10/29/2014 Coconut Oil May Help Fight Childhood Pneumonia

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Coconut Oil May Help Fight Childhood Pneumonia
Symptoms eased faster when it was added to antibiotic therapy, study found.
By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
Oct. 31
THURSDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Virgin coconut oil, added to antibiotic therapy, may help
relieve the symptoms of community-acquired pneumonia in kids faster than antibiotic therapy alone, a
new study finds.
Children who received coconut oil therapy along with antibiotics had fewer crackles (a wheezing
sound in the lungs), a shorter time with an elevated respiratory rate and fever, better oxygen saturation
in the blood, and shorter hospital stays, according to the study.
"Earlier normalization of respiratory rate and resolution of crackles could also mean possible earlier
discharge," said the study's lead author, Dr. Gilda Sapphire Erguiza, a pediatric pulmonologist at the
Philippine Children's Medical Center in Quezon City.
The study's findings were due to be presented Wednesday at the American College of Chest
Physicians meeting in Philadelphia.
Community-acquired pneumonia is an infection of the lungs that is contracted outside a hospital
setting. It is a serious infection in children and affects as many as 34 to 40 youngsters per 1,000
children in Europe and North America, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians
(AAFP). Lower respiratory infections are one of the leading causes of childhood mortality in
developing countries, according to the AAFP.
The current study included 40 children between the ages of 3 months and 5 years old. All had
community-acquired pneumonia and were being treated intravenously with the antibiotic ampicillin.
Half of the group was randomized to also receive oral virgin coconut oil in a daily dose of 2 milliliters
per every kilogram of weight. The oil was given for three days in a row.
The researchers found that the respiratory rate normalized in 32.6 hours for the virgin coconut oil
group versus 48.2 hours for the control group, according to the study. After three days, patients in the
control group were more likely to still have crackles than those in the coconut oil group -- 60 percent
of the controls still had crackles compared to 25 percent of the coconut oil group.
Those in the coconut oil group also had fevers for a shorter time, had normal oxygen saturation faster,
and had shorter hospital stays, but Erguiza said these findings did not reach statistical significance.
How might the coconut oil work to ease pneumonia? Erguiza hypothesized that it may boost
ampicillin's effectiveness because it contains lauric acid, which is known to have antimicrobial
properties, she said.
One expert said the findings aren't definitive, however.
10/29/2014 Coconut Oil May Help Fight Childhood Pneumonia
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"This is a very interesting but small study. The jury's still out as to whether there's a real benefit here,"
said Dr. Daniel Rauch, director of the pediatric hospitalist program at New York University Langone
Medical Center.
Rauch said he wouldn't discourage a parent from trying this treatment, as long as they were still using
antibiotics, but he said it's important that children aren't forced to take virgin coconut oil, or any other
oil for that matter. The concern, he said, is that if a child is forced to ingest something like coconut oil,
and doesn't really don't want to, he or she may end up choking on it and aspirating the oil into the
lungs, which is very dangerous.
In an effort to prevent some pneumonias from occurring in the first place, the Pneumococcal
Awareness Council of Experts initiated a "Global Call to Action" on Oct. 24 to urge greater access to
the pneumococcal vaccine in poor countries. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention's journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the pneumococcal vaccine has been
introduced in 26 countries worldwide, though none are low-income countries.
More information
To learn more about pneumonia, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
SOURCES: Gilda Sapphire Erguiza, M.D., pediatric pulmonologist, Philippine Children's Medical
Center, Quezon City, Philippines; Daniel Rauch, M.D., director, pediatric hospitalist program, New
York University Langone Medical Center, and assistant professor of pediatrics, New York University
School of Medicine, New York City; Oct. 29, 2008, presentation, American College of Chest
Physician's annual meeting, Philadelphia; Oct. 23, 2008, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
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