I recently read these two pieces of information showing that medium chain fats as opposed to most fats we eat (long chain triglycerides) MCTs cause you to go into ketosis easier and are burned for energy rather than stored as fat. Anyone know anything more about this?:
From:
http://www.spice-of-life.com/columns/mct.html
Foods with a low food efficiency, like MCT's, are more prone to be burned for energy instead of being converted to body weight, and within fifteen to twenty minutes you'll begin to feel an energy rush. It's not like drinking a cup of coffee. It's more like a deep internal surge that powers you through your schedule.
MCT's occur in small quantities in a variety of foods, and are present naturally in breast milk and the blood of the human fetus. Commercially, MCT's are prepared by the hydrolysis of coconut oil and are fractionated by steam distillation. MCT oil has a caloric density of 8.3 calories per gram; one tablespoon equals 14 grams and contains 115 calories. In 1950, MCT's were primarily used for the treatment of fat malabsorption in hospitals, but eventually found their way into the sport's world, allowing athletes to obtain additional energy without getting fatter.
Because of their immense popularity, there are several different MCT products to choose from at your local health food store. Just be sure to buy the purest form available. Make sure it's packaged in a dark brown bottle to keep light from denaturing the coconut oil, that it's not inundated with unnecessary flavorings, vitamin E, lecithin, purified water, apple pectin, etc., that the company didn't, in any way, denature or contaminate the coconut oil during its processing, and finally, make sure the company that you're dealing with is a company that you can trust and you're sure is ethical.
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also:
Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2001 Sep;25(9):1393-400 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
Value of VLCD supplementation with medium chain triglycerides.
Krotkiewski M.
Department of Medical Rehabilitation, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Goteborg, Sweden. mpab~algonet.se
BACKGROUND: Medium chain triglycerides (MCT) are energetically less dense, highly ketogenic, and more easily oxidised than long chain triglycerides (LCT). MCT also differ from LCT in their digestive and metabolic pathways. OBJECTIVE: To test the effects of MCT supplementation during a very low calorie diet (VLCD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Three groups of tightly matched obese women with body mass index (BMI)>30 kg/m(2) received an isoenergetic (578.5 kcal) VLCD (Adinax, Novo Vital, Sweden) enriched with MCT or LCT (8.0 and 9.9 g/100 g Adinax respectively) or a low-fat (3 g/100 g) and high-carbohydrate regimen. The diets were administered over 4 weeks. Body composition was measured with DEXA and appetite/satiety-according to Blundell. Beta hydroxybutyric acid concentration in plasma and nitrogen excretion in urine was measured during consecutive days of VLCD. The study was performed in a randomised double-blind manner. RESULTS: The MCT group showed a significantly greater decrease in body weight during the first 2 weeks. The contribution of body fat to the total weight loss was higher while the contribution of fat-free mass (FFM) was lower. The MCT group had a higher concentration of ketone bodies in plasma and a lower nitrogen excretion in urine. Hunger feelings were less intense while satiety was higher. These differences were observed during the first 2 weeks of treatment and gradually declined during the third and fourth weeks. CONCLUSIONS: Replacement of LCT by MCT in the VLCD increased the rate of decrease of body fat and body weight and has a sparing effect on FFM. The intensity of hunger feelings was lower and paralleled the higher increase of ketone bodies. These effects gradually declined, indicating subsequent metabolic adaptation. Further studies are required to confirm the protein-sparing and appetite-suppressing effects of MCT supplementation during the first 2 weeks of VLCD treatment.