How MCTs (Medium Chain Triglycerides) Are Affecting Your Health

MCTs have become pretty popular with people who want to lose weight. Mostly in the athletic world.

But what exactly are they?

Like what do they do… what are they for… what is the importance of MCTs and why are they popular?

Well the short answer is that MCTs are a special type of fatty acids.

We normally eat foods high in long-chain triglycerides (or LCTs).

These are foods like nuts, seeds, avocados, fish, and meat.

But there are only a few foods (a handful) that are high in MCTs.

The list is pretty short. We’ve got breast milk, cow’s milk, goat’s milk, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, coconut meat, and dried coconut.

The fatty acids that make up a triglyceride can be monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, or saturated.

Also to be noted is that every fat has some combination of monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, or saturated fatty acid.

But it’s the predominant type of fatty acid that defines each type of fat.

So for example, olive oil has mostly monounsaturated fatty acids, soybean oil has mostly polyunsaturated fatty acids, and butter has mostly saturated fatty acids.

So in simpler terms (or as I like to say) in terms that make sense to me…

If a food item has more of one particular fatty acid, then that is the fatty acid that it’s known to have and that’s what determines whether or not a specific food is good or bad for you.

And not to over complicate things but there is the saturation of fatty acid or how much or how concentrated the fatty acid is and then there is the length of the fatty acid.

And that’s not all!

Go ahead and SMASH that PLAY button right NOW to discover exactly what I left out here!

Catch you on the other side!

Episode Timestamps:

0:00 – Intro
2:04 – Welcome and Salutations
2:35 – What’s Popping?
4:07 – Healthy Conversations: Is Walking Just As Good As Running?
4:40 – What you haven’t heard bout it
5:40 – What one doctor is saying about it
6:07 – Benefits of both walking and running
7:15 – Advantages of walking
11:11 – What I’m thinking of experimenting with (and you should too)
12:55 – Back to the debate
13:21 – Fun Fact: Walking is the preferred method to the longest living people
13:42 – The “Walking/Running” Bottom Line
15:05 – Might Man: How Medium Chain Triglycerides Are Affecting Your Health
16:41 – What are they?
18:06 – The very short list of MCTs and what they’re made of
19:15 – In terms that make sense to me
19:37 – Trying to keep things simple
20:55 – Why MCTs are great
22:26 – Promising research results (mitochondrial biogenesis)
25:01 – What are the negative effects of MCTs?
26:23 – The “MCT” Bottom Line
28:53 – Closing Credits