Anyone take Bub's MCT oil powder?

Anyone try this stuff?
https://www.bubsnaturals.com/collections/mct
I got a free box through a promo…and holy crap. I mix it im my coffee and I have had a noticeable improvement in energy levels and just feel alot sharper mentally…I let my wife try some and she has noticed similar benefits. Really havent done any research into the science of it but it sure has made me feel better.

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My massage therapist recommended mct oils for recovery of some of my running injuries so I’m curious also

What’s the benefit of this over just taking in coconut oil?

I do not take this brand but use MCT Oil in my coffee quite regularly. I’ve noticed two distinct cycling- related benefits to this:

  1. Energy/Caloric benefits: I do multi-day self-supported races and when I do add MCT oil to my coffees in the morning I have minimum 1-extra hour of energy output that I do not have when I forgo it. There are a lot of calories in MCT Oil and I find this to alone to be a massive boost.
  2. Mental Acuity: As you note above, brains love healthy fats for increased cognitive functioning and whether on or off the bike, and i found MCT Oil increase mental clarity and acuteness.

MCT stands for Medium-chain triglycerides and, from Wiki, “MCTs passively diffuse from the GI tract to the portal system (longer fatty acids are absorbed into the lymphatic system) without requirement for modification like long-chain fatty acids or very-long-chain fatty acids. In addition, MCTs do not require bile salts for digestion.”

Coconut oil itself does not have the same MCT quantities, which need to be extracted and refined.

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To add to @samyall 's excellent description, what’s special about MCT oil is they are not a storeable fatty acid, so the liver immediately begins turning them into ketone bodies. Ketones can passively diffuse into cells and feed your mitochondria. It’s basically an extra fuel source floating around that needs to get burned or excreted (if your kidneys are normal, they will filter out excess). I don’t think MCT’s cross the blood-brain-barrier, but ketones absolutely do, and that’s the reason you see improvements in mental acuity reported.

It’s basically a poor-man’s ketone source. Ketone esters are super expensive and taste horrible, but will raise your ketone levels higher / faster. Ketone salts are cheaper, but won’t raise your levels as quickly or as high. MCT is even cheaper, slower rising, and lower-peaking. It’s also in an intermediate form, so the body has to spend some effort converting the fatty acids into ketones whereas the ester and salt version are ready-to-go. The reason for MCT-powder is many people don’t tolerate drinking liquid oils very well (doesn’t seem to bother me, but ymmv). The MCT-power will be bulkier and more expensive than just the oil.

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Wonder if it’s worth trying MCT with carbs during workouts. Or would the fat slow down carb digestion

Good point. I wonder if this is a good additional fuel for long rides (traditional base high volume).

I’ll channel my inner Nate and go experiment with that :grin: