Cuckoo for coconuts

Bruce Fife loves coconuts.

Fife, aka "Dr. Coconut," puts coconut oil on his skin and in his food, and swishes it as mouthwash. He bakes cupcakes with coconut flour. And when he feels a cold coming on, he takes extra coconut oil straight.

His Colorado Springs home - hundreds of miles from the nearest stand of coconut palms - boasts a coconut clock, coconut wall hangings, coconut oil kept handy on the kitchen counter, and dozens of bowls and decorations formed from his favorite fruit.

"I've gotten very involved in coconuts," said Fife, a bookish man with a beard and glasses who seeps energy. "I just sort of fell into it."

Dr. Coconut might be the world's foremost authority on the benefits of the coconut, and his Coconut Research Center is a clearinghouse of coconut knowledge.

He's also a crusader for a fruit he thinks is unfairly discriminated against by the medical community.

His eyes light up with missionary zeal when he begins to list the virtues he believes flow from consuming coconut: weight loss, heart health, cancer and diabetes prevention, stronger immunity - even beautiful skin.

He's written seven books about the wonders of the coconut, including "Coconut Cures" and "The Coconut Oil Miracle", and says he has sold more than 200,000 copies.

Fife has been flown to the Philippines, Fiji, Indonesia, Jamaica, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and Dubai to talk about the wonders of the coconut.

"In the Philippines, I'm kind of a celebrity over there," Fife said of the nation that produces about 80 percent of the world's coconut oil exports.

"When I went there, I was mobbed with crowds of people." In fact, that's where he acquired his nickname. "They said, ‘Oh, hi, Dr. Coconut.' I'd never heard it, but I kind of liked it. It stuck."

Coconut products started flying off the shelves about three years ago when a women's magazine used Fife's books to tout the fruit as a weight loss tool, said Sammy's Organics owners Vivian and Robert Magruder.

Now, the health food store sells five brands of coconut oil (the "raw organic extra virgin" variety goes for $15 a pint, the cheaper stuff for $6), coconut flour, coconut water, coconut flakes, coconut butter, coconut softgel tablets, coconut ice cream and whole green coconuts.

"All I know is, when I eat coconut oil I have a lot more energy and my pants get loose," Vivian said. "It's got many amazing qualities. But I do get sick of it after awhile."

Wait a minute. Isn't coconut loaded with saturated fat?

Yep, that's true, admits Fife, but these saturated fats won't hurt you. (Warning: It's going to require a few polysyllabic science words to explain why.) He contends that since most fats in coconuts are mediumchain triglycerides (like human breast milk) instead of long-chain triglycerides (like most saturated fats we consume), it's processed differently by the body and does not promote heart disease or high cholesterol. In fact, he thinks coconuts promote heart health.

The medical establishment is not wholeheartedly in Fife's corner.

Some doctors have gone so far as to call coconut oil the new snake oil. Most dietitians remain unconvinced that one can consume lots of saturated fats without harmful results.

One of them is Elisa Zied, a New York-based spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association who has read and reviewed "The Coconut Oil Miracle." She argues that Fife's claims about coconut might be true but have yet to be proven by research. In the meantime, she urges coconut fans to use coconuts to replace other saturated fats in their diets, such as butter, and to keep their total intake of saturated fats to less than 10 percent of the calories they consume.

Dr. Coconut doesn't obey that rule. "I consume a lot of it," he said. "Probably 40 percent of my diet is fat, but it's predominantly coconut oil."

Mary Peet, a registered dietician at Memorial Health System, said at least two or three patients a month ask her about the wisdom of eating coconut. She, too, urges caution and moderation.

Peet keeps an open mind. She agrees that mediumchain triglycerides are processed differently by the body, and some studies indicate coconut oil doesn't promote plaque buildup in blood vessels, but she's waiting for more evidence.

"We need more research, and nutrition research takes a long time," she said. "That's frustrating for my patients, but it's just not black and white.

In five years it might be different.

"If they want to try it," Peet adds, "I'd probably advise moderation. Give it a short-term trial and see what blood levels are doing and what your weight is doing."

Fife knows his claims are controversial, but for him it is a mission as well as a profession.

He began his career as a geophysicist, studying the mysteries of the earth.

He ended up founding his own publishing house, Piccadilly Books, and decided to specialize in health books.

He went back to school to become a nutritionist and naturopath, and published books on detoxifying the body, the benefits of rebound exercise (on a trampoline), and the hazards of electromagnetic radiation.

His obsession with coconuts started about a decade ago, when he was faced with contradictory claims of coconuts' healthfulness and the conventional wisdom that they are loaded with saturated fats and therefore cause heart disease.

His research into that question led to his first coconut book, "The Coconut Oil Miracle," in 2000.

It snowballed from there.

At first, his wife of 33 years was wary of his infatuation with the coconut.

"I thought, ‘Why can't you be like everyone else?'" Leslie Fife said.

She was forced to try coconut and she soon became a convert.

"It's in our cooking. It's on our skin. If I get a sunburn or a spider bite, it's the first thing I put on because I know it will give me relief. People are going to think we're fanatical, but it works."

Bruce Fife acknowledges that he's attracted more than his share of scorn and criticism for his conclusions about coconuts, but he's determined to defend a wronged fruit, to make people healthier, and to give a boost to coconut producers.

"I'm still fighting it, but I've made more progress than I ever thought we would," Fife said.

"There's still misconceptions and prejudice, but we're fighting, and I'm gaining ground."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0226 or bill.reed@gazette.com