Fractionated coconut oil is an oil made from regular coconut oil.
Both regular and fractionated coconut oils are great sources of medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs), providing fatty acids that contain between 6 and 12 carbon atoms.
However, their fatty acid composition is vastly different.
While the main fatty acid in coconut oil is the 12-carbon lauric acid (C12), most or all of this fatty acid has been removed from fractionated coconut oil.
The long-chain fatty acids present in coconut oil have also been eliminated.
The main medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs) in fractionated coconut oil are:
C8: Caprylic acid or octanoic acid.
C10: Capric acid or decanoic acid.
MCFAs are metabolized differently than other fats.
They're transported directly to the liver from the digestive tract, where they may be used as a quick source of energy. They can also be turned into ketone bodies, compounds that may have therapeutic effects in epilepsy .
Fractionated coconut oil is tasteless, odorless and usually more expensive than regular coconut oil.
It's very similar or even identical to MCT oil, which we have written about before in this article.