VCOP Urges Science Department to Support Research on VCO as Prophylaxis Against Covid

Philippines’ foremost virgin coconut oil (VCO) industry association is urging the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to support research and development on VCO as prophylaxis against Covid-19, and not as cure. Engineer Marco Reyes, president of the VCO Producers and Traders Association of the Philippines, Inc. (VCOP), said that prevention against Covid-19 infection and transmission was better strategy in the war against the corona virus.

“VCO is a natural, sustainable and highly renewable resource of our country that is accessible and affordable for all Filipinos,” he said. “We must remain open minded, thorough, and aggressive in undertaking scientific studies on the use of virgin coconut oil against this virus.”  Reyes issued the statement after the DOST announced the interim findings of the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) clinical trials on VCO as a Covid-19 adjunct therapy to moderate and severe patients, which showed no “significant benefits’ of VCO to Covid-19 cases.

Reyes shrugged off the findings of the UP-PGH clinical trials, saying that there have been other studies, particularly from the trial conducted in Laguna last year by the DOST-Food and Nutrition Research Institute, which showed that VCO had shortened the recovery period of suspected and probable Covid-19 cases among trial participants.