Where Curiosity Meets Science
This site started with a blood test, a number I didn't expect, and two physicians who didn't have a satisfying answer. Here's what happened next.
"My triglycerides came back at 400. My doctor got alarmed. My cardiologist suggested fish oil. I went looking for a better answer — and found a study in Japan that most American cardiologists had never heard of."
A Number That Stopped My Doctor Cold
A few years ago, my routine bloodwork came back with a result I wasn't expecting. My triglycerides were over 400 — for the first time in my life. My primary care physician was concerned enough to order a follow-up to check whether my pancreas was functioning normally. It was. She wrote me a prescription for fenofibrate and sent me on my way.
I went to my cardiologist for a second opinion. He thought for a moment and said something that stayed with me: fenofibrate works well if you're diabetic. I'm not diabetic. He suggested fish oil as an alternative. That was essentially the extent of it.
Two good physicians. No clear answer for a non-diabetic patient with suddenly elevated triglycerides and no obvious cause. So I started researching on my own.
I took the fenofibrate for two weeks. As I kept reading, I grew less comfortable with it — the research suggested limited benefit for someone with my profile. I stopped taking it and shifted my focus to understanding the root of the problem instead of managing the number.
My Brothers in Kerala Had Normal Triglycerides
Around the same time, I was thinking about my brothers. They spent their careers in Dubai — modern diet, modern life. When they retired and moved back to our home in Pampady, Kerala, they went back to cooking with coconut oil pressed from their own trees. Their triglycerides were normal. Mine were not.
That observation sent me down a specific path. What was in coconut oil? What made it metabolically different? And why did it seem to matter so much where it came from and how it was used?
Coconut Oil in Kerala
Cold-pressed, unrefined, from trees they grew themselves. Used daily for generations with no apparent metabolic downside.
Modern Diet Elsewhere
Same genetic background. Different food environment. Different outcomes. The contrast was too consistent to ignore.
The Research Question
What specific compound in coconut oil was doing the metabolic work? That question led directly to C10 — and then to Osaka.
That research eventually led me to a study published in one of the world's most respected cardiovascular journals — written by a team at Osaka University in Japan. It had been sitting largely overlooked in English-language health education. Most cardiologists in the United States had never encountered it.
It changed how I understood the relationship between fat metabolism and heart health entirely.
Still on the Journey. Still Learning.
I introduced extra virgin coconut oil into my diet — specifically for its C10 content, based on what I was learning about Tricaprin and medium-chain fat metabolism. I got tested again. My triglycerides had come down meaningfully. Not a textbook perfect number, but nothing like 400.
I also learned something important along the way: triglycerides can spike from recent dietary changes, stress, and other transient factors. The number that alarmed my doctor may have been telling a more complicated story than either of us initially understood — which made me more curious, not less.
I'm Not Claiming a Cure
I'm not a physician. I didn't run a clinical trial on myself. What I did was pay attention, keep reading, and make an informed personal decision to understand the root of my numbers rather than just medicate them. That distinction matters — and it's the spirit this entire site is built on.
I'm still on this journey. This site is how I document what I find.
The Research Deserves a Wider Audience
The Osaka University study is remarkable science. A 100% five-year survival rate in a specific type of heart failure. Structural reversal of heart damage. A seven-year patient recovery maintained without surgery. Published in Nature Cardiovascular Research — one of the most rigorous journals in the field.
And yet it was written primarily for a Japanese academic audience, published behind a paywall, and almost entirely absent from English-language patient education. The researchers themselves noted that this condition is frequently misdiagnosed as standard heart failure.
Tricaprin.com exists to close that gap. Not to sell anything. Not to make health claims. To put serious science where people who need it can actually find it.
This is not my first attempt at this kind of work. I built SouthAsianHeart.com for the same reason — the cardiovascular risk profile of South Asian populations is significantly elevated compared to the general population, and the mainstream medical community has been slow to translate that research into patient-facing education. Same mission. Different condition.
A Note on the South Asian Connection
South Asians have among the highest rates of metabolic syndrome, elevated triglycerides, and unexplained cardiac events globally. TGCV is currently diagnosed almost exclusively in Japan — but the underlying lipid metabolism dysfunction it represents is not ethnicity-specific. There's a real possibility that South Asian patients are disproportionately undiagnosed. That's a question worth asking. SouthAsianHeart.com →
⚠️ Important: Tricaprin.com is an independent educational platform. We do not manufacture or sell supplements, and nothing on this website is intended as medical advice. All referenced studies are sourced from peer-reviewed scientific journals and institutional publications. Please work with your physician before making any changes to your health regimen. Individual results vary. The research referenced on this site focuses on specific patient populations — results are not established for the general public.
Want to Go Deeper?
If you're here because your own numbers came back wrong and your doctor didn't have a satisfying answer — I understand exactly how that feels. Start with the Origin Story and the Research Library.
Download the Free Tricaprin Research Guide
Instant access to our full C10 research summary — written in plain language, referenced to primary sources.
- Osaka University cardiovascular study summary
- C8 vs C10 — why chain length matters
- Why coconut oil ≠ Tricaprin
- Dosing insights and safety considerations
Learn how tricaprin research began at Osaka University — the discovery that changed metabolic cardiology.
Read the Origin Story →