Coconut water is an very useful health drink, which it has so
many health benefits. Let us talk about the best of it in a brief
manner.
Coconut water is the juice in the interior or endosperm of young
coconut. Its water is one of the nature’s most refreshing drinks,
consumed worldwide for its nutritious and health benefiting
properties.
The water is actually obtained by opening a tender, green,
healthy, and undamaged coconut. Inside, it’s clear liquid is
sweet, and sterile and composed of unique chemicals such as
sugars, vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, enzymes, amino acids,
cytokine, and phyto-hormones. In general, young and slightly
immature coconuts harvested when they are about 5-7 months of age
for the drink.
Botanically, coconut plant belongs within the Arecaceae family of
palm trees and has the scientific name: Cocos nucifera.
Each nut may contain about 200 to 1000 ml of water depending on
cultivar type and size. Any nuts younger than five months of age
tend to be bitter in taste and devoid of nutrients. In contrast,
mature nuts contain less water, and their endosperm thickens
quickly to white edible meat (kernel). Coconut milk obtained from
the meat is therefore should not be confused with coconut water.
Coconut palm flourishes well along the costal tropical
environments. A coconut tree may yield several hundred tender
nuts each season. Different species of coconut palms are grown
all over the tropics. Naturally, their taste and flavor of water
show variations according to saline content in the soil, distance
from sea shore, mainland, etc.
Health benefits of coconut water
- Coconut water is a very refreshing drink to beat tropical summer
thirst. The juice is packed with simple sugar, electrolytes, and
minerals to replenish hydration levels within the body.
- Research studies suggest that cytokinins (e.g., kinetin and
trans-zeatin) in coconut water showed significant anti-ageing,
anti-carcinogenic, and anti-thrombotic effects.
- Coconut water has been generally offered to patients with
diarrhea in many tropic regions to replace the fluid loss from
the gastrointestinal tract and reduce the need for intravenous
therapy. The osmolarity of tender coconut water is slightly
greater than that of WHO recommended ORS (Oral Rehydration
Therapy) osmolarity. Presence of other biological constituents
like amino acids, enzymes, minerals, and fatty acids may account
for this higher osmolarity. However, unlike WHO-ORS, its water is
very low in sodium and chlorides, but rich in sugars and amino
acids. This well-balanced fluid composition with much-needed
calories would be an ideal drink than any other brand of soft
drink beverages in dehydration conditions.
- Coconut water is composed of many naturally occurring bioactive
enzymes such as acid phosphatase, catalase, dehydrogenase,
diastase, peroxidase, RNA-polymerases etc. In effect, these
enzymes help in the digestion and metabolism.
Despite very light consistency, its water has much better
composition of minerals like calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium,
and zinc than some of the fruits like oranges. (Compare the
mineral composition of oranges).
Its water is also a very good source of B-complex vitamins such
as riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, pyridoxine, and folates. These
vitamins are essential in the sense that the human body requires
them from external sources to replenish.
- Coconut water contains a very good amount of electrolyte
potassium. 100 ml of water has 250 mg of potassium and 105 mg of
sodium. Together, these electrolytes help replenish electrolyte
deficiency in the body due to diarrhea (loose stools).
- Further, fresh coconut water has a small amount of vitamin-C
(Ascorbic acid); It provides about 2.4 mg or 4% of RDA. Vitamin C
is a water-soluble ant-oxidant.
No comments:
Post a Comment