These days it seems coconut oil can do no wrong.  Now scientists have discovered it can even reduce the calories in your rice by 50%.

“What we did is cook the rice as you normally do, but when the water is boiling, before adding the raw rice, we added coconut oil—about 3 percent of the weight of the rice you’re going to cook,” said Sudhair James, who presented his research at the recent National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS). “After it was ready, we let it cool in the refrigerator for about 12 hours. That’s it.”

Apparently it’s all to do with manipulating the starches found in rice, says James in an interview with Washington Post.

“The oil interacts with the starch in rice and changes its architecture,” said James. “Chilling the rice then helps foster the conversion of starches. The result is a healthier serving, even when you heat it back up.”