Os efeitos do consumo do óleo de coco nos fatores de risco para doenças cardiovasculares

Abstract

This work aimed to analyze the evidence from clinical trials regarding coconut oil consumption and its effects on risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. The increased consumption of this food raises concerns among health professionals and organizations due to its high content of saturated fats and its known harmful health outcomes. To achieve the proposed objective, the research method adopted was an integrative literature review, searching for articles in the databases Google Scholar, Scielo, PubMed, Science Direct and Journal of Lipid Research from the last 6 years. When analyzing the effects of coconut oil consumption on cardiovascular risk factors, it was possible to observe that the evidence of better methodological quality indicates a harmful effect of this tropical oil, mainly on the lipid profile, and agrees with the recommendations of the guidelines on controlling the consumption of saturated fats, with non-tropical vegetable oils being the recommended options due to their safety and profile of mono and polyunsaturated fats, which are beneficial to health.