How Much MCT Oil Should I Take Per Day? (And When It's Too Much)

You might be wondering, how much MCT oil should I take per day? Medium chain triglyceride (MCT) oil is powerful stuff. It can help you with everything from fat loss to sharper cognition, and it couldn’t be easier to use. It’s colorless and odorless; all you have to do is sub it in for another oil in your diet and you’re on your way to more energy and better performance.

MCT oil dosage depends on how long you’ve been using MCTs. For beginners, start with 1 tsp and scale up to 1 tbsp per day. For seasoned users, enjoy up to 2 tbsp per day. Here’s a quick look at how much MCT oil you should take to start off, and how to scale the dose once you’re used to it.

In this article you will learn:

How much mct oil to take per day infographic

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Can You Have Too Much MCT Oil?

There is such a thing as too much MCT oil, and it comes with some unpleasant (although relatively harmless) side effects.

MCT oil is unusual. You digest it through a different pathway than the one most fats take. That’s a good thing - MCT oil converts to energy very quickly and is less likely to store as body fat.

However, MCT oil’s rapid and unusual digestion also means your body can’t handle too much of it at one time. Excess MCT oil causes sudden digestive distress. It’s nothing dangerous, but it’s unpleasant.

Fortunately, you can avoid digestive distress from MCT oil pretty easily. All you have to do is be mindful of the amount of MCT oil you take and choose a high-quality MCT oil like Natural Force Organic MCT Oil, which is made from pure coconuts.

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MCT Oil for Beginners

It’s worth saying right off the bat that there aren’t any studies that show exactly how much MCT oil you should take. However, we’ve been offering MCTs for a while - and using them ourselves - and we’ve come up with a fairly foolproof way to avoid taking too much MCT oil.

The key is to start small and work your way up. Your body isn’t used to MCT oil at first, so you don’t want to shock the system with a full dose. Instead, we suggest building up over the course of a week.

  • For the first three days: Take ~5-7g of MCTs. That’s one teaspoon of MCT oil or two teaspoons of Creamy MCT Oil.
  • For days 3-6: Bump up to ~10g of MCTs. That’s 2 tsp of MCT oil, or 1 tbsp + 1 tsp of Creamy MCT Oil.
  • On day 7: Try a full 14g dose of MCTs. 1 tbsp of MCT oil, or 2 tbsp of Creamy MCT Oil

After that, your body should be comfortable with MCTs. If you accidentally take too much, scale back a bit for a couple days. You’ll know if it’s too much.

MCT Oil for Seasoned Users

Once you’ve built up to a full 14g dose of MCT oil, you should tolerate it pretty well. You can try working up to multiple servings per day (2 tbsp of MCT oil, or 3 tbsp of Creamy MCT Oil) for extra benefits.

There’s no need to cycle MCT usage, but you can get different benefits depending on the time of day you take MCTs. Here are two of our favorite uses for more seasoned users:

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Only Use High-Quality MCTs

If you’re new to MCT oil, start slow. Get your body used to it over a week or so. After that, feel free to play around with different doses and different times of day to see what works best for you.

Looking for a good source of MCT oil? Our MCT oil and Creamy MCT Oil are both organic, non-GMO, sugar-free, and sustainably sourced from 100% coconuts.

And if you want to learn more, check out our guide to the benefits of MCT oil. Thanks for reading!

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