Coconut – a superfood?

The take home message is that whether it is coconut, coconut products, or any other superfood, there is no health benefit to be gained by consuming more than the regular amounts that we have been used to for centuries. Before the country was elevated to middle income category, and given access to sugary and fatty foods, our diet used to be a healthy one. Western nutritionists may have shed a tear or two for its low animal protein content, but we live in the tropics and can do without the extra insulation.

by Geewananda Gunawardana, Ph.D.

Can we keep a secret, just among us? It is an essential part of our traditional diet, but coconut has nothing superior relative to other foods. However, if we can earn much needed foreign exchange by calling it one, as the proverb says, we should make hay while the sun shines. But let us not forget that it is only a sales pitch.

The term superfood is a marketing tool created to describe a food item that supposedly provides exceptional health benefits due to its high nutrient content. It is not a scientifically proven concept. But this marketing tactic has been phenomenally successful in selling exotic fruits and related products in Western markets at higher prices than their regular counterparts. However, these fads do not last too long as there are no real health benefits to be gained, and many governments are beginning to regulate this practice. For example, mangosteen juice was sold in the US as a panacea and the sales jumped from $40 million in 2002 to $200 million in 2005, but it has dropped off since. The juice was made from the whole crushed fruit including the inedible outer shell that tastes horrible. But it was claimed to have antioxidants, immunostimulant, and various other health promoting properties, and the Westerners who have never heard of this fruit paid good money for something thrown away in the native countries. All these claims are vague and cannot be proven scientifically as all plant materials have these chemical components at various levels. But that does not prevent the introduction of hundreds of new products as superfoods each year.

There is a video in circulation online in which a person in a white coat and a stethoscope around the neck authoritatively declares that Sri Lanka has the lowest incidence of heart disease. ‘The reason is that they consume a lot of coconuts,’ he declares. ‘Hundred and twenty coconuts per person a year,’ and he adds ‘that are a lot of coconuts.’ No need to say that none of that is true; Qatar has the lowest rate at 42 deaths compared to ours at 264 deaths per hundred thousand people due to cardiovascular diseases. In another similar commercial, the narrator refers to a clinical trial conducted in Sri Lanka proving these facts. There are no such clinical studies to be found. Thanks to such clever marketing tactics, there is a tremendous demand for coconut products in the Western markets: coconut water, milk, yoghurt, cream, sugar, oil, and endless variety of cosmetic products purported to have a variety of health benefits. A litre of coconut water sells for about US $ 4. There is no need to describe how the advertising world works but suffice to say that ‘massaging’ data is nothing new to them. They are good at twisting the facts to fit their needs, but as a major producer and a consumer of coconut, we must learn to differentiate facts from fiction.

The major contents of our food can be of two types: macronutrients and micronutrients. Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats that the body needs in quantities to produce energy and maintain body and function belong to the first type while vitamins and minerals to the second. In addition, most plant foods contain other components in lesser amounts that are beneficial to health. Examples are compounds that have antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antioxidant, and stimulant properties. The best way to get them is to eat a varied and balanced diet. Instead, if one tries to get them by eating more of one food item, it could end up disturbing the natural balance.

Coconut is no exception. The proponents of superfoods highlight antioxidants, immunostimulants, and heart-healthy components in it. However, if one tries to get them in effective amounts, they will end up ingesting copious amounts of saturated fats that are believed to raise bad cholesterol (LDL) in blood. It should be known that coconut oil contains more saturated fat than beef fat. However, the way coconut is used in Sri Lankan cooking, it is a reliable source of energy, but if it is overused, it could go into the unhealthy territory. Other than being a regular food, the claimed health benefits of coconut has not been proven in scientific studies (Coconut oil: an overview of cardiometabolic effects and the public health burden of misinformation; https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10660992/).

All media, particularly the internet, are flooded with advertisements promoting endless health benefits of superfoods and ‘all natural’ products. Fortunately, the internet is also a good place to verify their claims. Instead of searching for benefits, if one searches for adverse or risk factors of the same item, it is possible to learn the other side of the story that the advertiser does not want us to know. A reliable place to find scientific data pertaining to health claims is ‘PubMed,’ a free, online database that is maintained by the National Library of Medicine (NLM). It provides references to original data published in peer revived scientific journals.

The take home message is that whether it is coconut, coconut products, or any other superfood, there is no health benefit to be gained by consuming more than the regular amounts that we have been used to for centuries. Before the country was elevated to middle income category, and given access to sugary and fatty foods, our diet used to be a healthy one. Western nutritionists may have shed a tear or two for its low animal protein content, but we live in the tropics and can do without the extra insulation. No one is going to get better or cure any diseases by over consuming ‘superfoods,’ in fact, it could have detrimental effects. Nothing good will result in giving into glossy but bogus advertising. We must decide what is good for us based on facts from reliable sources, but not from advertisements, bloggers, or celebrities. We must stop wasting our hard-earned money on gimmicks.