Getting the Benefits of Coconut Water Depend on Getting the Right Brand

All over the world, people are wildly enthusiastic about coconut water. You can even find it for sale in Russia now.

Coconut water has the potential to be the next pomegranate, or mangosteen, or acai berry in the natural foods market. While it's not no-cal or no-carb, it contains an interesting combination of useful fatty acids and just a few carbs, about the same as 4 crackers, sufficiently low-carb that most type 2 diabetics can tolerate it.

What Is Coconut Water?

If you have ever taken a vacation in the tropics, you may have seen people drinking something that looks like watery juice from a coconut. Not to be confused with coconut milk or coconut oil, coconut water is one of the most densely nutrient-packed natural beverages on the planet.

This tropical treat is the liquid that is found naturally in the coconut. Coconut milk has to be extracted from the meat. If you are counting calories to lose weight, you will be happy to know that cup of coconut water contains a measly 46 calories--and 1/3 of those calories come from protein, not carbohydrate. Moreover, that cup of coconut water contains more potassium than a 150-calorie banana.

No Need to Take a Hammer to a Coconut

It used to be that the only way to get the water of a coconut was to crack open your own nuts with a hammer and hope to catch the "juice" inside. Nowadays it is easy to find skinned coconuts in the produce section of major food markets. All you have to do is to slice off the top and stick a straw inside.

There are many  new canned coconut water beverages, each with all the electrolytes you would find in an ordinary sports drink but with a fraction of the sugar. There is no fiber in the water, and the lauric acid associated with immune power is actually found in the meat of the coconut or the creamy coconut oily extracted from coconut meat.

The combination of protein and carbohydrate, however, makes it a good drink for the end of your workout, giving your muscles just a little protein with just a little carbohydrate in a very few calories so they can begin to repair and reshape themselves. For a quick boost of four different electrolytes to help you recover from a hard, sweaty workout, coconut water is hard to beat.

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Is Coconut Water a Super-Food?

All of this doesn't mean that coconut water is some kind of super-amazing natural wonder food that cures all diseases, as a few overly enthusiastic writers have suggested. However, there are some less than amazing qualities of coconut water that make it a good choice for hydration after workouts:

• One study found that women who drink coconut water after they work out have less fluid retention.
• At least in studies in the laboratory with animals, coconut water offsets some of the hormonal changes caused by high-fat diet.
• Also in studies in the laboratory with animals, coconut water seems to act as a neurotropic (brain stimulating) and antidepressant agent.

However, choosing the wrong brand of coconut water can cancel out all of these benefits.

What You Need To Know To Choose The Right Brand Of Coconut Water

The ideal way to get coconut water is to husk a green coconut, drill a hole, and then drink the water through a straw. Most of us can't do that for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that is not easy to open a coconut. However, there are certain things to look for in a good brand of coconut water.

• Coconut water should be made with green coconuts, not mature coconuts. Older coconuts are good for coconut flesh and coconut oil, but the coconut water has an off taste that has to be modified with chemicals. Look for brands that are made with young, green coconuts.
• The ingredients list should not include coconut syrup. Some manufacturers import partially dehydrated coconut syrup because the shipping costs are lower. They then add water to make a coconut drink. Not only are these drinks higher in sugar, they lack many of the beneficial plant compounds in coconut water that assist the immune system in fighting bacteria, and that give you a mental boost.
• You should buy coconut water out of a refrigerator case, not off the shelf. Many manufacturers pasteurize coconut water to give it a longer shelf life and to allow grocers to display their products without refrigeration. The taste just isn't the same. The best coconut water is fresh. This product will be more expensive, but it will also offer more coconut water health benefits.,
• Coconut water shouldn't have added flavoring agents. Companies that let coconut water spoil, which gives it an acrid, acid taste, sometimes add chemicals to cover the taste of spoilage. Listing even "natural flavorings" on the label suggests that the company doesn't use good manufacturing practices to keep the product fresh on the way from the plantation to the plant to the store where you buy it.

What are some problem brands?

• C2O uses pasteurization and packages their product in steel and aluminum cans.
• Coco Libre is organic, but rehydrates the water from concentrate.
• GOYA adds sugar.
• Naked Juice Coconut Water is made from cheaper, mature coconuts. 
• O.N.E. Coconut Water, bottled by the same people who make Pepsi, adds sugar and flavoring agents.
• Purity Organic Coconut Water is in fact organic, but it is manufactured with flash pasteurization.
• Vita Coco claims to be "100 percent pure," but adds flavorings and sweeteners.
• Zico, made by Coca Cola, is ultrapasteurized and has added flavorings.

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What does this leave? There are a couple of brands that are more expensive but that are the "real thing," Exotic Superfoods (OK, they exaggerate a little, but at least their product is pure) and Harmless Harvest. We don't make any money for recommending them to you, but they are the best choices for maximum flavor and health benefits. Any brand you choose should be packaged with "high pressure processing" rather than pasteurization, and should include just one ingredient: coconut water.