Use your coconuts, says US nutrition expert
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Over a glass of buko juice, Dr. Bruce Fife proceeds to tell us why.
Since last year when entertainment personality Madonna not only endorsed it but has put her money in the business, coconut water is the newest trend to sweep the health and fitness industry. And just to see how cuckoo on coconut Hollywood celebrities from Demi Moore to Matthew McConaughey have become, Madonna got the popular young pop star Rihanna on board to endorse the Vita Coco brand last May.
They see something in it that we dont seem to because we are swimming in ita completely natural drink with no artificial additives or chemicals or flavorings, no cholesterol, low in sugar, low in fat, with an assortment of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other health-promoting phytonutrients.
Despite recent reports that our coconut trees are turning old and are dying and international soft drink giants have arrived aiming to revitalize the industry, pushcart vendors of buko will still have enough to provide the ordinary man in the street a natural and inexpensive nourishment.
Unfortunately, even the much healthier consumption of drinking water has been pushed away by the popularity and convenience of drinking carbonated and fruit-flavored drinks.
What is wrong with the carbonated soft drinks adults and children alike love to take?
Fife, author of the book Coconut Water for Health and Healing, says that every time we drink a 12-ounce serving of carbonated soda, we are taking in the equivalent of 10 or more t! easpoons of sugar (mostly in the form of high fructose corn syrup).
It doesnt help if we take the diet or sugar-free zero version. For in place of sugar, artificial sweeteners such as aspartame and sucralose are no better, said to cause health problems from seizures to weight gain.
According to Fife, soft drinks are a problem not only for what they contain (caffeine, phosphoric acid and sodium benzoate, to mention just a few) but also for what they push out of the diet. When people fill up on soft drinks they tend to eat less of the foods that supply essential nutrients.
He also refers to several studies that have provided evidence that soft drinks are directly related to weight gain, which is a prime risk for type 2 diabetesapart from sugar being the primary cause of tooth decay.
Perfect solution
In a study, researchers found that soft drink consumption was associated with lower bone mass development in girls. Harvard researchers found an association between the consumption of carbonated beverages and bone fracture in teenage girls.
Other studies have shown that soft drink consumers have an increased risk of developing kidney stones. Coconut water can flush out kidney stones, according to the doctor.
And although processed fruit juices may contain more vitamins than soft drinks, they have just as much, and often more, sugar as well as chemical preservatives and additives.
Fife raises his glass of buko juice in a poser: You need a beverage that is low in sugar, has no questionable additive, supplies essential nutrients, and tastes good enough that kids, as well as adults, will enjoy drinking it.
The perfect solution is coconut water! he said exultantly.
Coconut water tastes sweet, but the sugar content is actually very low compared to other beverages. It has less than 1/3 the amount of sugar as ginger ale or iced tea and 1/5 the amount found ! in an or ange soda or grape juice.
Vita Coco Partners with AgriNurture
October 12, 2011, 1:59am
MANILA, Philippines US best-selling coconut juice brand Vita Coco partnered with the Philippines leading fruit beverage exporter AgriNurture Inc. (ANI) to build a new coconut juice production facility in Pili, Camarines Sur.
The new US$5-million manufacturing facility will have an eventual output capacity of 36 million liters of coconut juice each year. Vita Cocos sales for 2011 is estimated at US$100 million, and the new facility with its 500,000 daily capacity will help meet the growing demand for coconut juice. Over the past 18 months, Coconut juice has become the most popular new beverage for professional athletes and celebrities all over the world, with pop superstar Madonna also having become an investor in the Vita Coco brand.
Construction on the new facility, which sits on a two-hectare property in Barangay San Jose in Pili, will be completed in May 2012. The partnership is seen to significantly add to national export revenue, stimulate the local economy and increase employment opportunities for farmers and local residents. The local government of Camarines Sur hosted the groundbreaking ceremony. Governor L-Ray Villafuerte, executives from Vita Coco and ANI, Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Bernadette Puyat as well as local suppliers of coco juice graced the occasion.
Vita Coco is the brand that started the United States craze for fresh coconut water. In the US Vita Coco is sold at over 20,000 retailers including Whole Foods Market, GNC, Kroger, Publix, Ralphs, Stop & Shop/Giant, select Costco and Wal-Mart stores and many chain and independent groceries. It is also sold in major US airports and on university campuses, as well as online at Amazon.com.
The brand is available in seven flavors: Pure, Pineapple, Peach & Mango, Aa & Pomegranate, Tangerine, Passion Fruit and new Tropical Fruit, a flavor co-created with Rihanna, the face of Vita Cocos recent advertising campaign.
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