Gunasekaran Renuka, Shaker Mohammed Rafid, Mohd-Zin Siti Waheeda, Abdullah Aminah, Ahmad-Annuar Azlina, Abdul-Aziz Noraishah Mydin
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Department of Anatomy, Brain Korea 21 Program, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, 136-705, Korea.
BMC Complement Altern Med. 2017 Jan 28;17(1):79. doi: 10.1186/s12906-017-1600-z.
Coconut oil is commonly used as herbal medicine worldwide. There is limited information regarding its effects on the developing embryo and infant growth.
We investigated the effect of virgin coconut oil post-natally and until 6 weeks old in mice (age of maturity). Females were fed with either standard, virgin olive oil or virgin coconut oil diets 1 month prior to copulation, during gestation and continued until weaning of pups. Subsequently, groups of pups borne of the respective diets were continuously fed the same diet as its mother from weaning until 6 weeks old. Profiles of the standard and coconut oil diets were analysed by gas chromatography flame ionization detector (GCFID).
Analysis of the mean of the total weight gained/ loss over 6 weeks revealed that in the first 3 weeks, pups whose mothers were fed virgin coconut oil and virgin olive oil have a significantly lower body weight than that of standard diet pups. At 6 weeks of age, only virgin coconut oil fed pups exhibited significantly lower body weight. We report that virgin coconut oil modifies the fatty acid profiles of the standard diet by inducing high levels of medium chain fatty acids with low levels of essential fatty acids. Furthermore, pups borne by females fed with virgin coconut oil developed spiky fur.
Our study has demonstrated that virgin coconut oil could affect infant growth and appearance via maternal intake; we suggest the use of virgin coconut oil as herbal medicine to be treated with caution.
椰子油在全球范围内普遍被用作草药。关于其对发育中胚胎和婴儿生长的影响，相关信息有限。
我们研究了初榨椰子油对小鼠出生后直至6周龄（成熟年龄）的影响。在交配前1个月、妊娠期以及持续到幼崽断奶期间，给雌性小鼠喂食标准饮食、初榨橄榄油或初榨椰子油饮食。随后，将由各自饮食喂养的幼崽组从断奶到6周龄一直喂食与其母亲相同的饮食。通过气相色谱火焰离子化检测器（GCFID）分析标准饮食和椰子油饮食的成分。
对6周内体重增加/减轻的平均值分析表明，在最初3周，其母亲喂食初榨椰子油和初榨橄榄油的幼崽体重明显低于喂食标准饮食的幼崽。在6周龄时，只有喂食初榨椰子油的幼崽体重明显较低。我们报告称，初榨椰子油通过诱导高水平的中链脂肪酸和低水平的必需脂肪酸来改变标准饮食的脂肪酸成分。此外，由喂食初榨椰子油的雌性所生的幼崽毛发呈刺状。
我们的研究表明，初榨椰子油可能通过母体摄入影响婴儿生长和外观；我们建议谨慎使用初榨椰子油作为草药。
