VCO in Health and Disease

COCONUT OIL IN HEALTH AND DISEASE: ITS AND MONOLAURIN’S POTENTIAL AS CURE FOR HIV/AIDS* By Dr. Conrado S. Dayrit

• Read at the XXXVII Cocotech Meeting Chennai, India. July 25, 2000
• Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology University of the Philippines                                                                                                     Past President. Federation of Asian Scientific Academies and Societies                                                                                                 Past President, National Academy of Science and Technology. Philippines 

ABSTRACT

The coconut is called the tree of life for it has been providing us, humans, food and drink, materials for housing, fuel and many industrial uses. And its medicinal uses are many and varied. The latest medical potential of products of the coconut first identified by Jon Kabara and others in the 70s, is the anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal activity of its medium chain fatty acids, particularly lauric acid (C12:0) in its monoglyceride form (monolaurin or ML).

The first clinical trial ever of ML was on 15 HIV-infected patients reporting regularly at the San Lazaro Hospital, Manila who, never having received any anti-HIV medication, were randomly assigned to 3 treatment groups: 7.2 g ML, 2.4 g ML and 50 ML of coconut oil daily for 6 months. The San Lazaro Hospital Team was led by Eric Tayag.

 Viral, CD4 and CDS counts, complete blood counts, blood lipids and tests for liver and kidney functions were done at the beginning of the study and after 3 and 6 months of treatment. In one patient, the viral load was too low to count.

By the 3rd month, 7 of the patients (50%) showed reduced viral load and by the 6th month 8 patients (2 receiving 7.2h ML, 4 receiving 2.4 g ML and 3 receiving, coconut oil had a lowered viral count. The CD4/CD8 counts showed a favorable increase in 5 patients. There were no serious side effects observed.

Three patients developed AIDS on 3rd month of therapy when their CD4 count dropped below 200. One of these three, who was in the coconut oil group. died 2 weeks after the study. The two other AIDS patients were in the 2.4 g ML group; one recovered fully on the 6th month and the other showed a rapid return towards normal CD4 and CD8 counts.