Negative health effects of coconut-are they real at the population level?

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: An ecological correlation study was carried out to assess the validity of incriminations on the effects of consumption of coconut products on deaths due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD) Aims: The aim was to evaluate the impact of consumption of coconut products on CVD death rates. Methods: Data from 1961 to 2006 were abstracted from different sources; coconut consumption from the FAO database, CVD deaths from reports of the Department of Census and Statistics, population data from the UN databases and per capita GDP from the World Bank database. Correlational and Regression analyses were carried out. RESULTS: From 1961 to 2006, the average consumption of coconut including copra was 66.19 kg/capita/year, the average consumption of energy was 271.47 kcal/ capita/ day and the average fat supply was 24.46 g/capita/ day. There was no increase in the per capita consumption of coconut products from 1961 to 2006 in Sri Lanka (range 54.1-76.2 kg/capita/year]. The CVD death rates and the proportionate mortality rate due to CVD have increased from 1961 to 2006. Consumption of coconut products was correlated with CVD death rates but no lags seen. CVD death rates were significantly associated with per capita GDP and percentage of urban population but not consumption of coconut products after adjusting for the other variables (R2=0.865J. CONCLUSIONS: Mortality due to cardiovascular diseases was significantly correlated with per capita GDP and percentage of urban population after controlling for other variables. The results do not provide any evidence that consumption of coconut products increases mortality due to cardiovascular diseases at the population level.