Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Coconut Water and its benefits

(Image credits belongs to its owner)

HEALTH BENEFITS OF COCONUT WATER

Drinking coconut water has many benefits. Coconut water is naturally:
  • Low in Carbohydrates
  • 99% Fat Free
  • Low in Sugar
Coconut water contains organic compounds possessing healthy growth promoting properties that have been known to help: 
  1. Keep the body cool and at the property temperature.
  2. Orally re-hydrate your body, it is an all natural isotonic beverage. 
  3. Carry nutrients and oxygen to cells
  4. naturally replenish your body fluids after exercising
  5. Raise your metabolism
  6. Promote weight loss 
  7. Boost your immune system
  8. Detoxify and fight viruses
  9. Cleanse your digestive tracts
  10. Control diabetes
  11. Aid your body in fighting viruses that cause the flu, herpes and AIDS
  12. Balance your PH and reduce risk of cancer
  13. Treat kidney and urethral stones
  14. Boost poor circulation 

About the Coconut
Coconut water is incredibly healthy and one of the best drinks to hydrate the body. Besides helping to remove toxin from the body and aiding digestion, coconuts have amazing anti-viral, anti fungal and anti microbial properties that help to cure the disease.

The English name coconut first mentioned in English print in 1555 comes from Spanish and Portuguese word coco, which means "monkey face". Spanish and Portuguese explorers found a resemblance to a monkey's faces in the three round indented markings or "eyes" found at the base of the coconut. On the Nicobar Islands of the Indian Ocean, whole coconuts were used as currency for the purchase of goods until the early part of the twentieth century.

Coconut are the fruit of the coconut palm, botanically known as Cocos Nucifera, with nucifera meaning "nut bearing". he fruit bearing palms are native to Malaysia, Polynesia and southern Asia, and are now also prolific in South America, India, the Pacific Islands, Hawaii and Florida. The light, fibrous husk allowed it to easily drift on the oceans to other areas to propagate. In Sanskrit, the coconut palm is known as Kalpa Vriksha, which means "tree which gives all that necessary for living", since nearly all parts of the tree can be used in some manner or another. The coconut itself has many uses, including milk, meat, sugar and oil as well as functioning as its own dish and cup. the husk was also burned for fuel by natives, but today a seed fibre called coir is taken from the husk and used to make brushes, mats, fishnets and rope.  A very potent fermented toddy or drink is also made from the coconut palm's sap. Coconut oil, a saturated fat made from dried coconut meat, is used for commercial frying and in candies and margarines, as well as in non edible products such as soaps and cosmetics.

Although it takes up to a year for coconut to mature, the trees bloom up to thirteen times a year, so fruit is constantly forming, yielding a continuous harvest year-round. An average harvest from one tree runs about 60 coconuts, with some tree yielding three times that amount. The coconut's name is a bit of a misnomer, since it is botanically classified as a drupe and not a nut. It is the largest seed known.

If you've ever opened a fresh coconut, you'll have seen the thin, opaque, almost clear coconut juice or water which has a slight almond favor. Contrary to popular belief, this is not coconut milk. However, the water is consumed as a drink fresh from the coconut by many and it can also be used in recipes.

Health Benefit of Coconut Water
"It's a natural isotonic beverage, with the same level of electrolytic balance as we have in our blood. It's the fluid of life, so to speak." In fact, during the Pacific war of 1941-1945 (WWII), both sides in the conflict regularly used coconut water siphoned directly from the nut to give emergency plasma transfusions to wounded soldiers. 

Most coconut water is still consumed fresh in tropical coastal areas  -once exposed to air, the liquid rapidly loses most of its organoleptic and nutritional characteristics, and begin to ferment.
  • Coconut water is more nutritious than whole milk - less fat and no cholesterol.
  • Coconut water is more healthy than orange juice - much lower calories
  • Coconut water is better than processed baby milk - It contains lauric acid, which is present in human mother's milk
  • Coconut water is naturally sterile. Water permeates through the filtering husk.
  • Coconut water is a universal donor. It is identical to human blood plasma.
  • Coconut water is a natural isotonic beverage - the same level that we have in our blood.
  • Coconut water has saved lives in 3rd World countries through Coconut IV. 
"Coconut water is the very stuff  of Nature, biologically pure, full of natural sugars, salts and vitamins to ward off fatigue and is the next wave of energy drink BUT natural", according to Mortin Satin, Chief of the United Nation's Food & Agriculture Organisation.

  • Coconut water contains more potassium (about 294mg) than most sports drink (117mg) and most energy drinks.
  • Coconut water has less sodium (25mg) than sport drinks (41mg) and energy drink (200mg) 
  • Coconut water has 5mg of natural sugars while sports and energy drinks have 10-25mg of altered sugars.  
  • Coconut water is very high in Chloride (118mg) compared to sports drinks (39mg)
(Above data is based on 100ml of coconut water drink)

Source: http://www.knowledgebase-script.com/demo/article-320.html

No comments: