I was lucky enough to work with some world class medical researchers in a previous career (which I sucked at but that's beside the point), one of the lessons I learnt whilst there was how to read research with a critical eye.
This popped up today when after accidentally buying a 54oz Jar of Extra Virgin Coconut oil (yes, alcohol was involved in this purchase) I decided to find out if the claimed benefits were actually validated anywhere. The manufacturer's claim that this stuff is incredibly good for you, lowers cholesterol and a bunch of other stuff.
My first stop for medical claims is Medline (actually pubmed). Medline is the major search tool for medical researchers; studies there are published in 'peer-reviewed' journals (essentially journals where other medical researchers get a chance to pick apart the study...no guarantee of quality but better than nothing). Searching for Coconut Oil gives a bunch of overwhelmingly negative studies; aha! say the proponents of 'Virgin Coconut Oil' the studies are all anti-tropical oils...non-hydrogenated Coconut Oil (which the stuff I bought supposedly is) is different...problem, there seems to be no proof (apart from a 4 year old study in a not very well recognized journal from an Indian researcher; who I have no idea of the background of...a major supplier of Coconut Oil is...India). Anyway, I'm still undecided, the research seems pretty limited; two names keep popping up, Raymond Peat, PhD and Dr. Mary Enig, both of whom wrote books about how good coconut oil is for you...always a warning sign, I always want to see truly 'independent' studies...if you're trying to sell me the stuff (or related books etc...) then I'm inclined to believe you might be a tad biased. My other worry is that there's very little peer reviewed research on what would seem like a HUGE discovery...too good to be true?
Anyway, just giving you a peek into my super-critical thinking process...and hey it tastes good (and I have a TON of it...I'm Scottish we don't waste food!)