Please Stop Putting Coconut Oil in Everything

Real talk: you need to stop putting coconut oil in literally everything. And it’s not just us saying it, the American Heart Association just issued an advisory saying coconut oil isn’t good for you, so knock it off.

Related: One Third of the World is Overweight and the US Tops the Charts

We know coconut oil is supposed to be a miracle and perform miracles, for your skin, your body, your soul. But it’s actually not good for your body, it never was. As the AHA reports: 82 percent of the fat in coconut oil is saturated fat (that’s more than pork lard!) and saturated fat increases the LDL cholesterol (that’s the bad kind).

And as well know, that can contribute to heart disease, which is “the leading global cause of death, accounting for 17.3 million deaths per year,” says the AHA.

So where did this come from, the myth that coconut oil is good for you? Partly from media (ahem, Goop, ahem) that tout the benefits without diving into the studies, partly from old weight loss research that showed that stuff called MCTs (medium chain triglycerides) can speed up metabolism.

Coconut oil does have MCTs but only a small amount. And the amount of coconut oil you’d have to eat to reap the so-called benefits would mean you’re eating so much saturated fat you’d turn into a piece of pork belly.

So what’s the bottom line? Use it to clean your face if that’s your thing. But don’t eat it.