Nutrition Facts: Organic MCT Coconut Oil

October 12, 2026

Our Organic MCT Coconut Oil is a liquid oil made from coconut, containing medium-chain triglycerides. The table on the pack is short, but a few of its lines deserve a proper explanation, especially the fatty acid profile at the bottom.

Nutrition per 100g

Energy: 3761kJ / 899kcal
Fat: 99.8g (all saturated)
Carbohydrate: 0.1g, sugars 0g
Protein: 0.1g, salt 0g
Fatty acid profile: C8 caprylic acid 60%, C10 capric acid 40%

As a saturated fat, this oil carries no nutrition claims.

Reading the energy line

Labels give energy in kilojoules and kilocalories. The kilocalorie is the unit most people call a "calorie", and food labels simply drop the "kilo". One kilocalorie equals 4.184 kilojoules, which is why the two numbers on the pack sit in that ratio: 899 kcal and 3761 kJ are the same amount of energy in two units. The NHS explains that nutrition figures are shown per 100g (or 100ml) so that products can be compared on an equal footing, even though a manufacturer's portion may differ from what you actually use.

Fat: 99.8g, all saturated

This is a pure oil, so almost the entire 100g is fat. The "of which saturates" line would normally show only part of the fat, but here it is the whole amount, 99.8g, because both fatty acids in the oil are saturated ones. Compare that with our Early Harvest Extra Virgin Olive Oil, which lists 91g of fat with 13g of saturates. Different oils are simply built from different fatty acids.

Energy follows from the fat. The NHS notes that fat provides 9 kcal per gram, against 4 kcal per gram for carbohydrate and protein, so a product that is nearly all fat has a high energy figure. For a pure oil there is nothing surprising in that.

Carbohydrate, sugars, protein and salt

The 0.1g of carbohydrate and 0.1g of protein are trace amounts, and the sugars and salt are declared as zero. On a nutrition label, "salt" is the sodium content multiplied by about 2.5, which the NHS gives as the way to convert between the two. There is nothing in this oil to add up to a meaningful figure.

The fatty acid profile

A fat, or triglyceride, is a glycerol backbone with three fatty acids attached. What distinguishes one oil from another is which fatty acids it carries. "C8" and "C10" refer to the number of carbon atoms in the chain: caprylic acid (also called octanoic acid) has eight, and capric acid (decanoic acid) has ten.

The profile line tells you that, of the fatty acids in this oil, 60% are C8 and 40% are C10. That is a very different mix from ordinary coconut oil. A 2022 review in the Journal of Food Science and Technology reports that coconut oil is typically about 46 to 54% lauric acid (C12), with only 5 to 10% caprylic and 5 to 8% capric acid. A review in Frontiers in Nutrition adds that most commercial MCT oils consist almost entirely of C8 and C10 with very little C12.

Why is it liquid?

The review in the Journal of Food Science and Technology notes that medium-chain triglycerides are liquid at ambient temperature, unlike long-chain saturated fats. That is why the bottle pours at room temperature.

From palm to bottle

The coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) is the only species in its genus. A chapter by French research institutes IRD and CIRAD describes the fruit as a drupe that takes about a year to develop. Solid white endosperm starts forming after about six months, and at maturity it is roughly 50% water and 30 to 40% oil. Our oil is made from 100% organic coconuts.

According to the Frontiers in Nutrition review, the industrial method for making MCT oil was developed in the 1950s by Babayan and colleagues at Drew Chemical. It used the C8 and C10 fatty acids that were by-products of processing coconut oil. We have not described our own process here, so please see the product page for details.

How to use it

Blend into coffee or smoothies.
Whisk into salad dressings and mayonnaise.
Drizzle over porridge or soup.

MCT oil stays liquid at room temperature. It is not suited to frying at high heat. The Journal of Food Science and Technology review says MCTs cannot simply replace a normal cooking oil, because they generate more smoke when heated and are prone to foaming, so they are blended with other oils for frying. If you are new to it, begin with a teaspoon and see how you like the texture.