Coconut Oil - Safe for Adult Use (as a Lube)

It gets rancid more quickly when it's unable to maintain solid form. Once it hits that melting point and stays there, things start a'happenin'. I had some in my cast iron skillet that I melted down, then didn't cook with... It sat on the burner that was just warm for the oven for a few hours and it stunk up the entire kitchen the day after. Also, it's the level of contamination from other elements that affects the rancidity. I think I made that word up. If you get another fluid or such into coconut oil, the whole jar will go pretty quickly, once it gets a little too warm to maintain solid - state. Imagine that with your natural vaginal bacteriases. I don't want to douche immediately after sex or risk smelling like a rotten coconut

 

It would be nice if there was a federal agency or a consumer review magazine that was unbiased and was setup to test claims made in a scientific way...

 

I'd like to hear more about this. My beard feels dry most of the time.

 

All legit... check it out... everything is properly referenced.

In response to some of the posts, I would like to offer the following info...

1. Coconut oil DOES NOT goes rancid quickly at elevated temperature. In fact, it is a lot more stable at elevated temperatures than most other cooking oils (including vegetable oil and olive oil). Both vegetable and olive oils also burn at a much lower temperature than does coconut oil.

2. Coconut oil remains quit stable over time and will change from liquid to solid at approximately 75 degrees, over and over and over, without degredation.

3. It is not critical to take a shower after using coconut oil. In fact, coconut oil is well documented to be quite good for the skin and is often recommended to assist with acne, as it has natural anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties.

In a Psychology Today article published on November 8, 2010, called “Sex Lubes without Chemicals”, Dr. Paul Joannides, Psy.D explains two things:

- Olive oil molecules are too long to be absorbed into the walls of the vagina. As a result, much of the olive oil can stay in the vagina after intercourse, remaining in the rear of the vagina to cause problems.

- Coconut oil, on the other hand, is one of the few oils with short-chain molecules. This is why it will absorb into the epithelium of the vagina.

If you buy coconut oil, be aware that you have two basic flavor options:
1. Virgin or Extra Virgin should smell and taste like coconuts (with flavor)
2. Refined (or RBD) should NOT smell or taste like coconuts (flavorless and odorless).

As well if you visit "healthtap dot com", you will be able to find several board certified medical doctors (currently practicing all over the U.S.) that recommend coconut oil as a personal lube. Just visit "healthtap dot com" and use their search box that says "Ask doctors for free". Type in "coconut oil as lube" and read their answers.

For example (and to name a few),
- Dr. Joel Gallant (Board Certified for Infectious Disease and practicing in Sante Fe, NM) wrote, “Coconut oil is fine as a lubricant, but it will not kill sperm or prevent pregnancy. It also should not be used with latex condoms. Use only water-based lubricants with condoms.”
- Dr. Pamela A. Pappas (Board Certified to practice Psychiatry in Scottsdale, AZ) wrote, "Coconut oil quickly becomes liquid at body temperature, and should be fine”. She also wrote that virgin coconut oil "should be fine" as a sexual lubricant, both vaginally and anally as well as for the pores, skin and reproductive system.
- Dr. Alfredo Nieves (Board certified gynecologist and practicing in Chattanooga, TN) wrote, using coconut oil as a lubricant is “Not a problem.”

I hope this helps. Again all of this information is legit. Feel free to take the time to look things up.

 

@genuinemommy ~You go girl!

 

Wow... just trying to share good information about something I love and something that I have spent a lot of time trying to factually understand.

I guess I'm confused about how Board Certified practicing medical doctors and the National Insitute of Health are somehow "scientifically suspect". Really???
- Dr. Joel Gallant (Board Certified for Infectious Disease and practicing in Sante Fe, NM)
- Dr. Alfredo Nieves (Board certified gynecologist and practicing in Chattanooga, TN)

I promise that I did not create healthtap dot com or nih dot gov (actually owned by the US Federal Gov)?

Anyway, I definitely didn't mean to cause a negative comotion... sorry... and I hope everyone has a most excellent and happy Thursday.

