Dhanasekara CS, Nelson A, Spradley M, et al. - Coconut fat in meals appears to be linked to a lower postprandial insulin response, resulting in a little increase in postprandial glycemic response. Long-term use of coconut oil appears to increase insulin resistance while having little effect on long-term glycemic control. Thus, the findings refute the widely held belief that coconut oil helps glycemic management.

• There were 7 interventional studies on the acute effects of coconut fat and 11 interventional studies on the long-term effects of coconut fat.

• Compared with control meals, meals containing coconut fat raised the incremental area under the curve (AUC) of glucose while decreasing the incremental AUC of insulin.

• Long-term coconut fat consumption enhanced HOMA-IR but had no effect on fasting glucose, insulin, or HOMA-β vs control meals.