HUMAN BLOOD FROM PLANT SOURCE?-A HIMALAYAN CLAIM!

There was a time when coconut oil was shunned as an unhealthy food obviously because of its high content of saturated fats. But to day the very same oil has become a much sought after ingredient in many processed foods and literally coconut oil has assumed the status of a nutraceutical because of its lauric acid content! Similarly coconut water was hailed as a healthy beverage though a critical appraisal of its composition does not show any extraordinary nutritional value. Just because it was used as a blood plasma substitute during World War II under most critical conditions mainly due to its sterile nature within the unhusked nut, it is difficult to imagine how a claim can be made that it is equal to human blood. This is a classical example of high pressure commercial promotion that can convert an ordinary food item into a super product through convoluted and misrepresenting information. Here is a take on this disgusting industry practice with least care to consumer well being!

"Coconut water—this decade's energy drink of the stars—is rich in electrolytes like sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and phosphate. In other words, it's a banana and a glass of water. But with the help of some clever packaging, a touch of Rihanna, and a fat price tag, marketers have spun coconut water into a health beverage empire. According to health and nutrition product tester ConsumerLab's recent analysis of three major coconut water brands (O.N.E., Vita Coco, and ZICO), the beverage companies' claims are a little shaky. Two of the three brands contain significantly fewer rehydrating electrolytes than their packaging suggests. "When you start making claims comparing it to sports drinks, you expect them to at least deliver on what they are promising," ConsumerLab president Tod Cooperman told The Huffington Post. Forget Gatorade. Coconut water producers have routinely compared the beverage to an even more precious substance: Human Blood. Coconut water is "the only natural substance that can be safely injected into the human blood stream," ZICO tells consumers. It is "identical to human blood plasma," Body Ecology insists. One enthusiast goes as far as to say that coconut water is "the universal donor," and so "by drinking coconuts we give ourselves a [sic] instant blood transfusion." Several coconut water manufacturers cite the liquid's use as emergency intravenous hydration during World War II and the Vietnam War as an extra incentive for cracking open a can. "Coconut water is not the same as blood plasma," Cooperman tells me. While coconut water "had been used as an intravenous replacement fluid in very dire situations," he says, that emergency use has since been "misused by these companies." ZICO, for example, encourages consumers to drink up by stating that its product has "saved many lives." Is coconut water a life saver? Maybe: When the Straight Dope took on the coconut water transfusion question, it found that "chemical analysis indicates it's closer in makeup to intracellular fluid" than plasma, but that it "behaves like a saline solution" when mixed with plasma. Still, it's "got fewer electrolytes in it than our bodies are used to and too much potassium, so it's not an ideal rehydration fluid. But it works in a pinch." Coconut water companies' marketing claims are meant to imply that the drink really, truly belongs in your body. But the practical relationship between olde-tyme IV supplement and Rihanna-endorsed workout drink remains to be seen. So coconut water was a last-ditch saline solution employed in decades-old foreign wars—why does that mean consumers should shell out $3 to drink 11 ounces of the stuff? After all, most humans don't need to drink electrolytes at all, much less stick them straight into their veins".

It is interesting to note that coconut water contains no nutrient that cannot be obtained from other normal foods and beverages and none of the nutrients present exceed 2-3% of RDA! Compared to many juices and beverages, its sugar content is only 2.5% while the calorie count does not exceed 20 kC per 100 ml serving. If isotonicity is its USP, it cannot come any where near the typical saline solution administered for re-hydration. Interestingly the unique taste of coconut water has never been simulated satisfactorily and no known processing technology can maintain its taste and flavor once it is removed from the fruit. At best it is a low calorie, low sugar beverage which needs no preservation as long as it is in the undamaged fruit. It is time that safety authorities clamp down on spurious claims by the industry to mislead and dupe the consumer!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com