Virgin coconut oil: wet production methods and food applications – a review

Abstract

Globally, the demand for functional foods is increasing because of their positive impact on health. In recent times, Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) has been gaining prominence as a healthy functional food, owing to its bioactive compounds such as polyphenols and medium-chain fatty acids. As a result, it exhibits potential health benefits such as cardioprotective, neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, and anti-inflammatory effects. These health benefits of VCO enhanced its role mainly in the food, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical industries. VCO is obtained from fresh coconut kernels without any heat, shear, or the addition of chemicals. In this review, different methods such as centrifugation, fermentation, freezing–thawing followed by centrifugation, and enzymatic treatment followed by centrifugation for the production of VCO are discussed. This review also discusses the application of recent novel methods such as supercritical fluid extraction, ultrasonication, mega-sonication, microwave treatment, etc., for the production of VCO. The development of value-added convenience food products such as oleogels, emulsions, and encapsulated powders incorporating VCO is discussed. The present review also discusses the use of VCO as a natural solvent for extracting bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, pigments, etc., from plants and other natural sources.