Almost 15.5 million people have listened to the Coconut Song on YouTube in the past six years. The lyrics carry a weight warning about the fruit.

Now an advisory from the American Heart Association has attached a health warning to coconut oil.

It warns that coconut oil is 82 percent saturated fat, and studies show it raises  “bad” cholesterol as much as butter, beef fat or palm oil.

It’s bad news for people who have switched to coconut oil for cooking in the mistaken belief it was better for their health than the old fashioned alternatives.

 

We are sticking to our trusty one cal spray for all of our cooking when needed.

We thought the Heart Association warning was a good opportunity to check the SmartPoints and Syns in some popular coconut products for the WeightWatchers and Slimming World devotees amongst us.

For Slimming World there are

• 7.5 syns in desiccated coconut.
• 1.5 syns in a level tbsp of coconut milk
• 9 syns in 100 ml of coconut milk
• .5 syns for half a tbsp of reduced fat coconut milk
• 4 syns in 100 ml of reduced fat  coconut milk

For Weight Watchers there are

• 19 SmartPoints in 100g of fresh coconut
• 9 SmartPoints in 100ml of coconut milk
• 4 SmartPoints in 100 ml of reduced fat coconut milk
• 3 SmartPoints in one teaspoon of coconut oil

 

 

Images: Pixabay