Alvin H. Danenberg, DDS • Nutritional Periodontist
August 15, 2016 [printfriendly]
It’s a general fact that organic, cold-pressed, unprocessed coconut oil is great for cooking. Also, I recommend coconut oil along with baking soda as an excellent way to brush your teeth. (I have written about my mouth cleaning technique in the past.) To my surprise, I have found some unusual ways coconut oil helped me that might surprise you:
- A deodorantI stopped using antiperspirants in my deodorant several years ago because of the chemicals that could leach from the deodorant into my body. So, I searched for various commercial preparations that had natural ingredients without antiperspirants. Eventually, I learned the potential of organic, cold-pressed, unprocessed coconut oil as a deodorant.
Over a year ago, I tried coconut oil. The rest is history. Today, coconut oil is the only deodorant I use.
- A treatment for a specific skin lesionBeing almost 70 years old, I have developed a few seborrheic keratosis lesions on my forehead and temple areas. These are benign scaly patches on the skin that are more unsightly than dangerous. Generally, a dermatologist could use liquid nitrogen to remove them without a problem. But, I wanted to investigate other natural options.
I learned that coconut oil often could be a solution. I tried it.
I rubbed some coconut oil on both lesions on my face every night before bed, and then in the morning after I showered. Within 3 weeks, the lesion on my forehead completely disappeared, and the lesion on my temple, which is still getting smaller, was reduced to almost one-third the original size.
Basically, coconut oil softened the seborrheic keratosis and allowed it to break up and disappear. This technique does not work for everyone, but it worked for me.
- A healing remedy for mosquito bitesAfter mosquitoes had bitten me on my legs a couple of weeks ago, I experimented with coconut oil. I applied some of my organic, cold-pressed, unprocessed coconut oil on the itchy bites. To my surprise, the itch went away within 15 minutes. I continued applying the oil several times a day for the next couple days. The bites healed quickly with no more itching.
My Results
These are my personal experiences. Although I can’t recommend coconut oil as a cure for your problems, you might want to try it for yourself to see what it might do for you.
The benefits of coconut oil are controversial, but many peer-reviewed research articles show coconut oil is antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal (HERE). About 65% of coconut oil is made up of medium chain triglycerides, which provide benefits to the interior of the body (HERE, HERE) and to the surface of the skin (HERE, HERE).
The more I research natural products, the more I am impressed with their potential benefits. My research of coconut oil uncovered many diversified merits of this natural substance. Here is an article that discusses 23 benefits of coconut oil.