Coconuts have taken the health food world by tropical storm. In all their forms, coconuts pose health benefits touted by nutritionists and holistic healers around the U.S. It’s like we discovered a new food group! Coconut milk, oil, and especially coconut water have gained massive popularity in the last 10 years or so.

Coconut water is a superfood found in young coconuts. As coconuts age, the liquid sweetens and thickens into what we call coconut milk, and then finally congeals into the white flesh that lines the inside of the shells of adult coconuts.

Even though all these substances are chemically similar, coconut water offers surprising health benefits that the other forms do not. Of all coconut products, this is the one to watch.

 

How Coconut Water Promotes Good Health

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hydration is an essential aspect of healthy bodily function on every level. Every cell in our bodies requires water to function properly. In addition, the chemical reactions that make everything in our bodies work require water for lubricating, transporting, and facilitating nutrients through these processes.

We’re all busy during the workweek, but if there’s one thing you should do to make yourself healthier, it’s to drink enough water.

However, water by itself isn’t as functional as we might think. We also need electrolytes, which absorb and transport that water to the areas that need it. You need both to become properly hydrated.

This is where sports drinks get their fame, offering athletes a readily available source of electrolytes to facilitate hydration under harsh conditions. However, mother nature has them all beat. It turns out that coconut water has almost the exact same electrolyte balance as human blood itself.

Coconut water is the ideal way to hydrate because of this balance. Not to creep you out, but coconut water is amazingly similar to human plasma. It can even be used intravenously in emergency situations that require a transfusion!

No other fluid on earth can do this because none except coconut water is perfectly sterile. Many alternative health professionals now call it “the perfect fluid” because of its amazing ability to hydrate the human body.

 

Nutrient Content

 

 

 

 

 

 

In addition to its incredible hydrating abilities, coconut water also contains nutrients, enzymes, amino acids, and antioxidants. They all come with unique abilities that make it even healthier to drink.

These abilities include:

  • Reducing inflammation
  • Promoting healthy digestion
  • Balancing blood glucose and insulin levels
  • Providing phytonutrients
  • Promoting skin and eye health
  • Improving heart and urinary tract function (with potassium)
  • Aiding weight loss

This nutrient cocktail only makes coconut water an easier sell.

 

Coconut Water and Aging

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coconut water offers health benefits to people no matter their age. However, it turns out that it can actually help you stay younger too.

Coconut water is now recognized as the number one natural source of compounds called cytokinins, which have been studied for their anti-aging properties. They are hormones that regulate the development of the coconut plant. In the human body, they have shown potential in slowing the aging process at the cellular level.

While not yet an active anti-aging formula, the intense dose of cytokinins found in coconut water is the best option we currently have to consume this potentially age-reversing compound.

 

The Takeaway

Coconut water is a hot topic right now among nutritionists. Its ability to hydrate the human body better than normal water should be enough, but it also contains a cocktail of useful nutrients that even include anti-aging compounds.

Best of all, for busy workers and parents, coconut water is easy to buy and drink on the go. It’s almost scary how perfect it is for hydration and the nutrients are just a bonus. We talk a lot about superfoods. Well, here’s probably the only superDRINK you’ll ever need.