You are what you eat.
Despite this being cliché, it’s quite true. The types of foods you include (or don’t include) in your daily diet determines how you feel for the short and long term.
So, if you eat junk food, you’ll feel like junk. If you eat high-quality proteins, fats, and carbs, you’ll feel high quality. Makes sense, right?
But…what exactly are high-quality foods?
Protein and carbohydrates are fairly straightforward. Lean meats, legumes, cruciferous veggies, certain fruits, and a few grains count towards the “healthy” side of things.
Fats, on the other hand, are tough to grasp. The word itself makes you hiss and cringe like a vampire against garlic (which is another great food to include in your diet).
For the list of MCT oil supplements, here ya go:
There are healthy and unhealthy fats. One of them is MCT oil. Not only is it one of the healthiest oils out there, but it can be supplemented to give you improved performance in the gym and heightened cognitive function.
In this overview, we’ll dive into what MCT oil is exactly, what the benefits are, how it works with other facets of diet, and review the cream of the crop in MCT supplements.
For the nitty-gritty details, learn more and read on…
What Is MCT Oil?
MCT stands for “Medium Chain Triglycerides,” which is a kind of saturated fatty acid. Compared to long-chain fatty acids, medium-chain ones contain 6-8 carbon molecules, meaning they’re digested rapidly.
This results in a clean source of energy. Long-chain fatty acids (10-12 carbon molecules) take longer to digest and is stored as actual fat in the process.
The difference in chemical structure creates this stand-alone, impressive source of fats.
Plus, MCTs go directly to your liver, “where they have a thermogenic effect and the ability to positively alter your metabolism.“
This is the reason why MCTs are burned for fuel, while LCTs don’t do this and are stored as fat instead.
What Is MCT Oil Made From?
While it’s best to steer clear of most saturated fats, MCT oil can be considered an exception.
Made from a combination of coconut oil and palm oil, MCT is actually man-made and cannot be found in natural foods on its own.
Even though it’s created in a laboratory, it’s extracted from both coconuts and palm kernels, each as natural and as pure as you can get.
How To Use MCT Oil?
Once MCT oil is complete and ready to use, there are many ways implement it into your diet.
MCT oil is a clear liquid with absolutely zero flavor.
The most potent way to ingest it is plain without heating it; this is because it has a low smoke point and doesn’t do well with heat. So… don’t cook with it.
However, you can apply it as is to strong-flavored beverages and foods, like coffee (this begins the recipe for Bulletproof Coffee), smoothies, salads, juices, or mixed with other sauces to use as a dipping sauce.
Be sure to implement MCT oils slowly. Your digestive system won’t be accustomed to digesting medium-chain triglycerides, so start with half a tablespoon and see how you respond.
Once you are used to MCT oil, go to as much as three tablespoons, but it probably isn’t necessary to go over a single tablespoon.
You can also supplement MCT oil in capsules. Or – for those brave enough – pinch that nose and take the liquid straight! (This isn’t an actual recommendation. Do NOT do this!)
MCT Oil vs. Coconut Oil
So if MCT oil is wonderful for you and involves the incorporation of coconut oil and palm oil, why not just use coconut oil?
It’s fairly inexpensive compared to MCT oil, and you can cook with it. Sounds like a better deal, right?
Wrong.
Coconut oil contains both medium- and long-chain triglycerides. At the same time you are getting that fast-acting, clean energy from MCTs, you’re also consuming LCTs that transfer to fat.
For the most benefits and the least accompanying adverse effects, MCT oil in its purest form is best.
What Are The Benefits Of MCT Oil?
- MCTs burn in the body as clean fuel instead of being stored as fat.
- Medium-Chain Triglycerides are easier to digest than Long-Chain Triglycerides.
- They support our gut by combating harmful bacteria and other bodily enemies. MCT oil also creates a better brain-gut connection, and helps you absorb vitamins and minerals, elevating your mood.
- MCT oil increases metabolism and weight loss.
- They could help with the malabsorption of certain nutrients, improving your GI tract.
- MCTs have antioxidant properties; reducing inflammation, preventing obesity, and improving heart and brain health.
- Blunts appetite by suppressing ghrelin (hunger hormone), meaning a longer fast from glucose.
- Increased mental boost and cognitive function.
This is why coconut oil is considered a superfood.
However, as we previously went over, the studies done for MCT oil expressed these benefits, while when they researched coconut oil they didn’t get the same results.
This is due to the change in length of the triglycerides: Medium-chain provides fast and easy absorption, but coconut oil contains both MCTs and LCTs, so you get the bad with the good canceling out.
