The Internet is full of stories and articles about the health benefits of coconut water. People are encouraged to drink this specific type of water because it can bring positive effects to different organs. However, this doesn’t mean that drinking any brand of coconut water is useful. People must learn more about the brands before they actually buy coconut water and start drinking it. This is something that you need to share with your friends and family.
Numerous studies have confirmed that coconut water is one of the most useful beverages when it comes to human health. It represents a perfect combination of minerals and vitamins that can keep our bodies safe.
For instance, it is much better than sports drinks because coconut water gives athletes magnesium and potassium in their natural form and rehydrates them while easing inflammation and managing blood sugar levels.
Recent scientific research revealed in the famous Molecules journal has confirmed that drinking coconut water is great for reducing high blood pressure, protecting us from heart attacks, and curing cancer.
This water also comes with a plant hormone known as trans-zeatin. Early studies show that this plant hormone has the potential to cure Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
As a matter of fact, there are many anti-aging effects that this water brings and manufacturers have tried to use its popularity. It is good to mention that not all of them are doing this in the right way and many food brands are using hazardous chemicals and heavily processing coconut water before they offer it to the consumers.
Are You Drinking This Toxic Coconut Water?
In order to keep its nutrients, packaged coconut water must be obtained directly from raw and fresh coconuts. But, there are many manufacturers that are using different techniques of packaging that destroy coconut water’s purity.
• Using water from very mature coconuts. The water with the highest amount of nutrients in the one gathered from young, green coconuts. When they mature, most of the nutrients are found in the flesh of these fruits. So, the water found in mature coconuts has low nutritional value.
In addition, it is not only the number of nutrients that are changed; the flavor is completely different compared to young coconuts. It turns out that mature coconuts are ideal for making coconut oil, coconut milk, and other similar products. In addition, they are less expensive and that’s why many manufacturers decide to use them.
• Relying on reconstituted extract instead of fresh, raw coconut water. Some manufacturers, heat, and shrink coconut water until they get syrup and after that, they add plain water to the coconut water syrup before packaging. It is good to point out that when the coconut water is heated so intensively it is deprived of nutrients and even the helpful enzymes are not useful anymore. Manufacturers do this because coconut water syrup is cheaper.
• Using heat to pasteurize coconut water. Coconut water is very delicate and it perishes naturally. So, it should be stored in cold areas. But, there are many food manufacturers that rely on very high heat to eliminate bacteria and improve shelf life.
However, this practice ruins all the minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and even the flavor of coconut water. It is true that there are many other methods to eliminate bacteria and preserve the nutrients, but manufacturers stick to the methods that are simpler and cheaper.
• Using preservatives to make coconut water sweeter and more flavorful. Raw coconut water from young coconuts is refreshing and sweet. But, there are many manufacturers that decide to use so-called natural flavors or sweeteners in their products. In case you are wondering why they would want to do this, the answer is very simple – they use mature coconuts.
• Placing coconuts in chemicals for better transportation. There are many non-organic coconuts that are dipped in chemicals like sodium metabisulphite and formaldehyde in order to preserve their properties while they are transported to the United States. It is actually quite easy for these chemicals to penetrate the bark of coconut and enter the water and flesh.
Do You Use Some of These Coconut Water Brands?
We have created a list of food brands that advertise their drinks as Pure Natural Coconut Water or 100% Coconut Water, but they are not telling the complete story to their buyers!
1. Organic Cocoa Libre – Even though the label says that this product is organic, the truth is that they rely on coconut water obtained from concentrate. They use meat pasteurization with heat to process the coconuts. So-called natural flavors are also used in these products.
2. C2O – It turns out that this popular brand relies on extreme heat pasteurization that reaches up to 120 C to create their canned products. On top of that, they use aluminum and steel cans.
3. GOYA – Even though they have managed to eliminate the GMO label from their product, GOYA has confirmed that they rely on heat pasteurization in a combination with preservatives and sugar.
4. Cona Zona – if you take a close look at the label of this product, you’ll see that the coconut water is obtained from concentrate.
5. ONE Coconut Water – Pepsico has several coconut water beverages on their offer and this is one of them. It is produced with the help of meat pasteurization with high heat. This product also comes with sugar and natural flavors. There is no specific description of the origin of sugar and some experts suggest that they may use a GMO type of sugar.
6. Naked Juice Coconut Water – Now here’s another example of Pepsico coconut water. It is produced from mature coconuts and with the help of heat pasteurization. There were several lawsuits against Pepsico because they’ve used synthetic compounds and GMOs to create this product and they’ve “forgotten” to mention this fact on their label.
7. Vita Coco – This product is advertised as 100% pure, but the fact is that the coconut water is pasteurized with high heat and has some sweeteners in it. In addition, they offer Café Vita Coco which comes with carrageenan, an emulsifier that can destroy gut health.
8. Purity Organic – Even though this product contains the word organic in its name, this doesn’t mean that the manufacturer is following the ideal practices in its production. Purity Organic comes with concentrate and uses flash pasteurization with high heat during the production process.
9. Zico – This Coca-Cola subsidiary is closely related to the GMO industry. Zico coconut waters are produced from concentrates, pasteurized with extremely high heat, and enriched with natural flavor.
So, What Should We Do?
The perfect coconut water is the one obtained directly from an organic coconut tree. The coconut must be green and young. In case you are looking for packaged water, select organic and raw or organic coconut water obtained through HPP (high-pressure processing).
Sources Natural News | Healthline