic eczema (also diagnosed with dermographia/urticaria)," says Heidi Carolan. "After months of trying the creams given to me by doctors, nothing worked. Many of the creams seemed to make the condition even worse! Apparently, he is sensitive to some of the chemicals in the creams. Every week the doctor would give him another cream, followed by an angry reaction of weeping and inflammation that would eventually scab over. The following week the doctor would prescribe yet another cream and the cycle would happen all over again!

"Since the medicines didn't work, I began searching for something natural, without harmful chemicals, to treat his skin condition. I found information about organic virgin coconut oil and decided to give it a try. To my amazement, after using it for only a short time, his skin showed a huge improvement! After months of failure, virgin coconut oil is the only thing that has worked for him. I have been using it on him every day since and am please with the results. His skin is now normal again." See Jayden's before and after pictures.

Coconut oil has long been used as a topical ointment for treating cuts, burns, and other wounds. It speeds up tissue repair and shortens recovery time after an injury. A study published in Skin Pharmacology and Physiology evaluated the effect of the topical application of virgin coconut oil on wound healing in young rats. Treating the wounds with coconut oil dramatically improved the rate at which wounds healed by stimulating collagen production, skin regeneration, and the growth of new blood vessels in the injured tissue. Antioxidant status was also higher in the coconut oil treated skin.5
"My first encounter with a sea urchin, was a painful one," says Bernard Adeline. "I was about 14 years old and lived on the Seychelles Islands off the coast of central Africa. I was walking along the beach. As a kid I was always curious and would pick up seashells and bring them along with me. This day as I was wading in the shallow water, my curious foot felt its way deep in the sand only to land right on top of a hidden sea urchin. The urchin's spines shot deep into the bottom of my right foot. At first, I thought I had stabbed my foot on some sharp shells. I limped out of the water and up onto the beach. Before I got to too far I could feel a stinging sensation in my foot and the pain grew more intense. I sat down on the beach and examined the wound.

I had nine black punctures peppered under my foot. The urchin had hit the jackpot on me. The local fishermen who were around and handling their fishing nets came to look and told me that it would heal eventually. Nevertheless, they took some coconut husk from around the trees and one of them had some coconut oil in the boat, they rubbed my foot with the oil and then took a lighter and lit the husk. They then applied the flame to my foot! I felt that I was on fire, but slowly the needles melted away. The only ones left were buried in the deeper punctures. The coconut oil apparently protected the bottom of my foot from the flames of the fire because there was no blistering or ill effect from the ordeal. The oil may have also have had an antiseptic effect as well because there was never any infection afterwards. It was very painful but I chose to suck it up without showing too much emotion. When I got home I soaked it with hot water. It hurt for about 15 minutes followed by some mild stinging for about 2 hours and then the pain slowly vanished. For three days I was still hobbling around with tiny black dots still visible in my foot. I tried to use tweezers to remove the spines but was unable to get a single one out. After a week the pain was gone and the black dots vanished. I believe coconut oil was essential in my recovery."

The higher antioxidant status in the skin after coconut oil treatment is important because antioxidants protect the skin from destructive free radicals in the body and the environment. Free radicals are generated by such things as paints, varnishes, lacquer, formaldehyde (common in bedding, drapes, rugs, etc.), detergents, cosmetics, solvents, smog, bacteria, viruses, fungi, cuts and abrasions, X rays, and ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Dry, cracked, rough, sagging, and wrinkled skin are signs of free-radical damage to the collagen underlying and supporting the skin. The greater your exposure to free radicals, the more damage your skin receives and the older it looks. Antioxidants block the destructive action of free radicals. Coconut oil protects the skin from free radicals and preserves antioxidant status, thus preventing the effects of premature aging.

Coconut oil is perhaps the best treatment for rough, dry, scaly, itchy skin. It works like a skin tonic, moisturizing the skin, making it smooth, soft, and youthful looking. Just using the oil for a few days can demonstrate its effectiveness. This was actually demonstrated in a double-blind controlled study published in the journal Dermatitis. The study was conducted on 34 patients with xerosis—the medical term for dry, scaly skin. The researchers reported that the patients showed "significant improvement in skin hydration and increase in skin surface lipid levels."6

The best time to apply coconut oil is after taking a bath. Bathing washes off the skins' natural protective layer of oils and leaves it vulnerable to infection and injury. A thin coat of coconut oil will quickly restore this protective coat. Don't use too much, just enough to lightly dampen the skin. The oil should soak into the skin within a few minutes. If it isn't absorbed after 5-10 minutes you've applied too much. Any excess can be wiped off so it doesn't get onto your clothing.

Exceptionally dry or flaky skin will benefit from repeated applications. If possible, apply at least twice a day. For cuts, burns, abrasions, insect bites, and other injuries, apply coconut oil more often, ideally soak a bandage and keep the oil in contact with the injured tissue 12-24 hours a day until healed. The longer the coconut oil can remain in contact with the skin, the faster the healing.

References

1. Nakatsuji, T., et al. Antimicrobial property of lauric acid against Propionibacterium acnes: its therapeutic potential for inflammatory acne vulgaris. J Invest Dermatol 2009;129:2480-2488.

2. Verallo-Rowell, V.M., et al. Novel antibacterial and emollient effects of coconut and virgin olive oils in adult atopic dermatitis. Dermatitis 2008;19:308-315.

3 .Burgess, I.F., et al. Clinical trial showing superiority of a coconut and anise spray over permethrin 0.43% lotion for head louse infestation, ISRCTN96469780. Eur J Pediatr 2010;169:55-62.

4. Intahphuak, S., et al. Anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and antipyretic activities of virgin coconut oil. Pharm Biol 2010;48:151-157.

5. Nevin, K.G. and Rajamohan, T. Effect of topical application of virgin coconut oil on skin components and antioxidant status during dermal wound healing in young rats. Skin Pharmacol Physiol 2010;23:290-297.

6. Agero, A.L. and Verallo-Rowell, V.M. A randomized double-blind controlled trial comparing extra virgin coconut oil with mineral oil as a moisturizer for mild to moderate xerosis. Dermatitis 2004;15:109-116.

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Copyright © 2011, Bruce Fife. All rights reserved.

 

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