A Harvard professor made waves with a claim that coconut oil is "pure poison" last month, and experts are taking a closer look at the facts behind the food's apparent fall from grace.

Coconut oil has been touted as a superfood that offers numerous health benefits such as weight loss and improved overall health, but Karin Michels of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health debunked these claims in a German lecture posted to YouTube last month that has drawn thousands of views.

"Coconut oil is pure poison," she said, adding that it is "one of the worst foods you can eat."

Central to her remarks is that there is no evidence of the long-term health benefits of coconut oil as well as the findings that the ingredient features a high saturated fat content that can elevate the levels of LDL, or "bad" cholesterol and ultimately fuel cardiovascular disease.

Other experts back these claims up.

The American Heart Association previously noted that coconut oil was full of saturated fats and advised against its use.

Studies support this with evidence that found replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fats reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.

"Coconut oil is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum in terms of types of fats," Dr. Walter C. Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told CNN.

"It's probably better than partially hydrogenated oils, [which are] high in trans fats, but not as good as the more unsaturated plant oils that have proven health benefits, like olive and canola oil."

Kevin Klatt, a molecular nutrition researcher at Cornell University who is studying the metabolic effects of coconut oil, told the news outlet that coconut oil was "probably not quite as 'bad' as butter but not as good as extra virgin olive oil."

CBS News medical contributor Dr. Tara Narula pointed out that coconut oil is 80 percent saturated fat, which is similar to butter, which is about 60 percent saturated fat, or beef fat, which is about 40 percent saturated fat.

"Saturated fat raises the LDL or the 'bad' cholesterol so coconut oil is going to have that same effect as butter and beef fat," she said.

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