MANILA, Philippines - Virgin coconut oil or VCO is being credited for making the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) free of coronavirus disease 2019 as the city battled the COVID-19 pandemic in April and May.
Professor Fabian Dayrit of the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU), currently vice president of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), shared the results of a study he conducted with Cebu City’s Dr. Jose Ray Mondejar, which showed that 20 inmate-patients of the CPDRC had recovered from a mild strain of coronavirus in April and May when they regularly took tablespoons of VCO.
In his presentation titled “The Potential of Coconut Oil as an Antiviral and Immunomodulatory Agent Against COVID-19” in a Zoom webinar last Thursday, Dayrit said results of the research called for the conduct of a controlled study on VCO to support claims on its efficacy against the virus.
Also serving as resource person in the webinar organized by the Preventine, Regenertive and Integrative Medical Alliance (PRIMA), Mondejar stressed that aside from treating the 20 inmate-patients, the employees of the jail were also given VCO and seemed to develop “immunity” from COVID-19 despite presence of the virus in the immediate environment.
Mondejar said the CPDRC had remained COVID-19 free as of the time of the webinar while Cebu City has been known to have a high number of cases.