Where is mct absorbed

If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. This is partly due to the widely publicized benefits of coconut oil, which is a rich source of them. Medium-chain triglycerides MCTs are fats found in foods like coconut oil. MCT oil is a supplement that contains a lot of these fats and is claimed to have many health benefits. Triglyceride is simply the technical term for fat.

Triglycerides have two main purposes. Triglycerides are named after their chemical structure, specifically the length of their fatty acid chains. All triglycerides consist of a glycerol molecule and three fatty acids. The majority of fat in your diet is made up of long-chain fatty acids, which contain 13—21 carbons. Short-chain fatty acids have fewer than 6 carbon atoms. Medium-chain triglycerides MCTs contain fatty acids that have a chain length of 6—12 carbon atoms.

They include caproic acid C6 , caprylic acid C8 , capric acid C10 , and lauric acid C Unlike longer-chain fatty acids, MCTs go straight to your liver, where they can be used as an instant energy source or turned into ketones. Ketones are substances produced when the liver breaks down large amounts of fat. In contrast with regular fatty acids, ketones can cross from the blood to the brain.

This provides an alternative energy source for the brain, which ordinarily uses glucose for fuel 2. The brain always prefers to use glucose as fuel in place of ketones. That said, further studies are needed to determine their ability to aid weight loss 3. Due to their shorter chain length, medium-chain triglycerides are more rapidly broken down and absorbed into the body. This makes them a quick energy source and less likely to be stored as fat.

The following foods are the richest sources of medium-chain triglycerides, including lauric acid, and listed along with their percentage composition of MCTs 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 :. Although the sources above are rich in MCTs, their composition of them varies. Compared with coconut oil, dairy sources tend to have a higher proportion of capra fatty acids and a lower proportion of lauric acid. This involves extracting and isolating the MCTs from coconut or palm kernel oil. Caproic acid C6 is not normally included due to its unpleasant taste and smell.

Meanwhile, lauric acid C12 is often missing or present in only small amounts 9. Many advocates market MCT oil as better than coconut oil because caprylic acid C8 and capric acid C10 are thought to be more rapidly absorbed and processed for energy, compared with lauric acid C12 10 , Food sources of MCTs include coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and dairy products.

Yet, their MCT compositions vary. It often contains C8, C10, or a mix of the two. In studies, doses range from 5—70 grams 0. For disorders in bile acid metabolism and liver diseases, the property of absorption independent of bile acid is a particular advantage and MCT fats are used as an important energy supply, e. Benefits of MCT fats. MCT fats do not require bile salts for digestion.

MCT fats are absorbed by the bowel without pancreatic enzymes. Table of contents. Sign up for our Newsletter! Investigators who found the greatest differences also concluded that MCT could be used in the treatment or prevention of human obesity 3 — 5. However, the studies conducted to date have been short, ranging from a single meal 3 — 6 to several days 7 , 8.

Whether effects of MCT on EE and RQ are long lasting and result in actual measurable and sustainable changes in body composition of humans remain to be established. Given that feed efficiency studies in animals and energetic studies in humans indicate enhanced EE after MCT consumption 3 — 11 , additional work has examined whether increased EE translates into decreased fat mass. These results led the authors to conclude that MCT could potentially prevent 13 or control 15 obesity in humans.

However, MCT consumption was not observed by Hill et al. Body adipose tissue during the first 3 mo was not different among groups but after 6 mo, the group fed FO had less body fat than all other groups. Only one study evaluated the ability of MCT to facilitate weight reduction in humans There were no differences in weight loss or rate of weight loss between diet treatments.

This lack of agreement with animal trials and EE experiments may have been due to the low fat content of the diets 1. In contrast, data from White et al. From these preliminary data, it appears that women respond less readily to treatment with MCT than men. Satiety may also be affected by fatty acid chain length of dietary fat. Bray et al. Given these results, Maggio and Koopmans 20 , in , conducted a study to clarify the origin and the nature of the signals that terminate short-term food intake of mixed meals containing triglycerides TG with fatty acids of different chain lengths.

Shifting chain length from medium to long did not differentially affect food intake when the infusions were equicaloric. Therefore, the authors concluded that satiety may be related to the amount of energy ingested rather than to the physical characteristics of the specific nutrients.

This was in contrast to results obtained by Denbow et al. However, when infusions were given intragastrically, only SCT decreased feed intake. The authors concluded that these results reflect the relatively rapid rate of digestion and absorption of short-chain fatty acids SCFA from the gut along with oxidation of SCFA by the liver.

Furuse et al. In a separate trial, Devazepide DVZ , a CCK-A receptor antagonist, was injected intraperitoneally 40 min before feeding and feed intake was measured at 1, 2, 3 and 6 h postinjection. Feed intake decreased in a dose-dependent manner with increased concentration of MCT in the diet and was enhanced 2 h after DVZ injection. The authors thus concluded that satiety is affected by carbon chain length in dietary TG sources. If MCT consumption enhances satiety and decreases food intake in animals, an equivalent response might be expected in humans.

Stubbs and Harbron 23 examined whether the effects of ingesting MCT can limit the hyperphagia associated with high fat, energy-dense diets in humans.

Six men participated in a three-phase inpatient trial in which they had free access to experimental high fat foods Each experimental phase differed in the amount of MCT included in the diet, i.

Subjects consumed Body weights during consumption of the low and medium MCT diets increased by 0. Food and energy intakes were thus suppressed when two thirds of the fat content of a high fat diet was derived from MCT, but BW were not affected. Another clinical trial 24 was designed to establish the influence of chain length and degree of saturation on food intake in normal-weight men.

Breakfasts differing in the nature of the fat, i. Energy intake at lunch was lower after the MCT-containing breakfast than after all other breakfasts vs. Clinical trials 23 , 24 have shown that MCT consumption can lead to lower energy intakes but have not explored the underlying mechanism.

More recently, research has focused on specific hormones that may be involved in the satiating effect of MCT. McLaughlin et al. Fatty acid emulsions containing fatty acids of 11 carbon chains and less did not increase plasma CCK concentrations compared with the vehicle, whereas long-chain fatty acids LCFA did. This study showed that the human proximal gut differentiates between fatty acid molecules; however, it does not support the role of CCK in mediating the satiating effect of MCT.

Several other studies have also reported that MCT do not stimulate CCK secretion in humans 26 — 28 , and trials have attempted to establish which hormone is responsible for the observed effects of MCT on food intake.

Barbera et al. LCFA infusion resulted in a greater rise in satiation than MCFA, but there was no difference between the two fats on the perception of fullness and bloating. The authors thus concluded that MCFA induce gastric relaxation without increasing satiation or plasma levels of gut hormones. However, because Stubbs and Harbron 23 and Van Wymelbeke 24 have shown lower food intakes with diets rich in MCT, it is likely that other factors play a role in regulating energy balance with MCT consumption.

Maas et al. These investigators had previously observed that infusions of MCFA suppressed gastrin-stimulated gastric acid secretion without the involvement of CCK J Sports Med Phys Fitness.

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