MCT Oil And Weight Loss
Here is the science behind how MCT triggers massive weight loss.
How MCT oil is absorbed in the body is through the bloodstream, which leads to a boost in your metabolism, as well as burning more calories and fat and reducing how much fat is stored for future use.
It also ramps up your appetite-controlling hormones, causing you to feel full and curbing your need for food.
It burns extra calories by revving your metabolism up and helping your cholesterol profile.
In some of the studies conducted to see if MCT oil aided in weight loss, one of the constants was maintaining a normal diet, where calories aren’t counted; the addition of MCT oil still showed a significant drop in weight!
Using fat for fuel is a smart way to hack your biology. MCT oil has a wide range of benefits, and there are numerous scientific studies to back the claims of it aiding in weight loss and increased metabolism.
How Much MCT Oil Should You Take Daily?
As previously mentioned, it doesn’t take too much MCT oil to get the desired effects.
If you take too much, it defeats the purpose; it’s still, a fat which means it’s calorically dense (fats equal 9 calories per 1 gram).
Anywhere between a half-tablespoon and three tablespoons is plenty for what we want to accomplish here.
When you’re starting out, go small – a half TBSP should do the trick. Your stomach will take time to acclimate to this fairly foreign liquid.
Once that happens, you can up the dosage. For supplement conversion, a tablespoon is roughly 14 grams.
When Should You Take MCT Oil?
There are two specific times to take MCT oil for maximum benefits; which one you choose depends on your goal.
One of these times is the morning, and this should be when the majority of you take MCT oil. Reason being is it gives you both mental clarity and increased fat loss when taken in the A.M.
When you ingest MCTs early in the day, two things are occurring: Your body is in a fasted state, causing insulin to be suppressed, and it transfers the MCTs into ketones or fat fuel.
Basically, it keeps your body going without needing glucose, or actual food. So, if you want to fast, implementing MCT oil – perhaps in your morning coffee? – is a great way to do it.
The second optimal time would be before your workout. A cool aspect of MCT oil is it can be used as a preworkout for “quick energy with no crash.”
Those ketones play a role in this as well; they give you clean, super-quick energy to use for a big workout.
Plus, MCTs aren’t stimulants, so there isn’t a crash afterward, like when you take caffeine.
Some people might benefit from taking MCT oil as a preworkout, but the majority of dudes and dudettes will get the greatest bang for their buck by taking MCT as “good morning” juice.
Can MCT Oil Be Used In Baking?
As said before, MCT oil has a low smoke point, so using it in cooking (or coconut oil, for that matter) is essentially out of the question.
But baking is a different beast (as you may be well aware of).
Seeing as you can use coconut and palm oils in traditional baking, the same can be said for MCT oil.
It actually makes for healthier baked recipes, and is a huge plus for those who are vegan – just substitute butter for MCT oil!
The difference between baking and cooking is how hot and how concentrated the different methods are.
The famous quote, “Cooking is art, but baking is science,” rings loud and clear in this instance.
In cooking, you make a pan or skillet really hot in a concentrated area; in baking, the heat is either convected or blankets the baking tray.
Also, it isn’t just MCT oil in the baked good, whereas cooking begins with heating oil on its own.
You can easily replace any butter or coconut oil in baking recipes with the exact same amount of MCT oil.
So don’t feel guilty about making chocolate chip cookies or an entire chocolate cake. (Okay, maybe don’t go down that road…)
How Does MCT Oil Work With Ketosis?
I hinted at this before. MCT oil creates ketones in the body, what I affectionately named “fat fuel.”
Your body uses two types of sources for energy: Ketones and glycogen, made from glucose.
When you wake up, your body has used up all of its glycogen, because glucose comes from the food you eat during the day.
While you sleep, it depletes your body of glucose and glycogen. The first few things you do in the day, then, are running on ketones, or fat mobilized in the liver and pushed through the bloodstream.
When you use ketones as your main source of energy, this is called being in ketosis. It is an uber-efficient way to burn body fat and stay mentally clear.
What does this have to do with MCT oil? Well, it produces ketones because it’s a fast-acting fat.
Ingested in the morning, it provides even more of this clean-burning energy, as well as blunts your appetite. So you avoid eating actual food for a few more hours, and you can stay in ketosis (a perpetual fat-burning state).
MCT Oil Side Effects
This supplement is a fat, so it’s fairly safe for most people to take.
The big issue people have when starting out with MCT oil is what’s affectionately known as “disaster pants”; much like when you had your first coffee, it’ll go right through you.
