Nick Howarth of Best Body Health Coach explains what medium‑chain triglyceride (MCT) oil is, how it differs from long‑chain fats, and why it can be a valuable supplement for people on keto, carnivore, low‑carb, or fasting protocols. He outlines a wide range of purported health benefits, grouping them into cognitive/neurological effects (ketone fuel for the brain, potential support for Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, and autism), energy and metabolic advantages (rapid ketone conversion, enhanced exercise performance, reduced lactic acid, improved lipid profile, insulin sensitivity, appetite suppression), cardiovascular and immune benefits (heart health, antimicrobial caprylic/lauric acids, anti‑inflammatory and antioxidant actions), and nutrient‑absorption improvements (better uptake of fat‑soluble vitamins and omega‑3s). He also discusses how MCT oil can ease the transition into ketosis and mitigate keto‑flu symptoms. Practical guidance is provided on dosing (starting with a teaspoon, monitoring for gastrointestinal upset, gradually increasing) and cautions about possible side effects such as diarrhea, cramping, and the fact that MCT oil is pure fuel without electrolytes or micronutrients, so it should be paired with a nutrient‑dense diet. The tone is educational with occasional promotional remarks about his coaching program.
Chapters
Hey, it's Nick here from Best Body Health Coach. In this video, I wanted to talk to you about the wonderful world of MCT oil. So I've learned a few things about this. I've been using it for many years and I never actually realized how good it really is for you. There's so many health benefits, so I'll dive right in. I'm going to go into You know, the the the goodness of it and the badness of it, and why it works. So medium chain triglycerides. So it's an oil, and it's unique type of fat that is like rapidly converted into ketones, and it makes it a valuable supplement for individual individuals with keto diets or carnivore diets or. Low-carb diets. And it's unlike long-chain fats where they have to be digested and used and broken down by bile and digestive enzymes and so on for them to be effective. MCT oils bypass the traditional digestive process and allows them for quick energy conversion, doesn't require bile. So that's good for people that don't have gallbladders or have gallstones or sludgy bile that and, you know, just general bile issues. So I want to just have a look at, you know, what the positives are of, of MCT oil. And first off, the first positive that we can look at is cognitive and neurological benefits. So MCT oil has been studied for its role in brain function. And neuroprotection. So in other words, protecting the nerves in the brain. And it enhances cognition, cognitive function, and ketones serve as an effective fuel for the brain. The brain absolutely loves it. So does the heart, so do all the organs, but the brain absolutely loves ketones. It loves running off ketones, and it's actually been known to help individuals who have Alzheimer's and other like cognitive decline type conditions. It also reduces epileptic episodes. So it's well known that being in ketosis reduces or completely eradicates epileptic episodes. This is scientifically proven. But obviously, if you're taking MCT oil, you can, you can bring on those benefits even faster. And lessen the frequency of episodes or just like get rid of them completely. And also, studies show that it has potential benefits with people with autism, and it improves their behavioral symptoms. And it can also help people with the whole autism spectrum disorder. Okay, so then energy and metabolic health. So it increases your energy because it converts to ketones rapidly, and it provides a quick energy boost without requiring any glucose. So I've experienced this a lot when I cycle. You know, I have a— I don't eat anything when I ride. The only thing I use is MCT oil. And when I take MCT oil and I've been riding, let's say, you know, a 100-mile ride, and then within like 5 miles of taking it, It feels like this. I'm turning into a steam engine, and the pressure is just building up, and I'm just getting stronger and stronger and stronger. It can also improve your your lipid profile. In other words, your your cholesterol profile balances out your bad cholesterols if there is such a thing. But your HDL and your LDL balances out, and it can also help with your small density LDL and your very low-density LDL. Okay. So, and then obviously it would help with insulin resistance. So if you're diabetic or you have insulin resistance, this is great for you because it improves hunger. So in other words, you're not as hungry as you always are because you become more insulin sensitive because your body starts to run a little bit more on ketones and less on glucose. And that's what you're looking for. When you have insulin sensitivity or type 2 diabetes, you're trying to lower those insulin levels so that your cells become insulin sensitive again. They not feel like they're being bombarded with a harmful amount of insulin, so they start to open up and then you start to absorb densely nutritious food again, if that's what you're eating. And then also, if you're someone who likes to exercise, it reduces lactic acid buildup in your muscles. So, Anybody who's done like some kind of an ab workout routine after their first day and the next day they can't get out of bed, well, that's lactic acid. So MCT oil helps with that. I can also attest that that has definitely helped for me too. And then appetite and weight management. So it suppresses your appetite and you definitely have a lot less hunger. So obviously you eat less and it also helps produce hormones that make you feel full. In other words, the peptide YY hormone and leptin. So, and that stops hunger. So it also facilitates people who are intermittent fasting or even prolonged fasting to sustain energy levels during fasting periods. Especially if you're not really burning your fat, your body fat right there. So it reduces cravings and so on. So but it does have also the potential to slow down weight loss if you're taking too much of it, because if you're trying to lose weight, then you're obviously trying to get your body to burn its own fat and use that as fuel. So if you're giving it MCT oil, it's going to use that as fuel because it's very quick and it's very accessible. So but it But on the other hand, it does stimulate the body to go into ketosis. So then if you're trying to get into ketosis, MCT oil is very good for that. Then you can just back off on it a bit so that your body can tap into its own fat stores and you can lose weight. You obviously need to eat the right food as well, so you can't just do that and be eating donuts every day. All right, cardiovascular function and immune support. You can— it is also Like the heart loves, loves ketones. It runs off ketones. It recovers from scarring and all sorts of things when it's on ketones, and it reduces the risk of heart disease. And again, also improves cholesterol levels, which I don't really focus too much on. All right. And then it has antimicrobial properties as well. So it has this stuff called caprylic acid and lauric acid, which possess antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral effects and supports the immune function. And then it also has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. So, MCT oil helps reduce oxidative stress and inflammation from exercise or injury or illness or something like that, and that can protect against chronic disease. And then, You know, nutrient absorption. So it helps your body utilize or absorb your fatty nutrients. That's your vitamin A, which is good for eyesight. D is good for immune system. E is good for everything, especially oxygen levels in the blood. And then K, which is good for putting calcium into the into the bones where it's supposed to be. That's K2. K1 is good for you know thickening up the blood if you have very thin blood. And also your omega-3s, because generally the diet out there is omega-6 and omega-9 heavy, and that's very bad for you. So if you balance them out with the omega-3, then you're doing a lot better. And then it makes it easier to transition into ketosis. In other words, you know, the dreaded keto flu, it lessens those symptoms or takes them away completely. So, I mean, the one thing that it can do, though, is if you take too much of it, it can give you diarrhea, it can make your tummy run, it can give you cramps, like terrible cramps in your stomach. And if you have too much of this to start off with, you just don't need to take too much to start off with. Start off with 1 teaspoon and then see how that goes. Make sure that you stay near the bathroom while you're trying it out. But once your stomach gets used to it, you can take more and more and you'll start to do a lot better with it. And then again, it's very good for weight loss, but don't take too much of it. And then it also, it doesn't have nutrients in it. It's just a, it's just a fuel. It's like, it's like rocket fuel, but it doesn't have your electrolytes and your, and your other micronutrients that your, that your body needs. So you would need to pair it with a, with a good nutrition, nutritionally dense food program, something similar to what we have. All right. So that's the story with MCT oil. It's very good for you. I would suggest you have it. I take it every day. I, I literally just keep it on my desk and I sip away at it throughout the day. So okay, good. Have a good day and join us in our next video.