I wish you all the best.

 

Will do. Clearly my first post was not the best option. Thanks though.
--- merged: Feb 20, 2014 5:32 PM ---

I would be more than happy to heavily modify the original post, if possible... is this possible?
--- merged: Feb 20, 2014 5:50 PM ---

No offense taken and you should be biased as you've worked to gain certain knowledge that others have not taken time to obtain. This is my first post on someone else's blog. I clearly took things in a bit of an incorrect direction and apologize for that. My lesson has been learned.

I also agree with your medical doctor comment, as I would agree that they do not always have the answers and sometimes they don't even have a good or even a correct answer, but they are thought of as "experts" and can be counted on in some (or even a lot of cases) to provide accurate info.

 

Interesting to read all the potential downsides, I've heard coconut oil recommended enthusiastically by a bunch of people who seem to be having a lot more sex than I am and I've never heard any of these concerns raised, so I accepted it uncritically. Looks like I'll be hunting for published research on lunch break sometime soon.

Nobody's perfect, I'm a moderator and I've made plenty of shitty threads and posts over the years. You seem to be willing to adjust to go with the flow the way we tend to structure discussion around here so I wouldn't worry about it.

 

I am willing to be an unbiased scientist and personally run some double-blind trials to find out the truth.

Has nobody ever done a extensive study on the full range of lubrication types before and what happens?

Study examines effect of water-based and silicon-based lubricant

Studies Raise Questions About Safety Of Personal Lubricants | December 10, 2012 Issue - Vol. 90 Issue 50 | Chemical & Engineering News

http://www.pureromancebykay.com/uploads/6/6/7/1/6671825/lubricant_study.pdf

But, this raises a much bigger problem that exists in science and the Internet today. What works and what is people trying to sell something. And maybe it works for one person and doesn't for another. It isn't just this topic, but even the medical studies done aren't always done correctly or the researchers didn't report the results they don't like... And then you have the internet which has good advice and bad advice and everything in-between with minimal ways for those who know nothing about something to make an informed 'correct' opinion.

 

My reply...

Approximately ten years ago, I worked for a company that funded an initial round of double-blind, placebo controlled scientific studies on oral enzymes. The purpose of these 4 initial,small studies was to determine which study format would produce the most favorable results for the full blown, expensive study, because the expensive study results were to be submitted to the FDA.

So, I would have to agree that even "scientific research" can be extremely biased.

Because of this, I would say it's probably best to always do your own research and believe what is most believable to you.

If the rest of this post is too long, the links I mention as "scientific research" conducted on personal lubricants are:

1. www dot ncbi dot nlm dot nih dot gov/pmc/articles/PMC3161103 - titled: Identification of Personal Lubricants That Can Cause Rectal Epithelial Cell Damage and Enhance HIV Type 1 Replication in Vitro. - 41 commercial lubes were reviewed.

2. www dot ncbi dot nlm dot nih dot gov/pmc/articles/PMC3244680 - titled: The slippery slope: Lubricant Use and Rectal Sexually Transmitted Infections: a newly identified risk.

3. www dot ncbi dot nlm dot nih dot gov/pmc/articles/PMC3708353/ - titled: Condoms and condiments: compatibility and safety of personal lubricants and their use in Africa


And if you like to read long winded bloggers (like me)... here's the details of these studies... I tried to bold the important stuff.

- www dot ncbi dot nlm dot nih dot gov/pmc/articles/PMC3161103 - titled: Identification of Personal Lubricants That Can Cause Rectal Epithelial Cell Damage and Enhance HIV Type 1 Replication in Vitro.

What did the results show?

1. Most lubricants were not significantly active to conclude that they could be considered potential microbicides (anti-microbial). Mild anti-HIV-1MN activity was seen in Replens. None of these lubricants compared in activity to Carraguard.

