Coconut oil is an increasingly popular cooking oil.

Many people praise it for its health benefits, including antimicrobial and antioxidant properties, improved skin and oral health, and weight loss potential.

Here are 10 evidence-based health benefits of coconut oil, plus some special considerations to keep in mind if you want to include it in your diet.

1. May encourage fat burning

Coconut oil is a rich source of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), a type of saturated fat.

In general, saturated fats are divided into three subgroups, each of which has different effects in your body. These subgroups are (1Trusted Source):

• long-chain
• medium-chain
• short-chain

Scientists are studying medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), including those found in coconut oil, for their potential health benefits.

For instance, some evidence shows that consuming MCTs may increase the number of calories your body burns. In doing so, it may help promote weight loss (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).

Since the fats in coconut oil are 65% MCT, it may have fat-burning properties that are similar to pure MCT oil (1Trusted Source).

However, there’s currently no good evidence to say that eating coconut oil itself will increase the number of calories you burn.

In fact, studies on MCT’s weight loss potential even call for caution when interpreting results because larger and higher-quality studies are still needed (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).

While MCTs may increase how many calories you burn, keep in mind that coconut oil is very high in calories and can easily lead to weight gain if you consume it in large amounts.

2. May work as a quick source of energy

The MCTs in coconut oil provide a quick supply of energy.

When you eat long-chain triglycerides (LCTs), the fat molecules are transported through your blood to tissues that need them, such as muscle or fat tissue (4Trusted Source).

On the other hand, MCTs go straight to your liver and become a rapid energy supply in much the same way as carbs — your body’s preferred source of energy (5Trusted Source).

In fact, MCTs have been long used in sports nutrition products for athletes who need a source of energy their body can absorb and use fast (1Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source).

3. May have antimicrobial effects

Coconut oil has antimicrobial and antifungal properties due to its MCT content — specifically, lauric acid (1Trusted Source).

Lauric acid is a fatty acid that makes up about 50% of the MCTs in coconut oil.

Research suggests it may have antimicrobial effects against disease-causing microorganisms, such as (1Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source):

• Staphylococcus aureus
• Streptococcus mutans
• Streptococcus pyogenes
• Escherichia coli
• Helicobacter pylori

Studies show that lauric acid may act as a bacteriostatic agent. This is a substance that prevents bacteria from multiplying without killing the bacteria.

It may also act as a bacteriocidal agent, which destroys some bacteria (1Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source).

In addition, it may also inhibit the growth of microorganisms that are harmful to plants (6Trusted Source).

4. May help reduce hunger

One interesting feature of MCTs is that they may help reduce food intake (8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source).

This may be related to how the body breaks them down. A proportion of MCTs you eat are broken down in a process that produces molecules called ketones (1Trusted Source).

Ketones reduce appetite by either acting directly on the brain’s chemical messengers or altering the levels of hunger-inducing hormones, such as ghrelin (10Trusted Source).

You may be familiar with ketones in the context of ketogenic diets, which are quite popular these days. People who are on keto diets don’t eat many carbs, but they do often eat lots of fat. For this reason, their bodies tend to use ketones for fuel.

However, though coconut oil is one of the richest natural sources of MCTs, there’s no evidence that coconut oil itself reduces appetite more than other oils. In fact, one study reports that coconut oil is less filling than MCT oil (11Trusted Source).

5. May boost skin health

Coconut oil has many uses that have little to do with eating. Many people use it for cosmetic purposes to improve the health and appearance of their skin.

Studies show that coconut oil can boost the moisture content of dry skin. It may also improve the function of the skin, helping prevent excessive water loss and protecting you from external factors, such as infectious agents, chemicals, and allergens (16Trusted Source, 17Trusted Source, 18Trusted Source, 19Trusted Source).

In fact, a recent study determined that applying 6–8 drops of virgin coconut oil on your hands and leaving it overnight may be an effective way to prevent dry skin caused by frequent use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers (20Trusted Source).

It may also reduce the severity of mild to moderate symptoms of atopic dermatitis, a chronic skin disease characterized by skin inflammation and defects in skin barrier function (18Trusted Source, 21Trusted Source, 22Trusted Source).