A Comparative Study of Virgin Coconut Oil, Coconut Oil and Palm Oil in Terms of Their Active Ingredients

Abstract

This research aims to study the unique factors of virgin coconut oil (VCO) compared with coconut oil (i.e., coconut oil processed through heating the coconut milk and palm oil sold on the market). Its novelty is that it (VCO) contains lactic acid bacteria and bacteriocin. Lauric acid content was analyzed by the Chromatographic Gas method. Isolation of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) was conducted by the dilution method using MRSA + 0.5% CaCO3 media. Iodium number, peroxide, and %FFA were analyzed using a general method, and isolation bacteriocin by the deposition method using ammonium sulfate. In addition, macromolecular identification was conducted by 16S rRNA. VCO was distinguished by a higher content of lauric acid (C12:0) 41%–54.5% as compared with 0% coconut and 0, 1% palm oil, respectively. The VCO also contains LAB, namely Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus paracasei, and can inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella, Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Proteus, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Bacillus cereus, Salmonella typhosa and bacteriocin. Comparison with VCO is based on having a high content of lauric acid, 54%, and LAB content. The difference between VCO and coconut oil and palm oil is fatty acids. In VCO there are lauric acid and stearic acid, namely lauric acid VCO (A) 54.06%, VCO (B) 53.9% and VCO (C) 53.7%. The content of stearic acid VCO (A) is 12.03%, VCO (B) 12.01% and VCO (C) 11.9%. Coconut oil contains a little lauric acid, which is 2.81%, stearic acid 2.65% and palmitic acid 2.31%. Palm oil can be said to have very little lauric acid, namely in palm oil 1, 0.45%, and even in palm oil 2, 0%; in turn, palmitic acid palm oil 1 has 2.88% and palm oil 2 palmitic acid has 24.42%.