Take a look at this: Can coconut oil help prevent macular degeneration?

Coconut oil is an edible oil obtained from mature coconuts. It is considered a superfood due to its many health benefits. Aside from being able to decrease insulin resistance, increase good cholesterol, and soothe the skin, coconut oil can also protect the eyes from the irreversible damage caused by age-related macular degeneration.

Coconut oil can protect the retinas from degeneration

Evidence for coconut oil‘s newly discovered health benefit came from a study published in the journal Pathophysiology.

Back in 2018, researchers from the University of Ilorin in Nigeria investigated the retinoprotective effect of Cocos nucifera oil (CNO) or coconut oil. They used twenty male Wister rats and divided them into four groups. They gave the control group only distilled water and exposed the other three to 5,000 lux of bright white light for two hours to induce retinal degeneration.

Prior to light exposure, the researchers gave the light model group (LMG) distilled water for 14 days. They gave the low C. nucifera oil (LCNO) group 5?milliliter per kilogram (mL/kg) of CNO and the high C. nucifera oil (HCNO) group 10?mL/kg of CNO for 14 days. The treatments lasted for seven days after exposure to light. After the treatment period, the researchers prepared the right retinas and occipital cortices of the animals for histological evaluation. They used homogenates of the left retinas for biochemical assay.

The researchers found that CNO significantly reduced caspase-3 activity and malondialdehyde concentration. Caspase-3 is an enzyme that mediates programmed cell