Medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) are a staple of the Bulletproof Diet and a key ingredient in Bulletproof Coffee. MCTs can help you lose weight, curb your hunger, kick your brain into a higher gear – even enhance your workouts. They’re some of the most powerful fats around.
This article takes a deep look at using MCTs for everything from brain function to athletic performance. We’ll talk about the different kinds of MCTs and how each type can upgrade your body. We’ll also cover sourcing, processing, dose, and more. Let’s get to it.
What are MCTs?
Medium chain triglycerides (MCTs) are a special class of fat. Chemically, they’re a bit different from their shorter-chain and longer-chain relatives.
Fat molecules are kind of like rats – larger bodies with thin tails coming off them. The length of a fat’s tail determines a great deal about how it behaves in your body.
C8 (caprylic acid). The body’s on the right, and the 8-carbon tail is on the left.
MCTs get their name from their medium-length tails – anywhere from 6 to 12 carbons long. There are 4 kinds of MCTs: C6, C8, C10, and C12. In general, the shorter the tail length, the more efficiently the MCT turns into ketones, a potent energy source [1,2,3,4,5].
Ketones put you into ketosis, which is when you burn fat instead of carbs for most of your energy. Ketones are a fast, clean-burning source of fuel. Different MCTs turn into ketones at different rates:
C6 (caproic acid)
C6 is the shortest MCT. You convert it to ketones faster than its longer counterparts.
It also smells and tastes like goats. Seriously – C6’s chemical name, “caproic acid,” comes from “capra,” which is Latin for “goat.” The next two MCTs on this list share the same root name, but you can take their goaty flavor out with processing.
C6 also causes digestive issues, even in tiny doses. Low-quality MCT oils often contain 1-2% C6, which can make them particularly rough on your stomach.
C8 (caprylic acid)
C8 is the good stuff. It converts to ketones within minutes, making it very powerful for suppressing hunger and fueling your brain. Processed C8 is also flavorless, odorless, and easier on your stomach, so you avoid the pitfalls you run into with C6. Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil is 100% C8 MCT.
C10 (capric acid)
C10 is less efficient than C8. The extra two carbons mean your liver takes longer to turn C10 into ketones, but you do still get mental and metabolic boosts from it. C10 is much less rare than C8, making it cheaper to produce. Bulletproof XCT Oil is a blend of C8 and C10.
C12 (lauric acid)
C12, commonly called lauric acid, is different from other MCTs. It behaves more like a long-chain fatty acid – those extra carbons in C12’s tail require additional metabolic steps, meaning your liver is less efficient at absorbing C12 and breaking it down into ketones [1,2,3,4,5]. As a result, C12 won’t curb your hunger or sharpen your cognition the way C8 and C10 MCTs will. Dr. Melinda Culver explains more on Bulletproof Radio, below:
[embedded content]
Poor ketone production certainly doesn’t make lauric acid useless, though. It’s the strongest MCT when it comes to fighting off viruses, fungi, and bacteria, including Staph and Candida. [6,7,8,9,10]. Lauric acid is also a precursor to monolaurin, another compound that’s very good at killing microbes.
Coconut oil is about 50% lauric acid. It’s a superb source of fat and has a lot of great properties – but coconut oil won’t curb your hunger and boost your cognitive function as well as C8/C10 will. That’s why the Bulletproof Coffee recipe calls for Brain Octane Oil – 100% C8 MCT – and not coconut oil.
Hunger suppression
As you get low on energy, your stomach and intestines send a powerful little hormone called ghrelin up to your brain. When it arrives in your brain, ghrelin starts making a fuss, demanding more fuel. Ghrelin’s nicknamed the “hunger hormone” – it’s largely responsible for the sensation of hunger. Your stomach keeps pumping out more and more ghrelin until you eat.
Once you have some food in you, ghrelin slows down, and another hormone, CCK, comes into play. If ghrelin is the hunger hormone, CCK is the fullness one: it tells your brain you’re satisfied and to stop eating. CCK is powerful stuff – injecting people with it makes them stop eating mid-meal [11].
MCTs turn into ketones. Ketones suppress ghrelin (hunger) and enhance CCK (fullness) [12,13,14,15].
The result is that you stay satiated and energized for hours on a small amount of MCT. No need to eat every 2-3 hours, as long as you get the right dose of ketones. More on that later.
Weight loss
MCTs do more than suppress hunger. They also:
- Increase your metabolic rate [16-20]
- Decrease the amount of fat you store [21]
- Burn the fat you already have [16-20]
This is why Bulletproof Coffee works so well. When you drink a cup of it you aren’t hungry for hours, your food cravings vanish, you’re in fat-burning mode, and you keep your fat stores from filling back up. Losing weight can become effortless.
A sharper brain
And then there’s the mental clarity. MCTs are superb brain fuel for a few reasons.
