New Delhi: ‘Pure Poison’. That is how a Harvard professor described coconut oil, triggering a chain-reaction that culminated in India demanding a retraction. But it is not just a matter of taste that is at stake here, but also a Rs 6,448 crore question of economics.
Karein Michels, a professor at the Harvard TN Chan School of Public Health criticised the superfood movement and described coconut oil as “one of the worst things you can eat". An epidemiologist, she was speaking at a lecture titled, ‘Coconut Oil and Other Nutritional Errors’ at the University of Freiburg. Her lecture, although in German, was watched nearly a million times within days.
The Indian government, in a move which officials described as ‘unusual’, reacted promptly. In a letter dated August 28, B N S Murthy, the horticulture commissioner in the agriculture ministry wrote to the university demanding "corrective measures", a retraction and hailed coconut as a “revered crop”.
“I hope that you will take corrective measures by retracting the statement and come out clean by accepting the circumstances that compelled her (Prof. Michels) for the negative statements against the revered crop of billions,” he told the dean of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Soon after, India’s views were endorsed by the Asia Pacific Coconut Community (of which India is a founding member) during its annual meeting at Thailand.
India's Growing Coconut Exports
The stakes are high. On the one hand India's export of coconuts has nearly doubled since 2014 – from Rs 3,975 crore during 2004-14 to Rs 6,448 crore by 2018. On the other hand, key markets like the US and Europe are increasingly questioning the science behind the claims of coconut oil’s myriad health benefits.
India, the largest exporter of coconuts, benefited greatly from the branding of coconut oil as a superfood globally. From 2011-13, for instance, Google trend data from the US showed that searches for coconut oil nearly doubled. By 2014 some of the related searches included "swishing coconut oil in your mouth" to clean teeth to adding it to coffee for fat loss.
Sales peaked in the US at nearly $230m in 2015 but have since lost their lustre. In the next two years, sales dropped by by $52 million, or 24.3 percent, as per US-based market research firm SPINS. But for India, where the government has been encouraging coconut production, this isn’t good news.
An official of the Coconut Development Board (CDB) - a statutory body established under the Ministry of Agriculture, explained, "India is looking to increase its share in the agrarian export market. But coconut is a sensitive crop, its prices reacting sharply to demand and supply globally and within the country and this has a direct impact on farmers."
Fate of 12 Million Farm Families at Stake
“The industry provides livelihood to more than 12 million farm families,” Murthy told Harvard. In spite of the Indian government’s robust counter to the university’s statement, officials admitted that if the global market for coconut oil was to shrink, the biggest challenges will be faced by coconut farmers.
Fluctuating prices and difficulties in finding favourable market outlets, officials of the CDB said, have remained the key challenge for the farmers. Right now, coconut prices are soaring. In February 2018, Kerala, for instance, saw prices at Rs 223 per kg - an increase from Rs 124 per kg just 10 months ago. In an analysis, Jnanadevan.R, Deputy Director, CDB, Kochi wrote the "steep rise in coconut price associated with less supply due to decline in productivity and high demand for export and processing units within the country."
This combination of soaring prices and increased production has led to other problems. Earlier this month, it was reported that as a result of inadequate orders from north Indian states ahead of upcoming festivals, coconuts worth crores were accumulating in godowns across towns in Tamil Nadu.
A.Jagannathan, state joint secretary of the Tamil Nadu Coconut Producers and Traders’ Association, said, "Coconuts worth Rs 100 crore are stagnant in godowns in Tamil Nadu alone. The prices have nearly doubled and as a result, traders from north India prefer placing orders in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, where prices are low."
So is Coconut Oil Good or Bad For You?
It all eventually boils down to this question: whether or not coconut oil is healthy. The answer, though, depends on who you ask.
In 2017, the American Heart Association argued that due to its high saturated fat content, coconut oil could raise bad cholesterol, recommending "reducing saturated fat to no more than 5 to 6 percent of total daily calories". So for someone with a dietary intake of 2,000 calories every day, that is 11-13 grams of saturated fat or one tablespoon of coconut oil.
India disagrees. The CDB lists 18 distinct nutritional and medicinal benefits of coconut oil and describes coconut oil as "your weapon to fight cholesterol" and "saturated fat”. It cites studies undertaken by the Biochemistry Department, University of Kerala, and argues that it "doesn't elevate blood cholesterol", "increase HDL cholesterol" (good cholesterol) and "does not elevate LDL cholesterol" or bad cholesterol. It even makes the case that coconut oil could aid diabetics.
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