So be sure you stay home or near a toilet. I’m not kidding…don’t risk it!
If you take too much or have adverse reactions to MCT oil, common side effects include:
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
- Irritability
- Nausea
- Stomach discomfort
- Intestinal gas
- Essential fatty acid deficiency
If you are diabetic or have liver problems, avoid using MCT oils.
For those with diabetes, the ketones made by MCT oil builds up in the body and isn’t used for energy, which creates complications.
Of course, if you have liver problems, then your liver probably can’t transfer the MCTs into ketones in the first place. Steer clear of taking MCT oils if you have any of these issues.
Top MCT Oil Supplements Reviewed
NOW MCT 100% Oil
NOW Foods is a leading brand in natural supplements, vitamins, and minerals.
One of their products is a high-end MCT oil guaranteed to give you all of the benefits listed above.
Included in this bottle:
- 100% pure MCT oil, derived from coconut and palm kernel oils
- 63 tablespoons, resulting in 63 “servings”
- Includes Caprylic (C8:0) and Capric (C10:0) fatty acids, naturally occurring fatty acids that turn into ketones
For a 100% MCT oil from a trusted brand, NOW MCT 100% Oil won’t fail to please.
Sports Research
Not necessarily a household name, Sports Research has developed an MCT oil with a twist.
Included in this bottle:
- Pure MCT oil derived from non-GMO coconut oil (but no palm kernel oil)
- 63 tablespoons, resulting in 63 “servings”
- Because it’s solely coconut oil, it not only contains caprylic and capric fatty acids, but also lauric acid (C12:0).
The discrepancy here is lauric acid is known almost as a medium-chain-long-chain hybrid. The “12″ in “C12:0″ stands for how many carbons are in the chain.
Twelve carbons in the chain start to get fuzzy in whether it’s an MCT or an LCT. It’s obviously found in coconut oil and takes longer to digest in the body.
Go with Sports Research MCT oil if you want to get all of the MCTs found in coconut oil, but otherwise look for those with indisputable MCTs.
Viva Naturals
A company that stays true to its name, Viva Naturals packs an MCT punch with their gluten-free, vegan, paleo, naturally extracted, and sustainably sourced oil.
Included in this bottle:
- 100% pure MCT oil, derived from coconut oil only
- The oil is immediately pressed and fractionated, to extract only the beneficial caprylic and capric acids.
- Again, 63 tablespoon “servings”
For a kick in the pants and a high quality product, make Viva Naturals your main source of MCT oil.
Onnit MCT Oil
Onnit is known for producing some of the best supplement products on the market. Their MCT oil is no exception.
Included in this bottle:
- 100% pure MCT oil, derived from coconut oil only
- So, with pure coconut oil extraction, Onnit keeps the lauric acid in
- This is a smaller bottle compared to the rest, at 47 tablespoons “servings”
Onnit claims palm oil is taken from the few remaining habitats for orangutans, so therein lies their reasoning for not including palm kernel oil in their MCT product.
The same can probably be said for the earlier ones that also omit palm.
For an MCT oil made with care for the environment from a well-known, trusted brand, Onnit is on it to provide you with the absolute best.
Left Coast Performance
A lesser known company, Left Coast Performance has a wonderful MCT oil that seems to achieve success in both camps.
Included in this bottle:
- 100% pure MCT oil, derived from coconut oil only
- Zero palm, which is leading to the deforestation of wildlife habitats
- Fully fractionated, leaving only the caprylic and capric fatty acids, a.k.a. The true MCTs
- 63 tablespoon “servings”
While they may not be big time, Left Coast Performance manages to care for the environment and give you a truly quality MCT oil.
Conclusion
With all of that information now swimming in your head, it might be best to supplement with some MCT oil.
The medium-chain triglycerides provide quick energy in the form of ketones, or “fat fuel.”
They blunt appetite, ramp up metabolism, give you clean energy, and balances hormones.
It differs from its parent, coconut oil, due to it being solely MCTs, and not LCTs as well, which don’t have the same benefits and take too long to digest.
The great thing about MCT oil is you don’t need much to experience these wonderful benefits.
A tablespoon or two should do plenty, and taken in the morning gives you the fuel to skip food until lunchtime.
Then, you could use it in an afternoon snack, such as in salad dressing or a baked good!
There aren’t many side effects, and they only happen if you overdo the amount of MCT oil you take in a day.
Plus, if you’re on the ketogenic diet you get a fat-burning booster to help you stay in ketosis.
Do your due diligence, read up on the top MCT oils out there, and skyrocket your fat loss.
Get lean and get mean!
