Coconut water was until recently a big trend not only among strength athletes, but also among the general population. Many people are not fond of it since today (Eddie Hall is an example for all), while others constantly criticize it. In today's article, we'll take a look at how it really is with coconut water and if it really is a miracle drink that would make meeveryone should include in their diet, or if it is just another marketing ploy without any real benefits.
Coconut water or coconut milk?
Right at the start, let me mention a very important difference between coconut water and coconut milk. It is not uncommon for people to confuse the two, which causes a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of key information. Coconut water is naturally found inside the coconut and to get it, you just have to open the coconut. Coconut milk, on the other hand, is created by pressing the flesh of ripe coconuts and therefore also has a much more concentrated taste. When it comes to nutritional value, coconut water wins by a landslide, which is why the two liquids need to be consistently distinguished from each other. While coconut milk also has many health benefits, it contains, for example, several times the number of calories compared to coconut water.
Benefits of coconut water
If this is not the first time you are hearing about coconut water today, you must have come across many claimsabout how beneficial this drink is for your health, as it offers a number of very valuable benefits. For example, scientific studies have confirmed that coconut water helps prevent kidney stones, removes free radicals out of the body so that it acts as an antioxidant, regulates blood sugar levels, or even helps lower cholesterol. This all sounds great, of course, but we need to take these scientific findings with a grain of salt. The studies mentioned above were conducted on animals, not humans. While the benefits of such studies may still be very important, it is not entirely appropriate to base all arguments on them.
However, to be completely fair, it is also worth mentioning a few studies that involved humans and can therefore be given more weight. One of them, for example, suggests that coconut water can lower systolic blood pressure in people with hypertension. Another study, on the other hand, concluded that coconut water helps athletes hydrate after training as well as various ionic drinks. Interestingly, some studies claim the opposite, but we'll get to the comparison of ionic drinks to coconut water in a moment. What to take away from all this? There's no denying that some studies actually suggest that coconut water may bein some ways beneficial to humans, but there is still one important thing to remember. Coconut water consists of about 94-95% pure water, with the rest being minerals and trace elements, which usually represent only a few percent of their recommended daily dose (in a 240 ml pack). As a result, coconut water can hardly be credited with any miraculous effects.
Negatives associated with the use of coconut water
At this point, it is also worth stopping at the question of whether coconut water can also have any negative effects on the human body. However, the answer to this question is quite simple. If you drink an abnormal amount of it, which could cause a laxative effect, you don't have to worry about coconut water at all. It is even perfectly safe to drink it daily, but in that case, you will feel this item on your list of expenses. On the negative side, theoretically, the taste of coconut water may also be a negative, which may not necessarily suit everyone. However, this aspect is very subjective.
It is worth mentioning the amount of sodium contained, which is quite crucial for athletes after training.It is a substance that needs to be replenished during prolonged exercise. In 100 ml of coconut water there are only 19 mg of this valuable mineral. This is considerably less than can be found in a regular ionic drink. In fact, with the exception of potassium, the content of all minerals in coconut water is lower than in ionicionic drinks, which refutes the argument that coconut water is a better way to hydrate the body after a workout.
So does coconut water make any sense?
If you're a fan of coconut water, there's basically no reason why you can't happily indulge in it further. As written above, drinking coconut water on a regular basis poses no health risks, nor does it negatively affect athletic performance in any way. However, it is certainly not worth getting your hopes up about its ability to hydrate the body and provide some miraculous health benefits. There are much more effective alternatives in this regard that are directly tailored to this.
What to replace coconut water with?
Need to replenish electrolytes after a hard workout? Instead of coconut water, reach for an ionic drink that is designed for this purpose. As mentioned above, ionic drinks actually contain higher amounts of minerals and trace elements. The only exception may be potassium, but this can be very easily supplemented with, for example, a banana, which many athletes eat after training anyway.
Which ionic drink to choose? There are many options, but not all of them are ideal. Our comparison of the best ionic drinks on the market will help you choose the right one. We've compared the best quality ionic drinks on the market and ranked them according to their importantflavour, taste, overall quality of the ingredients and, of course, we've also taken price into account. For example, Iontex Forte from the well-known brand Extrifit did very well, which appealed to us because of itsWe were particularly impressed by the high content of all key minerals and trace elements.
When is it worth taking an ionic drink?
It is not true that you need to take an ionic drink after every workout. In fact, during a medium-long workout, the body does not flush out so many minerals that they need to be replenished immediately. Ionic drinks are especially useful for endurance athletes who train for 2 hours at a stretch. In the gym, an ionic drink only makes sense after a really hard and long workout. You can read more about this topic in the above mentioned comparison of the best ionic drinks, in which we, in addition to reviews of individual products, we also looked at how these drinks work and when they are really worth taking. But if you'd like to try coconut water, put it in your cart with your purchase at bodybuilding.com
Conclusion.
After presenting all the relevant facts, we have no choice but to declare uncompromisingly that coconut water does not actuallyis not a miracle drink that every athlete should try at all costs. The reality is simply that coconut water does not contain enough substances to provide as many benefits to the body as is often claimed. It is yet another in an endless line of heavily promoted products that promise miracles but actually have no amazing properties. None of this means, of course, that you should avoid coconut water or that it is even somehow harmful. Not at all. It just doesn't offer any miraculous effects. If you're looking for a dietary supplement to help you recover well after a hard workout, reach for an ionic drink instead.
That's all from us for today, but if you have any questions, we'd be happy to answer them in the comments below the article.
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Why can you trust us?
Hey! Hey! I'm Mirek and I've been working at World Fitness almost since the beginning, except for a small break. But before that I lived only in the gym for a few years, doing deadlifts and power triathlon, going to competitions and winning a few medals.
Probably the one I value the most is the national record in the WUAP federation. But besides working out, I was also interested in food and supplements, I liked to enjoy my free timeI used to read different researches and professional books in my free time to know as much as possible.