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How coconut oil got a reputation for being healthy in the first place

That coconut oil has more saturated fat than butter or lard has been known for decades — so why did it get a reputation as a health food?
Source: Janice Newell Bissex & LIz Weiss/Creative Commons

The news rocketed around the internet last week under headlines declaring “Coconut oil is not a magical health food after all,” “Coconut oil ‘as unhealthy as beef fat and butter,’” and “Careful: Coconut oil may not be safe.”

Behind the furor was an innocuous American Heart Association reviewing the health have shown it increases unhealthy LDL cholesterol.

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