Fruity Thursday: Coconut (Agbon/Kwakwa/Aku-oyibo)

              
Coconut is One of my all-time favorite fruits, it is a mature fruit of the cocos nucifera palm.
Cocos nucifera belongs to the large Palmaceae family of palm trees. Coco palm grows well under tropical climates.
I read from a nutrition journal that coconut is kind of an “exotic” food primarily consumed by health conscious people.
However, in some parts of the world, coconut is a dietary staple that people have thrived on for many generations.



                    
The best example of such a population is the Tokelauans, which live in the South Pacific.
They eat over 60% of their calories from coconuts and are the biggest consumers of saturated fat in the world.
These people are in excellent health, with no evidence of heart disease
Another example of a population that eats a lot of coconut and remains in excellent health is the Kitavans.
In Africa, we make coconut rice (I looove white jollof coconut rice), coconut candy bars or even use the coconut oil for cooking and beauty enhancement.
So friends, eat coconut...Lol

               
See some health benefits:
1. Coconut water is a very refreshing drink to beat tropical summer thirst. The juice is packed with simple sugar, electrolytes, minerals, and bioactive compounds such as cytokinin, and enzymes such as acid phosphatase, catalase, dehydrogenase, peroxidase, polymerases, etc. Altogether, these enzymes aid in digestion and metabolism.

2. Coconut oil extracted from the dry nut is an excellent emollient agent. It is used in cooking, to help scalp hair nourishment, in pharmacy and in medicines.

3. Research studies suggest that cytokinins (e.g., kinetin and trans-zeatin) in coconut water showed significant anti-ageing, anti-carcinogenic, and anti-thrombotic effects.

4. The kernel is an excellent source of minerals such as copper, calcium, iron, manganese, magnesium, and zinc.

5. It is also a very good source of B-complex vitamins such as folates, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin, and pyridoxine. These vitamins are essential in the sense that body requires them from external sources to replenish.

6. Coconut meat and water contain a very good amount of potassium. 100 g of fresh meat contains 356 mg% or 7.5% of daily required levels of potassium.
Enjoy!!