Does coconut oil lower blood pressure?

Claims keep appearing online that coconut oil can lower blood pressure. We looked into the research to see whether there are any solid studies to support this.

When people talk about coconut oil, it's important to distinguish between virgin coconut oil and coconut fat. Coconut oil is usually sold in jars, cold-pressed from the coconut flesh, unrefined and similar in texture to butter: solid when cool and liquid when warmed. Coconut fat is sold as a block or slab, is heavily processed industrially and hydrogenated.

Coconut oil is made up largely (about 90 to 97 percent) of saturated fats. This has the advantage that coconut oil can be heated to high temperatures without forming harmful trans fats. Those can form, among other ways, when more delicate unsaturated fats are overheated. Unlike unsaturated fatty acids, saturated fatty acids can also be produced by the body itself.

However, saturated fats have a reputation for being unhealthy.

So what is the claimed benefit of virgin coconut oil?

Coconut oil's high lauric acid content is often said to have health benefits. Lauric acid is a medium-chain fatty acid, which is claimed not to raise LDL cholesterol and may even help minimize damage to blood vessel walls. In this way it's supposed to help prevent atherosclerosis, which would in turn have a positive effect on blood pressure. Coconut oil is also claimed to help with body weight, because medium-chain fatty acids are considered easy to digest and are supposedly used by the body primarily for energy.

However, these are currently all more assumptions than scientifically proven facts. What can probably be considered established, though, is that coconut oil is suitable for cooking and frying.

This article is from Tensana – the leading app since 2011, helping hundreds of thousands of people monitor their blood pressure every day. Our content is based on carefully researched, evidence-based data and is continuously updated (as of 01/2026).

Author Sabine Croci is a qualified medical assistant with many years of experience in internal medicine and cardiology practices as well as outpatient care, and has headed the specialist editorial team at Tensana since 2015. Thanks to her extensive additional qualifications as an emergency medical technician, first responder, and in various areas of therapy and emergency care, she provides well-founded, practical, and reliably verified information.

Does coconut oil lower blood pressure?

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