{
  "abstract": "Public health advisory guidelines caution against the consumption of saturated fats, especially coconut oil (CO), yet CO is widely consumed in regions with low inflammatory bowel disease prevalence (IBD) and is often perceived as beneficial by IBD patients. CO is rich in medium-chain saturated fatty acids, notably lauric acid (C12:0) and myristic acid (C14:0) which are negligible in mammalian tissues without dietary intake. Because IBD is linked to saturated fats consumption, here we tested and unexpectedly found that CO and its saturated fatty acids are beneficial suppressing intestinal inflammation in SAMP1/YitFc mice, a chronic IBD model of Crohn's disease-like ileitis. In young mice, the early exposure to a high-dose CO-based diet prevented ileitis in 63.64% of animals (95%CI = 30.79-to-89.07%). Importantly, comparable protection was observed at lower doses amenable for human translation. Although CO did not reverse established disease in adult mice, when combined with steroids, it prolonged the period of steroid-induced remission illustrating its therapeutic benefits in IBD. Disease prevention was associated with myristic acid and correlated with anti-inflammatory microbiota shifts and enhanced regulatory T-cell responses, without adverse effects. Findings challenge current dietary advisories against CO and support reevaluation of CO and myristic acid as anti-inflammatory dietary adjuvants for the prevention and management of established IBD.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Division of Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease, Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. alex.rodriguez-palacios@tri-c.edu.",
    "Digestive Health Research Institute, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. alex.rodriguez-palacios@tri-c.edu.",
    "University Hospitals Education and Research Institute, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, USA. alex.rodriguez-palacios@tri-c.edu.",
    "Department of Microbiology and Molecular Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. alex.rodriguez-palacios@tri-c.edu.",
    "Division of Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease, Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.",
    "Digestive Health Research Institute, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.",
    "Department of Nutrition, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.",
    "Department of Pathology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.",
    "Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.",
    "Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.",
    "Center for Imaging Research, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.",
    "FES Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, USA.",
    "Walter and Carole Young Center for Digestive Health, Dartmouth Health, Lebanon, NH, USA.",
    "Department of Medicine, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA.",
    "Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, USA.",
    "Department of Pediatrics, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.",
    "Division of Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease, Department of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. fabio.cominelli@uhhospitals.org.",
    "Digestive Health Research Institute, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. fabio.cominelli@uhhospitals.org."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 17,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Alex Rodriguez-Palacios",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0713-5605"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Abigail Raffner Basson"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Paola Menghini"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Jessica Ezeji"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Ashley Trotter"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Nitish Rana"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Wendy Goodman",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6864-0384"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Ganapati H Mahabaleshwar",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9332-6664"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Wei Xin"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Theresa T Pizarro"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Colleen M Croniger"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Alexander Miron",
      "orcid": "0009-0003-0807-5760"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9,
        10
      ],
      "name": "Yehe Liu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9,
        10,
        11
      ],
      "name": "Michael W Jenkins"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        12,
        13,
        14
      ],
      "name": "Mark S Sundrud",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4249-0525"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        15
      ],
      "name": "Ilya R Bederman",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1909-5746"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        16,
        17
      ],
      "name": "Fabio Cominelli"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0mxadscrg461b.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41467-026-74896-y",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13669381",
  "id": "0mxadscrg461b",
  "issns": [
    "2041-1723"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42875437",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1311|Inflammatory Bowel Disease"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7212545263",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13669381?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13669381",
  "pmid": "42875437",
  "published": "2026-09-14",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0mxadscrg461b.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:18Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42875437",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42875437"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1311|Inflammatory Bowel Disease",
      "subfield": "genetics-genomics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Early coconut oil exposure suppresses chronic experimental Crohn's disease via myristic acid and enhanced regulatory T cells.",
  "title_text": "Early coconut oil exposure suppresses chronic experimental Crohn's disease via myristic acid and enhanced regulatory T cells.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:18Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0mxadscrg461b",
  "venue": "Nature communications",
  "versions": []
}