The description on Coconuts
Coconuts are the fruit of the coconut palms, native to Malaysia, Polynesia and southern Asia, but also grown in South America, India, the Pacific Islands, Hawaii and Florida. Botanically it is classified as a drupe and not a nut – coconut is the largest seed known. The coconut fruit is used for its water, milk, meat, sugar, and oil, and it also has its own cup. In past times the husk was used for fuel, but today coir is takes to make brushes, mats and rope. In Sanskrit the coconut palm is called the “tree which gives all that is necessary for living“, because almost all parts of the tree can be used one or another way. It takes up to a year for coconuts to mature, but it can be harvested all year-round. One tree runs about 60 nuts. Coconut oil is used for both edible and non-edible products (soaps and cosmetics).
The health benefits of Coconuts
This nut contains significant amounts of fat, like most types of nuts, but coconuts provide short and medium-chain saturated fats. These fats are different from the saturated fats in animal products – they are sent to the liver to be burned as energy.
Coconut fat promotes weight loss, increases the burning of calories and lowers cholesterol as well.
More about Coconuts
About 50% of its fatty acids are a medium-chain saturated fat lauric acid, whose other abundant source in nature is only human breast milk. Inside the body this acid is converted into a highly beneficial compound called monolaurin, which destroys a wide variety of disease-causing organisms (Cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex 1, measles, Staphylococcus aureus, Helicobacteri pylory, Candida albicans, etc.). The antiviral properties of the medium-chain fatty acids are being investigated as a treatment for AIDS.