Ray Peat on coconut oil

January 3, 2026

Weight loss through increased calorie intake with coconut oil

"I noticed that I was losing weight even though I was consuming more calories than usual, because I added about an ounce of coconut oil to my usual diet. After several months, my weight stabilized at about 15 pounds below my normal weight of the previous 26 years."

Nutrition for Women

The benefits of coconut oil for thyroid and health

"The easily oxidizable short- and medium-chain saturated fatty acids in coconut oil provide an energy source that protects our tissues from the toxic, inhibitory effects of unsaturated fatty acids and reduces their thyroid-suppressing effects. Animal studies over the last 60 years suggest that these effects also offer protection against cancer, heart disease, and premature aging. Other anticipated effects include protection against excessive blood clotting, protection of the fetal brain, protection against various stress-related problems including epilepsy, and some degree of protection against sun-damaging effects on the skin."

Nutrition for Women

Coconut oil, thyroid function and weight management

"While the use of coconut oil makes it possible to go longer without food, as its thyroid-boosting effect increases the liver's ability to store glycogen, frequent small meals are still important to help with weight loss or to prevent weight gain."

Nutrition for Women

Medium-chain fatty acids and fat synthesis in the liver

"Medium-chain fatty acids, which are found in coconut oil, are effective in switching off fat synthesis in the liver."

Nutrition for Women

Thyroid hormone and fatty acids in the activation of respiratory enzymes

"Thyroid hormone, palmitic acid, and light activate a crucial respiratory enzyme and suppress the formation of lactic acid. Palmitic acid is found in coconut oil and is naturally produced in animal tissues. Unsaturated oils have the opposite effect."

July 2000

Non-toxic therapies for the treatment of lactic acidosis

"Therapeutically, even potent toxins that block glycolytic enzymes can improve function in a variety of organic disorders associated with (or caused by) excessive lactic acid production. Unfortunately, the toxin that has become the standard treatment for lactic acidosis—dichloroacetic acid—is carcinogenic and leads to liver damage and acidosis in the long term. However, several non-toxic therapies can achieve the same effects: palmitate (formed from sugar under the influence of thyroid hormone and found in coconut oil), vitamin B1, biotin, lipoic acid, carbon dioxide, thyroid hormone, naloxone, and acetazolamide, for example."

July 2000 – (1)

Comprehensive list of protective foodborne chemicals

“A complete list of protective dietary chemicals, as well as natural medicines or analogs of our endogenous protective factors, would be very long, but we should pay special attention to some. These include succinic acid, which stimulates respiration and protective steroid synthesis; thyroid hormone and vitamin E, which promote normal oxidation while preventing abnormal oxidation; magnesium; sodium and lithium, which help us retain magnesium; tropical fruits containing GHB; coconut oil, which protects against cardiac necrosis, lipid peroxidation, hypothyroidism, hypoglycemia, and histamine damage; Valium agonists, natural antihistamines; adenosine and uridine. Stays at higher altitudes, as well as exposure to bright, long-wavelength light, can cause the body to optimize its own anti-stress chemistry. Avoiding the feeling of being trapped is a high-level adaptive factor.”

June 1992 - Ray Peat's Newsletter

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