More than half of MCT oil in the marketplace was used for diet and health supplements in 2019, according to Grand View Research.1 And the use of MCT oil is predicted to grow over the next 5 years.
But there is a more natural and eco-friendly option to consider: Victory Hemp’s newest oil, V-ONE™ Hemp Heart Oil. Here, we outline why MCT oil is used and why you should make the switch to formulating with V-ONE™ Hemp Heart Oil.
Why Use MCT Oil?
MCT stands for medium chain triglycerides (a class of lipids in which three saturated fats are attached to a glycerol backbone) and are exactly what their name implies. At between six and twelve carbons long, that medium length is what gives MCT oil some of its purported health benefits and it’s fully saturated fatty acids are one reason why it’s a go-to carrier oil.
Commercially-produced MCT oil is also easier to formulate into a product than traditional, natural, cold-pressed hempseed oil, which is green in color and has a distinct grassy taste and smell. That’s part of what has made it so prevalent. But there are two main drawbacks to MCT Oil.
The cons of MCT oil
First, it is highly-processed—it’s fractionated, deodorized, and bleached.2 This process is the only way to separate MCTs from the vegetable fats (coconut, palm, palm kernel, rapeseed, sunflower, soybean) they’re in. But it doesn’t just remove color—the processing also strips it of healthy phytonutrients like tocopherols, beta-carotene, and vitamin A.
Second, the harvesting of the leading raw ingredients used for MCT oil is harmful to the environment. MCT oil is produced predominantly from two vegetable oils: coconut oil and palm oil. Palm oil production is well-known for being quite environmentally unfriendly: tropical forests are being converted to palm oil plantations and the way in which “farmers” are doing that is by burning the tropical forests, commonly called “slash and burn agriculture”. This not only destroys natural animal habitats (like that of orangutans and the endangered Sumatran Tiger), but also creates a lot of air pollution and leads to future soil erosion, explains the World Wildlife Fund.3
Coconut oil, interestingly, isn’t viewed negatively in consumers’ eyes, however, research suggests coconut oil production could be more harmful to the environment than palm oil production. Coconut threatens about 18.3 species per million hectare of oil produced whereas palm oil threatens around 3.8 species, per a July 2020 study in the journal Current Biology.4
Why Use Hemp Seed Oil as an MCT Oil Alternative?
Victory Hemp’s V-ONE™ Hemp Heart Oil is better for the environment, easy to formulate with, and also a nutritious choice for consumers.
Using a proprietary process, V-ONE™ is made by pressing the hemp heart, so no harsh chemical solvents are used. That’s one environmental benefit (more on that below). How the oil is extracted also means that it retains its high omega-3 fatty acid content. V-ONE™ is 25 percent omega-3s, while MCT oil has absolutely zero omega-3s. Omega-3s are beneficial for consumers because they are an essential fatty acid that must be consumed through the diet and omega-3s have disease-fighting anti-inflammatory properties. Conversely, MCT oil is almost entirely comprised of saturated fat—a type of fat that’s believed to stoke inflammation.5
MCT oil and its physical structure (aka medium-chain length) has been touted to be beneficial for weight loss.6 But if you pull back and take the larger view, the overall breadth of research on long-chain fatty acids, of which hemp is one, and omega-3 fatty acids is larger and errs in the direction of more beneficial.7
Similar to colorless and odorless MCT oil, V-ONE™ is a light straw-colored oil with a very lightly nutty, neutral odor. This makes our hempseed oil just as easy as MCT oil to formulate with and also palatable as a carrier oil for consumers.
There’s another environmental advantage to V-ONE™: it’s made in the U.S.A., and from U.S.A. sustainably-grown hemp seed. It didn’t need to be shipped across the globe to reach you, or your consumer.
The Benefits of Hemp Seed Oil as a Carrier Oil vs MCT Oil
So, despite the prevalence of MCT oil and the frequency with which it’s used, hemp seed oil, and specifically V-ONE™ Hemp Heart Oil, is a superior choice for the environment and nutritionally. And both of those factors influence a consumer’s purchasing decision.
If you’re interested in using V-ONE™ Hemp Heart Oil as a Carrier Oil to replace MCT Oil in your next tincture or nutritional supplement, request a sample!
- https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-medium-chain-triglycerides-mct-market
- https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/medium-chain-triglycerides-mct-market
- https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/palm-oil
- https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)31078-2
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6954080/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25636220/
- https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Omega3FattyAcids-HealthProfessional/
