OIL PULLING
01
Why swish it?
Eating virgin coconut oil (VCO) is excellent for your heart and cellular health; applying VCO on the skin helps improve
cellular strength and is an ideal topical product for barrier repair, moisturization and disinfection; absorption of VCO
through the mouth could be another method of getting the benefits of VCO, and faster. Because the mouth’s mucosal
interior is full of blood vessels, some drugs absorbed here can act faster and bypass the digestive tract, entering the
body’s systemic circulation directly and delivering health benefits that would otherwise be lost to gastrointestinal and
metabolic processing.* In other words, eating VCO and applying it on skin and hair are awesome ways to get its
benefits, but you can get even more by its being absorbed through the mouth lining, too.
02
Teeth, gums, breath
With its proven antimicrobial action, VCO swilling may be able to fend off cavities (which are bacterial infections). As an
anti-inflammatory, it prevents gum disease and soreness.
What about whitening teeth? It seems possible. Bacteria is a cause of enamel erosion which is what leads to dentin’s
natural yellow color showing through.
03
Can it help skin?
Indirectly, by controlling bacteria, oil pulling could reduce your need for fluoridated mouthwashes and let you switch to
a fluoride-free toothpaste like Essence Skin-Saving Toothpaste which can dramatically clear up acne
around the mouth, and on the chin and jaw line ( fluorides can be acnegenic.)
More directly, if you have a compromised immune system (as some who are undergoing cancer therapy do), or sores
from PFAPA, Behçet’s, herpes or another condition, or if you have Sjogren’s disease (which makes the skin and
mucosal surfaces dry), VCO pulling can soothe pain and dryness, and help clear the lesions faster.
04
Why virgin coconut oil?
The mouth is both very sensitive and a hotbed of microbes. It seems like if oil pulling is beneficial it’s largely due to the
antibacterial action — in which case, VCO’s proven broad-spectrum anti-microbial effects (on bacteria, fungi and
viruses) makes it the ideal choice.
Other pluses are VCO’s stable saturated medium-chain triglycerides (vital to cell repair) and its anti-inflammatory
effects (important for sores and infection). It is non-allergenic and non-comedogenic, too.
Choose a first-cold pressed oil like Know-It-Oil (the actual VMV uses in its clinical
studies) so that you keep as much of the phytochemical content (the good stuff) as possible. Avoid dyes, flavors and
allergenic chemicals sometimes used in extraction and processing.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12126458
