As a research scientist, she has published numerous studies on saturated fat, including tropical oils. She proposes that there is much mis-information and misunderstanding in the medical community and press regarding the effects of natural saturated fats in the diet. Tropical oils in particular have received much undue criticism in large part because of economic motivations of the American oil industry. When these groups migrated to New Zealand, however, and lowered their intake of coconut oil, their total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol increased, and their HDL cholesterol decreased. One possible reason that the saturated fat in coconut had no harmful effect on the islanders, Dr. Enig proposes, is the lauric acid.
Lauric acid is a medium chain fatty acid, found naturally in mother's milk.
Lauric acid has the beneficial function of being formed into monolaurin in the body. Monolaurin is the antiviral, antibacterial, and antiprotozoal monoglyceride used by the body to destoy lipid-coated viruses such as HIV, herpes, and influenza. Ironically when fast food chains and bakers were forced to discontinue using tropical oils, these types of oils were their replacement. Dr. Enig would disagree saying that when these types of vegetable oils are heated to a high temperature their molecular structure changes for the worse making them unhealthy for the body. Tropical oils, on the other hand, are much more stable when heated.