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Abstract
BackgroundCoconut oil is commonly used as herbal medicine worldwide. There is limited information regarding its effects on the developing embryo and infant growth.MethodsWe investigated the effect of virgin coconut oil post-natally and until 6 weeks old in mice (age of maturity). Females were fed with either standard, virgin olive oil or virgin coconut oil diets 1 month prior to copulation, during gestation and continued until weaning of pups. Subsequently, groups of pups borne of the respective diets were continuously fed the same diet as its mother from weaning until 6 weeks old. Profiles of the standard and coconut oil diets were analysed by gas chromatography flame ionization detector (GCFID).ResultsAnalysis of the mean of the total weight gained/ loss over 6 weeks revealed that in the first 3 weeks, pups whose mothers were fed virgin coconut oil and virgin olive oil have a significantly lower body weight than that of standard diet pups. At 6 weeks of age, only virgin coconut oil fed pups exhibited significantly lower body weight. We report that virgin coconut oil modifies the fatty acid profiles of the standard diet by inducing high levels of medium chain fatty acids with low levels of essential fatty acids. Furthermore, pups borne by females fed with virgin coconut oil developed spiky fur.ConclusionOur study has demonstrated that virgin coconut oil could affect infant growth and appearance via maternal intake; we suggest the use of virgin coconut oil as herbal medicine to be treated with caution.
Highlights
Coconut oil is commonly used as herbal medicine worldwide
Virgin coconut oil causes low body weight during development Pups of the three groups were delivered at 21 days after copulation. 39 pups were delivered from standard diet group, 27 pups were delivered from virgin olive oil group and 33 pups were delivered from virgin coconut oil group (Table 2)
Our study examined virgin coconut oil which is rich in Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) (Fig. 3), in particular, established virgin coconut oil feeding on infant development, body weight and other phenotypes during lactation and until maturity
Summary
Coconut oil is commonly used as herbal medicine worldwide. Recent years have shown that the usage of herbal medicine in childbearing women had become widespread for symptoms such as ease of delivery and pain management as it is assumed that it is safe [4, 6, 7]. Countries within the Southeast Asian region are rich in coconut oil and other coconut by-products [21,22,23]. Coconut oil is widely used during pregnancy in these countries where published studies on the use of herbal medicine during pregnancy has shown that in certain areas about 61% to 63.9% of women of child-bearing age used coconut oil as herbal medicine [1, 21, 25]. Coconut oil has been reported to facilitate delivery and prevent congenital malformations and/ or birth defects [1, 24]
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