Coconut oil, and especially extra virgin coconut oil, has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years as it has been labeled as a health food by millions of people who don’t buy the nutrition and government organizations’ recommendations on saturated fat.
Coconuts and coconut products are staple foods in many parts of the world, including in some parts of the world where cancer and many other diseases are relatively non-existent.
Recently, several different companies have been jockeying for position and sales in the coconut oil industry, including Barlean’s, an organic-focused company that can be found online as well as at health food stores nationwide.
Barlean’s Forced to Pay $1.6 Million to Consumers
The lawsuit claimed that Barlean’s, which marketed and sold Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, Organic Culinary/Gourmet Coconut Oil, and Organic Butter Flavored Coconut Oil, violated California, New York, and federal laws by ‘misleadingly marketing the products as healthy,’ according to the class action lawsuit’s website.
Both the plaintiffs and Barlean’s have reached a settlement of $1.6 million to be paid out to those who purchased the products
The settlement’s date for filing a claim has passed, and a Fairness Hearing Date has been set for March 3, 2023.
Barlean’s denies the allegations and any wrongdoing, the settlement website added.
Coconut Oil is Incredibly Healthy
Barlean’s got the short end of the stick on this lawsuit, but there is plenty of evidence that coconut oil is incredibly healthy in a variety of ways.
While the American Heart Association recommends that people limit consumption due to coconut oil’s effect of raising LDL cholesterol, which they say is a factor in heart disease, others disagree that coconut oil is the culprit, pointing to examples of places where heart disease is less common than the United States and coconut consumption is high.
As mentioned earlier, there are many examples of places where people consume plenty of full-fat coconut products and have better health outcomes than those in industrialized, ‘first-world’ countries, like the Sasak people of Indonesia.
Coconuts have many incredible health benefits, including:
-The oil has been clinically studied and has shown promise in treating people with Alzheimer’s.
-Coconut is “highly nutritious,” containing protein, manganese, selenium, copper and other key minerals