2. Surprisingly, four lubes, Astroglide Liquid, Astroglide Warming Liquid, Astroglide Glycerin & Paraben-Free Liquid, and Astroglide Silken Secret, significantly enhanced (R5 and X4) HIV-1 replication. A common ingredient in three of these preparations is polyquaternium-15. As a result, they wanted to test the antiviral activity of polyquaternium-15 on HIV replication; however, it was not commercially available.

3. Previous studies "documented anti-HIV-1 activity of Astroglide brand lubricants, but based on these study findings, this appears to be due to the toxic effect of the product and not true antiviral effect."

4. "a recent report showed that hyperosmolar formulations and surfactants such as GML (glycerol monolaurate) markedly increased the susceptibility of mice to HSV-2. Additionally, high levels of EDTA (a common ingredient in several lubricants) tended to increase the susceptibility of mice to HSV-2 (Herpes).

5. "Specifically, 11.7% of subjects using lubricants tested positive for rectal STIs compared to only 4.5% of those who did not use lubricants."


At least one other study demonstrated that rectal STI (sexually transmitted infections) prevalence among lubricant-using men and women were significantly higher than non lubricant users.

That study: www dot ncbi dot nlm dot nih dot gov/pmc/articles/PMC3244680 - titled: The slippery slope: Lubricant Use and Rectal Sexually Transmitted Infections: a newly identified risk.

Another big study on the safety of lubricants is: www dot ncbi dot nlm dot nih dot gov/pmc/articles/PMC3708353/ - titled: Condoms and condiments: compatibility and safety of personal lubricants and their use in Africa - This study investigates the global evidence of lubricant compatibility with latex condoms and biological safety of lubricants, as well as documentation of lubricant use and current guidelines for HIV prevention programming in Africa.

Anyone else want to please add to this?
--- merged: Feb 25, 2014 at 8:31 PM ---

My reply...

As previously mentioned, I like to believe that the studies published by the National Institute of Health qualify as efforts to accumulate unbiased scientific research results. As well, I often refer to University studies, PubMed research and Medline reports. As you probably know PubMed and Medline are both extensions of our Federal Government (US National Library of Medicine) and all of these options have published numerous full study results that are multiple pages in length.

Regarding the doctors on Healthtap, they appear to be practicing in various states all over the U.S. And, information provided on this site, I simply accept as a doctor's opion, but doctor's typically know more about health than brick layers, for example and as you said, they do provide a nice starting point. As well, if you read Healthtap enough, you will notice that you can find doctor's the regularly provide contradicting information, as they are just opinions.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

Happy Tuesday.
--- merged: Feb 25, 2014 at 8:38 PM ---
Who are these doctors and where do they get their information? Do they specialize in the matter at hand? (You'll find they don't, nor do they accommodate for this in their responses by citing sources.)

Also, regarding HealthTap in general:

Translation: The information on HealthTap should only be a starting point, not an end.


My reply...

Quick addition...

If you visit Healthtap and read about individual doctors, you might find that the community members of Healthtap rate the doctors on their specialties. So, yes, the doctors I reference in relationship to certain subjects generally (not always) appear to be "experts" on the subject I reference.

 

That was a post right there.

Still, they didn't have a list of the 41 lubes they tried. Or at least I didn't see it. Scientific papers aren't my favorite type of reading. I like results and recommendations from informed people. And that is part of the problem with the medical/science field. They didn't ask 1,000 porn stars to try these different lubes to get their recommendations and to see which one they liked the best.

Now, yes, science can study the ill-effects of something. It might be virus transmission or cell damage, but I think there are more factors that need to be addressed to pick the best lube based on informed decisions and would become the normal recommended one around the world. It would also decimate all the other competitors, which is why the FDA, CDC, or NIH can't be the ones to do it.

PubMed Central, Figure 6: PLoS One. 2012; 7(11): e48328. Published online 2012 November 7. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048328

 

We have used coconut oil or over 5 years it is the perfect lube and never a problem..the only issue is winter. If you keep your house cool it really becomes quite hard and you have chunks that need to melt which happens fast but still a bit of a bother unless you warm the oil first.