The first is speed. MCTs turn into ketones within minutes. Those ketones will happily pass the blood-brain barrier [22], providing your neurons with fast access to fuel. It feels like your brain turns on. Brain fog disappears in favor of crisp, quick thought.
There aren’t many studies on MCTs and brain function in healthy people – it’s something you’ll have to try and feel for yourself – but there are studies on MCTs in people with Alzheimer’s.
One of the first symptoms of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia is impaired glucose metabolism in the brain – sugar can’t get where it needs to go, and without energy from it, brain cells start to die. Ketones work on a separate system from glucose, and that system often stays intact in people with dementia. That means MCTs can provide energy to dying brain cells, keeping neurons alive in the face of Alzheimer’s [23,24] and sometimes even reversing symptoms [25].
But even if you’re thriving, MCTs can give your brain a boost. Try them. You’ll feel it.
Work out harder
MCTs make excellent exercise fuel. Bulletproof Coffee makes even better exercise fuel. It’s also a great pre-workout.
Sugars and simple carbs sap your testosterone [26], which cuts into any muscle you’re hoping to build in the gym. MCTs won’t do that – they’re a fast source of clean energy. And if you get them through Bulletproof Coffee, you’re actually supporting testosterone synthesis because of all the saturated fat and cholesterol in the grass-fed butter. The caffeine from the coffee will give you a nice boost in the gym, too. You’ll feel supercharged for your workout.
Plus, MCTs on their own can improve your stamina:
- People who supplemented with MCT oil lasted longer and built up less blood lactate during high-intensity interval training (HIIT) [27]
- Mice who ate an MCT-rich diet had better endurance during a swim test and produced energy more efficiently [28]
For more on MCTs, ketosis, and exercise, check out this episode of Bulletproof Radio with Ben Greenfield. Ben is one of the most elite athletes in the world, and he runs almost entirely on ketones.
Sourcing and processing: what’s the best source of MCTs?
Well, obviously we’re going to say Bulletproof Brain Octane Oil. But we mean it, and here’s why:
- Brain Octane is 100% caprylic acid (C8) – that’s the MCT that converts to ketones fastest without tasting like goat.
- There’s no lauric acid (C12). It doesn’t convert to ketones fast enough. If you want lauric acid, grab a bottle of coconut oil. It’s cheaper.
- Almost all companies use solvents or bleach to clean and deodorize their MCT oil, which can leave trace chemicals in the final product. We use earthen clay.
- Brain Octane is triple-distilled and lab-tested for purity. No C12, no solvents – no trace anything. It’s 100% pure C8 MCT.
- Brain Octane is not emulsified. Emulsified MCT oil has been suspended in water so that it will dissolve more easily into liquids. It is quite literally watered down. Plus, emulsification is expensive, so you end up paying more for a weaker product. There’s no need. To emulsify Bulletproof Coffee, just blend it for a few seconds.
- As of 2016, we derive 100% of our Brain Octane from sustainable coconut oil, not palm oil, to protect the wild orangutan population in Southeast Asia. Destroying rainforests and killing orangutans are not Bulletproof.
- We process Brain Octane in the US, not overseas. It’s more expensive, but it means we can monitor the quality more closely. Plus it combats outsourcing, and the people processing Brain Octane get a fair wage.
If Brain Octane is too strong or you want to save money, try Bulletproof XCT Oil. It’s a blend of C8 and C10, so it won’t be quite as powerful as Brain Octane. But it’s significantly less expensive and it meets all the Bulletproof standards you just read about.
How to get the right dose
Too little MCT won’t curb hunger or put you deep enough into fat-burning ketosis to make a difference. Too much leads to what we call “disaster pants.”
Start with a teaspoon of Brain Octane and build your way up over the next couple weeks. Your goal is to lift your ketone concentration to 0.48 mmol/L.
At 0.48, your body resets ghrelin and leptin, your hunger hormones [12,13,14]. That’s the magic number you want for maximum hunger suppression and decent fat burning. Getting there the first time will take a little self-experimentation.
Pick up some Ketostix from any pharmacy. They change color according to the amount of ketones in your urine. Take a teaspoon of Brain Octane and measure your urine within the next 30-60 minutes, then slowly build up until you get the Ketostix color that corresponds with 0.48 mmol/L.
You can also use a blood ketone meter. It’s far more convenient and accurate than a urine test. It’s also more expensive. The meter and 10 test strips will run you about $100.
And remember that you don’t have to spend money here if doesn’t appeal. Just keep building the dose (slowly) until you stop getting hungry. Data is nice; intuition can be just as valuable.
MCTs are a powerful tool to add to your biohacking toolbox. Have you had success with them? Issues? Questions? Leave it all in the comments. Thanks for reading and stay Bulletproof!
Click to read the complete list of references.
Click to hide references.
Source: Bulletproof
