Both MCT oil and fractionated coconut oil contain exactly the same types of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) – caprylic acid and capric acid. These two compounds are very small in size, which make both oils feel light and thin.
You may or may not derive both from coconut oil. This is because you can also obtain caprylic and capric acids from corn oil, palm kernel oil and goat milk.
However, most of these oils on the market are extracted from coconut oil or palm kernel oil. That’s because it’s more cost-effective to do so.
So far, did you notice that both MCT oil and fractionated coconut oil look alike in many ways.
They do look and feel pretty much alike in appearance and on skin. But there are a couple of differences between these two products.
Key Differences
What primarily makes MCT oil different from fractionated coconut oil is the extra process of making MCT oil edible.
In other words, MCT oil is made purer and safer for consumption whereas fractionated coconut oil ain’t edible.
Fractionated coconut oil is made for skin care only. So, it’s relatively cheaper.
Because of its very light nature, massage therapists love using fractionated coconut oil to dilute essential oils. You can also apply it directly to your skin. It seeps into your skin very fast.
Another difference between MCT oil and fractionated coconut oil comes from the addition of lauric acid into MCT oil.
Why the addition of lauric acid?
Lauric acid is a powerful germ killer. It’s also an MCT. So, putting lauric acid in it can help enhance the product’s benefits for users. From the marketing point of view, it can help to attract more buyers.
Of course, not all companies prefer adding the extra lauric acid. Some companies still insist on having just purely caprylic and capric acids in their MCT oil.
That’s because lauric acid is a relatively larger MCT. So, adding lauric acid will make the oil feel slightly heavier. It will also raise the overall melting point.
Which means, an MCT oil that includes lauric acid may harden more easily at low temperatures.
Therefore, manufacturers are extremely careful when adding lauric acid to their MCT oil. They must make sure the inclusion of lauric acid does not affect the product’s overall melting point by too much.
Benefits of MCT Oil Over Fractionated Coconut Oil
As you can consume MCT oil, you can use it in more ways than the non-food grade fractionated coconut oil.
They both feel light on skin. So, you can use MCT oil as a carrier oil too for massage therapy. You can also apply MCT oil directly to your skin, like me.
Besides external use, you can also add MCT oil to your morning coffee to create a bulletproof coffee. Or simply mix into your food so that it can help control your calorie intake and aid in weight loss. Through consumption, MCT oil can help with constipation too.
In short, you can use MCT oil for both consumption and skin care whereas you can only use fractionated coconut oil for skin care.
If you’re looking for a good moisturizing oil for your skin only, then get fractionated coconut oil. If you want to have more energy and lose weight, and also able to nourish your skin at the same time, choose MCT oil instead.
Just to create clarity, LouAna makes fractionated coconut oil safe for human consumption. It is used for cooking etc. Thanks
I was just going to say what benjamin said, food grade fractionated coconut oil is nothing new and widely available, look in the oil aisle in pretty much any grocery store to find it, you may also find it next to the popcorn.
Food grade fractionated coconut oil is actually named differently. They call it either MCT oil or liquid coconut oil.
If it is not edible, why would I put it on my skin to be absorbed? That would be foolish.
I think what he is trying to say is that fractionated oil is just better for the skin than consuming it. As in, it acts as a more effective moisturizer, but doesn’t provide many benefits in the body. Maybe Soon Chai (the author) can chime in here.
Hi Linda, do you use commercial skin care products? Can you eat them? They’re not edible but you can apply to your skin without causing much harm to your health, right?
Non-food grade topical fractionated coconut oil behaves as such. Even better, it’s more natural than those commercial skin care products. Of course, if you get an organic fractionated coconut oil, then you’ll have even lesser worry that bad stuff will enter your body via your skin.
If you prefer, you can get liquid coconut oil or MCT oil so that you can consume them as well as putting on your skin. These oils are essentially fractionated coconut oil, but a food-grade one. Hope that clarifies.
Do they use heat to fractionated or liquidate coconut oil? How much degrading of the coconut oil happens during this process?
Equally how is Laurie acid extracted?
I have stents should I be worried about Laurie acid?
Maybe Soon Chai can answer this question?
Hi Tessa, heat is definitely involved in extracting the two main components – caprylic and capric acids from a pure refined coconut oil to make fractionated coconut oil.
No degradation to fractionated coconut oil occurs during the process since fractionated coconut oil is the end product. Lauric acid is extracted by means of hydrolysis followed by fractional distillation, in most cases.
I don’t think you should worry about lauric acid. It should not affect the performance of your stents. In fact, lauric acid can help beef up your immunity.
Very interesting. I just bought a bottle of a liquid coconut oil off the food oil shelves at my local Smart & Final. I am currently using Organic MCT oil (from Sprouts @ ~ $18/16 oz.) as a nutritional additive (1 Tbs of it in my “bulletproof coffee” each morning) and wanted to find a less expensive, albeit less nutritional liquid form of coconut oil. I found one in the cooking oil section at Smart & Final ($8.49 for 16 oz.). The ingredients are: “Fractionated Coconut Oil, Coconut Oil”. On my arrival home, I decided to look up what this new (to me) term “Fractionated” means.
Here are the particulars. (on the front, at the top) “Lou Ana – 100% Pure – Liquid Coconut Oil. Then below the art “Great for Sautéing & Baking.” “No coconut aroma or taste” and “120 years cooking oil know-how”. No mention of it being made for “strictly external use only” as your article suggests.
Then on the back: Significant expansions of the claims on the front such as”: “Our 120 years of cooking oil know-how have helped us craft a 100% pure liquid coconut oil that remains liquid and makes pouring and measuring a breeze.” “Perfect for: Sauteing • Baking • Pan-frying • Roasting • Drizzling” and “4x the medium chain triglycerides than virgin coconut oil”
The BIG THING is that it also has a Nutritional Facts panel with all the standard information to be found in such a panel: 32 servings per container” ” &”Serving size: 1 Tbsp” etc.
So “What’s Up?”