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The oil contains lauric acid, which gives it antiviral and antifungal properties.

Although lauric acid is usually referred to as a medium-chain fatty acid, Dr. Sacks said, this label is really arbitrary.

“Classifying lauric acid as a medium-chain fatty acid is a misnomer,” he wrote.

Perhaps you’ve heard the claim that the primary fatty acid in coconut oil, called lauric acid, doesn’t act like a saturated fat in the body.

“Rather than the number of carbon atoms in a fat,” he said, “what counts is how the fat is metabolized in the body. Lauric acid behaves like a long-chain fatty acid,” the kind that promotes atherosclerosis.