Gejala kelelahan kronik digolongkan sebagai serangan keletihan yang sangat besar dan relatif mendadak, seringkali menyusul selepas diserang penyakit berjangkit. Diantara gejalanya adalah kelemahan otot, sakit kepala, kehilangan ingatan, kebingungan mental, demam, kelenjar limpa membengkak, keletihan yang luar biasa pada aktiviti biasa, rasa tertekan, rasa cemas, terasa pening kepala, ruam, alergik dan reaksi autoimmune. Gejala yang bertahan selama enam bulan atau lebih adalah merupakan indikasi gejala keletihan kronik (Chronic fatigue syndrome) ini.

 Keparahan gejalanya sering kali berubah. Orang yang terinfeksi mungkin akan mengalami ‘pulih’ sementara dan bekerja seperti biasa, dan akan sakit kembali beberapa saat kemudian. Malangnya kebanyakan orang tidak menyedari  mereka diserang penyakit ini, dan hanya beranggapan bahawa gejalanya adalah disebabkan oleh faktor usia, stress atau penyakit bermusim. Akibatnya mereka tidak berbuat sesuatu untuk mengatasinya.

 Sehingga kini punca utama penyakit masih tidak dikenal pasti. Namun adalah dipercayai ia berpunca dari gabungan berbagai faktor. Diantara yang dipercayai menjadi punca gejala ini adalah hasil dari banyak infeksi kronik disertai nutrisi yang kurang baik, stress berlebihan dan keracunan makanan, yang kesemuanya menekan sistem imunasi serta menghabiskan tenaga tubuh. 

 Dr Murray Susser, M.D dari Santa Monica, California mengatakan gejala kelelahan kronik ini biasanya dimulai dengan infeksi virus biasa seperti infeksi virus yang menyebabakan infeksi pernafasan seperti selsema dan flu. Begitu juga dengan infeksi virus herpes yang merupakan virus cacar dan virus Epstein-Bar yang menyebabkan mononucleosis. Oleh kerana virus dipercayai sebagai punca utama kepada gejala ini, maka tidak banyak yang dapat  dilakukan kerana tidak ada ubat yang boleh menyembuhkan penyakit kerana virus. Pemberian ubat yang salah  boleh menyebabkan penyakitnya menjadi lebih teruk sementara bereksperimen dengan antibiotik dan obat lain bukanlah satu penyelesaian yang baik.

 Dalam keadaan ini minyak kelapa dara memberikan satu alternatif utama untuk menyelesaikan gejala kelelahan kronik. Asam lemak dalam minyak kelapa mampu membunuh virus herpes dan virus Epstein-Barr yang diyakini sebagai penyebab utamanya. Juga berkeupayaan mematikan candida dan giardia dan berbagai organisma lain yang menyebabkan kelelahan kronik.

 Oleh kerana gejala kelelahan kronik ini adalah disebabkan oleh gangguan penyakit yang  menekan sistem immunasi, maka sekali lagi minyak kelapa dara akan menjadi penyelesaiannya. Ia berperanan membunuh organisma dan membebaskan tubuh dari mikroorganisma berbahaya. Dengan berkurangnya organisma berbahaya yang memakan tenaga tubuh, maka sistem kekebalan akan dapat berfungsi lebih baik sekaligus meredakan stress pada tubuh.

 Minyak kelapa dara dapat memberikan tenaga segera dan dapat merangsang metabolisma. Peningkatan tenaga ini tidak hanya akan mengangkat semangat, namun ia juga meningkatkan daya penyembuhan secara lebih cepat. Semakin tinggi metabolisma tubuh semakin efisien sistem kekebalan dan semakin cepat tubuh untuk menyembuh dan memperbaiki dirinya. Metabolisma akan berfungsi pada paras lebih tinggi dalam sel tubuh, sedangkan metabolisma tertekan akan menyebabkan sel berfungsi lebih lambat. Dan ini bermakna penyembuhan  dan perbaikan tubuh juga akan berjalan lebih lambat. 

Kemungkinan wanita  mendapat kanser payudara adalah 1 dari 8 orang, sementara lelaki menghadapi risiko diserang kanser prostat adalah 1 dari 9 orang. Satu dari 3 orang yang hidup di Amerika ketika ini diserang sesuatu kanser semasa hidup. Kanser adalah penyakit kedua terbanyak setelah penyakit jantung sebagai penyebab kematian utama..Seperti penyakit jantung, kanser juga belum diketahui ubatnya secara pasti. Seringkali pengubatannya sama parah seperti penyakitnya. Pertahanan yang paling baik adalah pencegahan kerana kebanyakan kanser boleh dicegah. 

Setiap orang mempunyai sel kanser di dalam tubuh. Cuma mengapa seseorang itu tidak diserang kanser adalah kerana sistem kekebalannya dapat menghancurka sel kanser sebelum ia sempat merebak. Selama sistem kekebalan berfungsi dengan baik, maka tidak perlu khuatir dengan penyakit ini. Athur I.Holleb, M.D.,wakil ketua senior Medical Affairs for American Cancer Society berkata,” Hanya ketika sistem kekebalan tidak mampu menghancurkan sel berbahaya ini maka penyakit kanser akan berkembang”.Dengan kata lain, kanser hanya boleh berkembang pada orang yang sistem kekebalannya terganggu atau lemah sehingga tidak mampu memberikan pertahanan yang baik. Dr Holleb tidak menetapkan bahawa efisiensi sistem kekebalan hanya mempengaruhi kanser paru-paru, kanser payudara atau leukemia, tetapi ia dapat mempengaruhi  semua kanser. Hal ini bererti bahawa meskipun dalam tubuh mempunyai zat-zat karsigonik, jika sistem kekebalan berfungsi dengan baik, maka kanser tidak akan dapat berkembang .Maka sistem kekebalan yang sihat dan baik,merupakan unsur utama dalam pencegahan kanser.

 Ada beberapa hal yang dapat dilakukan untuk memperbaiki sistem kekebalan dan membantu mencegah timbulnya penyakit kanser, seperti makan makanan yang sihat, melakukan olahraga secara teratur, mengurangi stress dan masa rehat yang cukup. Sebaiknya menghindari hal-hal yang dapat meningkatkan risiko terserang kanser seperti merokok, dan mengambil minyak sayur yang telah dirosakkan oleh kepanasan semasa pemerosesan. Sebagaimana telah disebut sebelum ini, minyak sayur yang telah mengalami banyak perubahan sangat mempengaruhi sistem kekebalan. Cara lain untuk meningkatkan sistem kekebalan ialah dengan mengambil minyak kelapa dara secara teratur. Pengambilan minyak kelapa dara tersebut terutama sekali jika dijadikan sebagai pengganti kepada minyak lain, sangat menyumbang kepada pengurangan risiko diserang penyakit kanser.

 Tubuh manusia selalu dikelilingi oleh bakteria yang mengganggu, dan banyak diantaranya dapat masuk ke dalam tubuh. Ketika itu sel darah putih pada sistem kekebalan secara terus menerus menyerang mikroorganisma tersebut disamping berperanan membersihkan sel penyakit dan sel kanser. Jika ketika bakteria masuk ke dalam tubuh sedangkan sistem kekebalan dalam kondisi yang lemah, sel darah putih akan terpaksa bekerja keras. Diwaktu itu sistem kekebalan tidak akan mampu membersihkan sel-sel kanser secara efektif, maka sel kanser akan dapat berkembang dan menyebar tanpa hambatan.

