Coconut oil is not considered heart healthy by major cardiovascular health organizations. Despite its popularity, coconut oil is 83% saturated fat, which is higher than butter or beef tallow. Replacing other cooking oils with coconut oil raises LDL cholesterol by roughly 10 mg/dL, a shift that translates to an estimated 6% increase in the risk of major vascular events.
Why Coconut Oil Raises Cholesterol
The three main fatty acids in coconut oil are lauric acid (42%), myristic acid (17%), and palmitic acid (9%). All three are cholesterol-raising saturated fats. They work by slowing the liver’s ability to pull LDL (“bad”) cholesterol out of the bloodstream. Specifically, these fatty acids reduce the number and activity of LDL receptors on liver cells, the docking stations that grab circulating LDL and clear it from your blood. Fewer active receptors means more LDL stays in circulation, and elevated LDL is a direct driver of plaque buildup in arteries.
Unsaturated fats, like those in olive oil or canola oil, do the opposite. They increase LDL receptor activity, helping your liver remove more cholesterol from the blood.
The “Medium-Chain Fat” Misconception
One reason coconut oil gained a health halo is the claim that it’s rich in medium-chain fatty acids, which the body processes differently from other fats. True medium-chain fats (those with 6, 8, or 10 carbon atoms) are absorbed directly into the bloodstream and sent straight to the liver for energy. They don’t raise LDL cholesterol. But coconut oil contains only about 13% of these true medium-chain fats.
The confusion centers on lauric acid, coconut oil’s dominant fatty acid. Lauric acid has 12 carbon atoms and is often grouped with shorter-chain fats in marketing materials. Biologically, though, it behaves like a long-chain fatty acid. Your body packages it into particles called chylomicrons, the same transport system used for the long-chain saturated fats in butter and meat. This is the mechanism that raises LDL cholesterol. So while purified MCT oil (made from the 6-, 8-, and 10-carbon fats) may have a neutral effect on cholesterol, whole coconut oil does not behave the same way.
What the Numbers Show
A meta-analysis published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation pooled data from clinical trials comparing coconut oil to other fats. When people replaced nontropical vegetable oils (like soybean, canola, or olive oil) with coconut oil, their LDL cholesterol rose by an average of 10.47 mg/dL. That increase corresponds to a roughly 6% higher risk of major vascular events and a 5.4% increase in coronary heart disease mortality.
Coconut oil does also raise HDL (“good”) cholesterol, which some proponents point to as a benefit. But the rise in HDL has not been shown to offset the increase in LDL when it comes to actual heart disease outcomes. The net effect on cardiovascular risk remains unfavorable compared to unsaturated plant oils.
What Health Organizations Recommend
The American Heart Association’s 2026 dietary guidance groups coconut oil with butter and beef tallow as fats that are “relatively high in saturated fat.” Its recommendation is straightforward: for heart-healthy eating, use nontropical plant oils like olive, canola, or soybean oil in place of both animal fats and tropical oils like coconut oil. This position has been consistent across multiple updates to their dietary guidelines.
Is Coconut Oil Good for Cooking?
Coconut oil does have strong oxidative stability at high temperatures, meaning it resists breaking down into harmful compounds during frying or roasting. This is a genuine practical advantage, but it stems directly from its high saturated fat content, the same characteristic that makes it problematic for heart health. Extra virgin olive oil performs comparably well at cooking temperatures despite having a lower smoke point, because recent research shows that smoke point is a poor predictor of how stable an oil actually is during real-world cooking. Oxidative stability is the better measure, and extra virgin olive oil ranks nearly as high as coconut oil on that scale while offering a far healthier fat profile.
Practical Alternatives
If you currently cook with coconut oil, the simplest swap is extra virgin olive oil for most stovetop and oven cooking. It handles heat well, lowers LDL cholesterol relative to saturated fats, and is the most studied oil in cardiovascular nutrition. Canola oil and avocado oil are other options with high proportions of unsaturated fat.
Using coconut oil occasionally in small amounts, for example in a recipe where you want its flavor, is unlikely to meaningfully shift your cholesterol levels. The concern is with using it as your primary cooking fat day after day, where the cumulative saturated fat intake adds up. A tablespoon of coconut oil delivers about 12 grams of saturated fat, which is more than half the daily limit most guidelines suggest for someone eating 2,000 calories.