The coconut debate has continued amongst the health community for many years now; particularly amongst the raw food community. Everybody has an opinion on this, but the answer that everybody is looking for is “Are coconuts good for you?” Well this article will make an attempt to shed some light on this long running issue and will attempt to give you the information to help you make your own decision.
In short, young green coconuts and coconut water is a fantastic source of natural saturated fats. Coconuts are roughly made up of about 70% fat of which 90% of this is saturated fat. Now, it’s natural that your reaction already is of horror as saturated fats are alienated in the media as been the major cause of many different illnesses; including the dreaded killer heart disease. But what they fail to tell you is that not all saturated fats are bad for you.
Whole coconut, cold pressed coconut oil, and coconut milk are the forms of the coconut which are good for you as they have been scientifically proven to not increase cholesterol levels and the chances of you getting heart disease. No, they have in fact been proven to lower cholesterol. What is important to remember is that saturated fats are only dangerous when they have been turned into trans fats. In fact the best way to prove this point is to look at the cancer statistics gathered over many years by the National Cancer Institute; Thailand, who have an abundance of coconut in their people’s natural diets, have the lowest rate of cancer in all the countries measured by the National Cancer Institute.
In fact, if you look at coconut milk more closely you can see that the pH levels of coconut milk are actually very similar to human breast milk. And as we all know, human breast milk is designed for use by humans to help us both develop and grow. In some ways, coconut milk actually resembles these qualities. Coconut water also has the same pH as the blood so it’s also not a danger to you and is very healthy just like coconut milk.
In addition to all this, coconut milk and water also contains a significant portion of lauric acid. Lauric acid is considered by leading scientists as both antiviral and antibacterial. The body actually uses lauric acid to create monolaurin which is believed to be able to destroy major viruses including the HIV virus and measles.
As we can see from this information alone, the many aspects which make up a coconut can be used in a healthy manner. To sum everything up, the saturated fat which is present in coconuts has not been converted into trans fats and are therefore not harmful to us. All liquids which can be extracted from the coconut are roughly the same pH of human breast milk, and our blood, so is therefore safe for us to consume. And finally, the presence of lauric acid actually does a lot to boost our own immune system against deadly diseases. So the question was “Are coconuts good for you?” the answer is a resounding yes.