 Sifat antimikrobial MCFA pada kelapa dipercayaai dapat membantu tubuh untuk menghilangkan bakteria penyebab penyakit, sehingga akan meningkatkan sistem kekebalan. MCFA bertindak sebagai mematikan mikroorganisma penyusup. Semakin sedikit bakteria di dalam tubuh yang menyebabkan gangguan, maka sel darah putih akan lebih bebas mencari dan menghancurkan sel kanser. Dengan cara ini, minyak kelapa dara dapat membantu tubuh agar tahan terhadap bakteria sehingga memudahkan sel darah putih untuk membersihkan racun dan sel kanser. Maka manfaat utama minyak kelapa dara terhadap penyakit kanser adalah meningkatkan fungsi sistem kekebalan sehingga memudahkan sel darah putih berfungsi secara lebih efektif, maka sel kanser tidak akan mempunyai kesempatan untuk merebak.

 Minyak kelapa dara tidak hanya membantu sel darah putih, namun ia juga dapat  berperanan aktif dalam memerangi beberapa bentuk penyakit kanser Dr Robert L Wickremasinghe, ketua bahagian serologi di Medical Reseach Institut di Sri Lanka, melaporkan bahawa minyak kelapa dara memiliki sifat antikarsinigenik. Para penyelidik telah menunjukkan bahawa minyak kelapa menghalang munculnya agen karsinogenik yang menyebabkan tumor kolon atau pun tumor payudara pada binatang yang diuji. Minyak sayur dapat meningkatkan kemungkinan kanser kerana mudah teroksidasi untuk membentuk radikal bebas karsinogenik. MCFA mempunyai pengaruh anti oksidan yang dapat mencegah reaksi radikal bebas dan memberikan perlindungan dari kanser payudara dan kaser colon. Maka langkah yang perlu diambil oleh mereka yang khuatirkan serangan kanser adalah dengan menggantikan minyak yang digunakan saat ini (jika ianya terdiri dari minyak sayur) dengan makanan yang diproses dengan minyak kelapa.

Pact Signed to Test Coco Oil for AIDS Treatment

Feb. 18, 1999, Manila - The official agreement covering the first clinical tests using coconut oil and its fatty acid, monolaurin, to treat HIV/AIDS patients has been signed. The memorandum of understanding among the three agencies doing the clinical tests - the Philippine Coconut Research and Development Foundation (PCRDF), United Laboratories and the San Lazaro Hospital - was signed yesterday, making possible the first medical research in the Philippines against AIDS.

PCRDF Chairman Maria Clara Lobregat told reporters that government will not spend a single centavo with this trial, and it will determine the efficacy of coconut chemicals.  Health Secretary Alberto Romualdez said the trial needs approval and protocol, and institutional ethics review board will assess issues on using human subjects for research purposes. He welcomed the fact that the government will not shoulder the expenses for the tests.  "It is very expensive, but since the DOH does not have that kind of money and the private sector does, then we can ask patients to participate," he said.

The tests involve 15 Filipino patients: 12 females and three males in the early stages of HIV infection. Tayag said the trial seeks to achieve what experts in the United States have found out in research - - that coconut chemicals increase the CD4 cell count and lower the viral load of HIV patients to undetectable levels.  Dr. Eric Tayag, chief epidemiologist of the hospital, said the CD4 cells are the body's first line of defense against infection and disease, but they are also the first to be attacked by the HIV. The viral load is the amount of the virus in the blood.  It will cost the 15 patients P300,000 each in coconut oil and monolaurin capsules, but he said this will not cost the hospital anything. 

Dr. Conrado Dayrit, president of the National Academy of Science and Technology and a member of the PCRDF board, explained that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has a fatty envelop, and monolaurin can penetrate and dismember this envelop rapidly when ingested.  Monolaurin is a substance derived from lauric acid, a component of the coconut. It is the most important and most effective component of coconut oil.  "It disrupts the membrane coating the envelop by softening it first. If this happens, the virus will die," he said.

