Coconut has been eaten for thousands of years by human beings. It is native to southern Asia and belongs to the Cocos nucifera palm family. Raw coconut meat is one of the most nutritious, healthiest and most delicious foods on the blue planet.
Coconut is antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-parasitic, that means they kill viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi. It also support in absorption of other minerals also.
It is very useful and indispensable food for many people in tropic region. Coconut is a complete food rich in vitamins, minerals, and calories. An average size coconut contains 400g of edible meat and 30-150 ml of water may give almost all everyday requirements of essential vitamin, minerals, and energy of an individual.
Health Benefits of Coconut
Health Benefit of Coconut
Coconut water Benefits – Coconut is a natural water filter. It takes approximate 8 to 9 month for a coconut to filter each quart of water store inside its shell. This makes coconut water completely sterile and pure.
Coconut water contains high concentration of electrolyte than anything found in nature. This makes it a wonderful source of hydration. It is a very refreshing drink to remove summer thirst. This juice is packed with electrolytes, simple sugar, minerals, and bioactive compounds like cytokinin, and enzymes like phosphatase, peroxidase, dehydrogenase, polymerases etc. Overall, theses enzymes aid in metabolism and digestion.
Coconut water also rich in minerals – Potassium is helpful in regulating the kidney, heart, brain, and muscles. Magnesium – it is responsible for many important biological functions like manage the heartbeat and helpful in nerves. Phosphorus – is important to keeping bone and teeth healthy. Iron – is useful in making body red blood cell and is responsible for carrying the iron in the blood stream.
Coconut Oil Benefits – Coconut oil obtained from the dry kernel is a great emollient agent. This oil is used in cooking, applied over scalp for hair nourishment, used in pharmacy and medicine.
The Kernel is a great source of minerals like calcium, copper, manganese, iron, and zinc.
Coconut oil helps to naturally to remove the skin of dangerous toxins. It also provides the skin the excellent mix of antioxidant and hydration that is needs to stay healthy, younger-looking longer.
Coconut Milk Benefits – Coconut milk is rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, and B1, B3, B5 as well as calcium, iron, selenium, phosphorus and magnesium. Thus, this sweet and creamy liquid can be a part of your healthy diet and is a good option for those who are allergic to milk of animals.
Coconut milk contains good amount of lauric acid, and a medium chain fatty acid which get change to monolaurin in the body, a mixture with antibacterial and antiviral properties.
Lauric acid found in mother milk also and is known to stimulate bone health, brain health, and immunity.
Health Benefit of Raw Coconut
Control Diabetes – Coconut improves the utilization of blood glucose and insulin secretion. It controls diabetes by easily affecting the hormones for controlling blood sugar. This helps slow down the increase in blood sugar level and helps to lower glycemic carvings. Coconut support quick digestion and other symptoms related with digestive and bowel disorders. It helps absorption of minerals and nutrients while giving dietary fiber. It also lowers vomiting and nausea.
Full of Vitamin and minerals – Milk of coconut is loaded with vitamin B, C, and E making it a healthy fruit. The vitamin C, and E are helpful to the immune system and the vitamin B are beneficial for cellular energy and keep immune system strong.
Rich in Laurie acid – Coconut has a high amount of a material known as lauric acid, as only few items containing lauric acid. This fatty acid also found in human milk. Lauric acid is useful in fighting fungiand bacteria, and viruses that cause many illnesses to the body.
It is also effective in reducing cholesterol level and triglycride which reduce the chance of cardiovascular or stroke diseases.
Some studies are shown that people who eat coconut for a long time their HDL cholesterol go up LDL cholesterol level go down.
Boost Immunity – Coconut nutrition is great for the immune system. It is antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and anti-parasites. Regular intake of coconut oil can support the body to mount resistance to both bacteria and viruses that cause illness. Eating coconut in raw form is effective in to treat some of the bad and most resilient illness like bronchitis, throat infection, tapeworms, and other diseases caused by microbes.
Healthy Teeth and Bones – Regular intake of coconut helps in the development of healthy teeth and bones. It improves the body’s capacity to absorb magnesium and calcium which support bone development. It also inhibits osteoporosis, and condition which make the bone fragile and thin and lose its density. Thus it is healthy option for those who are lactose intolerant.
Coconuts are rich in vitamins, calorie and abundance of minerals. A medium size 400gm of coconut flesh provides almost all the minerals and vitamins required by the body a day. 100gm kernels of coconut contain around 350 calories. It is packed is with high saturated acid such as lauric acid and bioactive compounds that are important for better health. Coconut kernels are excellent source of niacin, folates, thiamin, and pyridoxine.
Grated and dried powder of coconut used in the preparation of many type of savory dishes in India and other Asia region. Dried coconut powder used in mouth-watering dishes like granola, burfi, cakes, bars, pies, chocolate, and curd. Coconut milk is used in variety of food preparation. In many part of Philippines, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka vegetables seafood, curries cooked in this milk.