Unless a coconut cracked you on the head while you were walking underneath a coconut tree and this caused memory loss for a period, I’m quite positive that you’re aware of how most of the world has become all things coconut. There are more coconut derivatives than one can, well…. hurl a coconut at … think coconut meat, oil and water as just a few examples of this rather glorious tropical fruit.
While we batten down the hatches this rather snowy winter we look to water rich food or beverages that are good for us and is a worthy addition to our regular habit of drinking water.
The emphasis on ‘regular’ is important as studies show that when it’s colder we are less inclined to display signs of thirst despite the fact that dehydration can be just as prevalent in winter as it is in summer.
We took to Google to establish the nutritional properties of coconut water and were quite surprised at the results:
The nutritional breakdown for one cup of unsweetened coconut water is:
- Kilojoules: 184
- Fat: 0 g
- Protein: 0.5 g
- Carbohydrate: 10.4 g
- Sugar: 9.6 g
Some points in coconut water’s favour: It has some important nutrients like potassium (404 mg per cup, almost as much as what you’ll find in a banana), vitamin C (24 mg, around 30 percent of your recommended daily value), and magnesium (15 mg, roughly 5 percent of your daily recommended intake).
The downside: that sugar content. Even though this is unsweetened water, and these are natural sugars, 9.6 grams is over a third of the recommended daily maximum amount of sugar.
Whilst coconut meat also provides a wide range of nutrients, it has a calorie count of 354 per 100g and sugar 6g.
Conclusion: While there are definite nutritional and dietary advantages to eating coconut (put that Bounty Bar down!) and quaffing coconut water, drinking water is still the simplest and most direct route to maintaining good hydration. Speak to us at AquAid – we’ll be happy to help facilitate this through the provision of a wide range of high quality water coolers and dispensers. Sadly, we don’t currently offer coconut tree shaped water coolers – we’ll need to leave achieving that tropical island feel up to you.