The PCRDF is funding the trial, but United Laboratories will receive the technology of processing the monolaurin capsules. (Philippine Headline News Online)

December 1, 1999, lauric.org - Ioannidis and Contopoulos-Ioannidis note in their Nov. 25 1999 NEJM letter to the editor that the study by Mofenson et al (August 5, 1999 NEJM) on perinatal transmission of HIV in women treated with zidovudine (AZT), did not support the concluding statement by Mofenson et al that antiretroviral therapy "should be recommended to all infected pregnant women regardless of their HIV-1 RNA levels". The authors also report that they have extended the results of Garcia et al (NEJM Aug 5 1999) on the predictive value of viral load to 10 studies and noted that in women with low viral loads (below 1000 copies per milliliter) there are no lower rates of transmission with treatment with AZT as opposed to no treatment. Although both Mofenson et al and Garcia et al agree that comments by Ioannidis and Contopoulos-Ioannidis are correct, they nevertheless support the use of AZT to reduce the risk of transmission of HIV-1 or other treatment regimens for those women who do not wish to expose the fetus to antiretroviral drugs during pregnancy. For women who elect the latter course, Lauric.org continues to suggest the safe and effective adjunct dietary supplementation with sources of lauric acid and capric acid, which are known for their effectiveness in significantly lowering viral loads.

Comments on JAMA Report: Reducing Viral Loads in Breastfeeding Mothers Lowers Transmission Rate

August 27, 1999, lauric.org -  Miotti and colleagues, JAMA August 25, 1999 report the results of a study measuring "HIV Transmission Through Breastfeeding." They conclude that the risk of transmission is greatest in the early months of breastfeeding. The cumulative rates were 3.5%, 7.0%, 8.9%, and 10.3% at the end of months 5, 11, 17, and 23 respectively. The incidence per month was reported as 0.7% during the period from age 1 to 5 months, 0.6% during the period from age 6 to 11 months, and 0.3% during age 12 to 17 months. The significance for the trend was P=.01.  Lauric.org notes that the inclusion of a source of lauric acid to the diets of the breastfeeding HIV positive mothers would help to lower the level of virus in their milk and thus could help to lower the rate of transmission in populations such as these mothers in Malawi where breastfeeding is important for survival of the infant. Adding a functional food such as coconut to the mother’s diet would be beneficial because it would provide increased lauric and capric acid in mother's mi

Lauric.org: Mother-Infant HIV Transmission Could Be Reduced  through Viral Lowering with Lauric and Capric Acid

August 6, 1999, lauric.org - Garcia et al, (New England Journal of Medicine August 5, 1999;341:394-402) have reported that the maternal plasma HIV-1 RNA levels (viral load) are predictive of the risk of perinatal transmission, although not of the timing of that transmission. This report is from The Women and Infants Transmission Study, an ongoing multicenter, prospective study of the perinatal transmission of HIV-1 and the natural history of HIV-1 infection in pregnant women and their infants.

The study included women who were treated with zidovudine and those who were not. With an increasing geometric mean of the levels of plasma HIV-1 RNA levels (viral load) there was an increasing rate of transmission from mother to infant up to levels exceeding 100,000 copies of virus per milliliter (mL). When the maternal level was less that 1000 copies of virus per mL (0 of 57 women), the rate was zero percent; when the level was between 1000 and 10,000 copies per mL (32 of 193 women), the rate was 16.6 percent; when the level was between 10,001 and 50,000 copies per mL (39 of 183 women), the rate was 21.3 percent; when the level was 50,001 to 100,000 copies per mL (17 of 54 women), the rate was 30.9 percent; and when the level was greater than 100,000 copies per mL (26 of 64 women), the rate was 40.6 percent.

The highest rate was 63.3 percent for women who had levels of virus greater than 100,000 and who had not received zidovudine. However, for women whose levels were between 50,000 and 100,000, the rate of vertical transmission was the same whether they received zidovudine (31.2 percent) or did not received zidovudine (31.6 percent).

Lauric.org believes that this research reinforces the comments from an earlier response by lauric.org. Monolaurin, the monoglyceride of lauric acid, destroys the HIV-1 virus. If HIV-1-infected pregnant women were given a source of lauric acid during pregnancy, there could be additional lowering of viral load, which could be helpful in preventing vertical transmission of the virus.

Further, those infants who acquire HIV-1 infection by vertical transmission from their HIV-1-infected mothers are candidates for the adjunct antiviral nutritional support from lauric fats in their infant formula. Since the current medical recommendations prevent these infants from receiving human milk from their HIV-1-infected mothers, they need to be given infant formulas. There was a time when most of the infant formulas in the United States could be counted on to have a source of lauric acid and capric acid in their formulation to match that found in human milk. This is no longer true for many of the infant formulas.  Additionally, older HIV-1-infected children, who consume regular diets, could benefit from a source of lauric acid such as desiccated coconut or coconut milk products.

July 7, 1999, lauric.org - Kovacs, et al (N Engl J Med. July 8, 1999;341:77-84) have reported from a prospective study that infants born to HIV-1-infected mothers who are found to also be HIV-1-infected are at greater risk for the development of cytomegalovirus (CMV) and for HIV-1 disease progression than are those infants born to HIV-1-infected mothers but who are not themselves HIV-1-infected.

The researchers concluded that "HIV-1-infected infants who acquire CMV infection in the first 18 months of life have a significantly higher rate of disease progression and central nervous system disease than those infected with HIV-1 alone." Further, among those infants who are HIV-1-infected, the infants who develop CMV continue to have a higher rate of CMV and more severe disease at four years of age.

Infants who are HIV-1-infected have a higher rate of CMV infection at 6 months than those who are not HIV-1-infected (39.9 vs 15.3 percent). At age 18 months, those infants who are HIV-1-infected and who also have CMV infection have higher rates of HIV-1 disease progression (70.0 percent) than those who are only HIV-1-infected (30.4 percent). In those children who were only HIV-1-infected, rapid progression of HIV-1 disease was related to their having higher levels of virus (i.e., higher viral load).

Monolaurin, the monoglyceride of lauric acid, destroys CMV, as well as other herpes viruses and HIV-1. If HIV-1-infected pregnant women were given a source of lauric acid during pregnancy, there could be additional lowering of viral load, which could be helpful in preventing vertical transmission of the virus.

Further, those infants who acquire HIV-1 infection by vertical transmission from their HIV-1-infected mothers are candidates for the adjunct antiviral nutritional support from lauric fats in their infant formula. Since the current medical recommendations prevent these infants from receiving human milk from their HIV-1-infected mothers, they need to be given infant formulas. There was a time when most of the infant formulas in the United States could be counted on to have a source of lauric acid and capric acid in their formulation to match that found in human milk. This is no longer true for many of the infant formulas.

The older HIV-1-infected children, who consume regular foods, could benefit from a source of lauric acid such as desiccated coconut products.

July 1, 1999, lauric.org - Dr. Halldor Thormar, the Icelandic scientist, who previously showed that monolaurin, which comes from the fat in coconut, kills lipid coated DNA and RNA viruses including HIV and herpes viruses as well as other microorganisms including gram positive bacteria has just announced the potential effectiveness of monocaprin dissolved in a gel in killing HIV. Monocaprin also comes from the fat in coconut in the form of capric acid (C:10). Thormar and his colleagues plan to continue the tests with monocaprin against chlamydia and herpes simplex virus.

June 1, 1999, lauric.org - Several fatty acids are very important for health and development. Among them are lauric acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). These two fatty acids are found in human milk from lactating mothers. Lauric acid is the medium-chain fatty acids used by the infant to make antimicrobial monoglycerides to keep the infant from getting infections. DHA is a long-chain omega-3 fatty acid that is absolutely essential for proper brain development in the infant, and for healthy vision. Children and adults also need a source of both lauric acid and DHA. Lauric acid can only be obtained through foods and the best source in the United States is coconut including sulfite-free desiccated coconut. Children and adults can make their own DHA if they have adequate dietary consumption of the precursor to DHA, which is alpha-linolenic acid, and if they also don’t have too much omega-6 vegetable oils or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (trans fatty acids) in their regular diets. The best source of preformed DHA is cod liver oil and fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, and mackerel. (Copyright 1999 lauric.org)