Skip to main content

Healthcare provisions of Coconut

HEALTHCARE PROVISIONS OF COCONUT

By NETHRA VIJAYAKUMAR


Coconut is the fruit of the coconut palm. It is used for its water, milk, oil and tasty meat.

Thankfully, the misguided coconut era has come to an end. Coconuts have been grown in tropical regions for more than 4,500 years but recently increased in popularity for their flavor, culinary uses, and potential health benefits.

Unlike many other fruits, that are high in carbs, coconut provides mostly fat.

Coconut oil:

 Nearly 90 percent of fat in coconut oil are saturated and they are healthy. Fifty-five to sixty-five percent of the saturated fat in coconut oil are medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs), which have been used as dietary supplements to improve nutrient absorption and sports performance. Coconut oil is rich in lauric acid, which has been shown to help the body fight viruses.

Coconut meat:

Coconut meat is rich in phytosterols, cholesterol like compound found primarily in nuts and legumes, phytosterols have been shown to naturally reduce cholesterol level in the blood. It is also an excellent source of fiber and has low carbs, by which it helps to stabilize your blood sugar. They are also rich in copper and iron, which helps to form red blood cells, as well as selenium, an important antioxidant that protects your cells from oxidative damage.

The polyphenols found in it can prevent the oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol, making it less likely to form plaques in arteries that can increase the risk of heart disease.

It has been proved that when rats with diabetes were fed protein made from coconut meat, their blood sugar, insulin levels, and other glucose metabolism markers were much better than those that didn’t eat coconut protein. In addition, beta cells in their pancreas started making more insulin — a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar. 

Researchers suspected the improved beta-cell function was also due to t in he high amounts of arginine found in coconut.

The high fiber content of coconut meat can also help slow digestion and improve insulin resistance, which can help regulate blood sugar levels as well.

Coconut water and Coconut milk:

Both fresh coconut water and freshly squeezed coconut milk are rich in minerals, including potassium, manganese and magnesium. Manganese is essential for bone health and for the metabolism of carbohydrates, protein and cholesterol.

Summary:

Coconut is a high-fat fruit that has a wide range of health benefits when consumed raw.

These include providing you with disease-fighting antioxidants, promoting blood sugar regulation, and reducing certain risk factors for heart disease.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The truth about Fats

TRUTH ABOUT FAT By NETHRA VIJAYAKUMAR DIETARY FAT Fat is a type of nutrient, and just like protein and carbohydrates, your body needs some fat for energy, to absorb vitamins, and to protect your heart and brain health.  Dietary fat and cholesterol Dietary fat also plays a major role in your cholesterol levels. Cholesterol is a fatty, wax-like substance that your body needs to function properly. In and of itself, cholesterol isn’t bad. But when you get too much of it, it can have a negative impact on your health. As with dietary fat, there are good and bad types of cholesterol.          • HDL cholesterol is the “ good ” kind of cholesterol found in your blood.          • LDL cholesterol is the “ bad ” kind.          • The key is to keep LDL levels low and HDL high, which may protect against heart disease and stroke.          • Conversely, high levels of LDL cholesterol can...
15 comments
Read more

Create healthy habits, not restrictions

CREATE HEALTHY HABITS, NOT RESTRICTIONS By NETHRA VIJAYAKUMAR Body weight control is much more successful if you can combine a well balanced diet with a healthy lifestyle. Crash diets may have positive short term results, but they tend to have poor long term success rates. As a Dietitian, it’s hard for me to counsel on weight loss. This may sound odd, but it’s the truth. I may be able to educate you on how to eat healthy, apart from diet the person may also be facing many other issues, that contribute to their struggle with weight loss – work pressure, financial issues, relationship struggles etc., And until one is able to find a way to deal with these life stressors, struggles with weight will continue to persist.  So while counseling, each person it taken into consideration and would see where the changes can be made in their lifestyle. I believe that, these small changes will add up to big results. I might suggest a lot of ideas to them of where the changes might nee...
9 comments
Read more

Protein Myths

PROTEIN MYTHS By Nethra Vijayakumar Protein is an essential macronutrient, found throughout the body—in muscle, bone, skin, hair, and virtually every other body part or tissue. It makes up the enzymes that power many chemical reactions and the hemoglobin that carries oxygen in your blood. Protein is made from twenty-plus basic building blocks called amino acids.  Myth: Animal protein is complete protein. Fact: Amino acids are the building blocks for protein synthesis. The body needs 20 different amino acids to function. Each amino acid is important, however, 9 of these 20 are considered essential, meaning the human body cannot create them in sufficient amounts on its own. Therefore, we need to consume them in our diet. As for the other 11 amino acids, the body can create on its own (through a process called ‘transamination’). When it comes to animal versus plant proteins, one of the biggest differences is the proportions of essential and nonessential amino acids. Anima...
6 comments
Read more