PRESS RELEASE
WDC-18-2020
17 July 2020
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Philippine Embassy, through the Office of the Agriculture Attaché, dropped off Trader Joe’s Organic virgin coconut oil (VCO) sourced from the Philippines, to frontliners of the George Washington University (GW) Hospital yesterday.
Pint jars of VCO were also provided as tokens of appreciation to some frontliners in Virginia last month on the occasion of National Coconut Day (celebrated every June 26 in the United States) to help raise awareness of the many uses and benefits of coconut products.
Dr. Josyline Javelosa, the Philippine Agriculture Attaché to the United States, said that she was pleased to likewise extend these VCO gifts to GW Hospital frontliners in response to the request of Ms. Carmen Stull, Chair of the Women’s Board of the GW Hospital.
The mission of the GW Hospital Women’s Board is to further the charitable purposes of GW Hospital, its constituents, and the local community in the area of health care, education, healthcare advancement initiatives, patient advocacy, healthcare awareness promotion and medical research.
VCO can be used as moisturizer and help protect the skin from viruses and bacteria. It can also be added to coffee for added energy and flavor. VCO can also be used for oil pulling, an oral health routine that involves swishing oil around the mouth in a similar way to mouthwash. Since VCO heats well to high temperatures, it is also suitable for cooking.
Ms. Stull said GWU hospital frontliners may find the VCO useful and appreciate the modest gesture of the Philippine Embassy as a thank you for the work they do amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
GW Hospital is located in Washington, D.C., about a mile away from the Philippine Embassy.
The Philippines is one of the top coconut-producing countries in the world and VCO is one of the country’s many coconut products.
When coconut oil is ingested into the body, the body’s lipase enzymes release monolaurin and lauric acid, which have anti-viral activities as documented in several studies. Some scientists like Dr. Fabian Dayrit and Dr. Mary Newport therefore suggest that VCO be considered as a general prophylactic against viral and microbial infection.
Dr. Dayrit and Dr. Newport also suggested in their paper published at the Ateneo de Manila’s University website, “The Potential of Coconut Oil and Its Derivatives as Effective and Safe Anti-Viral Agents against the novel corona virus (nCov-2019),” that clinical trials be conducted among patients who have been infected with COVID-19 to test if VCO can fight the virus.
Together, monolaurin and lauric acid, when released from the ingestion of VCO, have the physiochemical property of being able to destroy the membrane of lipid-coated viruses. SARS- Cov2, the virus causing COVID-19 is a lipid-coated virus.Dr. Dayrit is the President of the Integrated Chemists of the Philippines and chemistry professor emeritus at Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. Dr. Mary Newport is an American medical doctor who became an integral researcher and advocate for using coconut oil, MCT oil, and exogenous ketones to treat Alzheimer’s disease.