8 HEALTH BENEFITS OF COCONUT MILK

It is quite popular both as food ingredients as well as beauty products in many tropical countries such as Philippines and in other South East Asian region.

Modern companies now sell coconut milk in canned form.

When consumed, coconut milk offers you the following health benefits:

1. Antioxidant

High amount of antioxidants in coconut milk has been verified in various scientific publications including Ceylon Medical Journal. The biggest benefit of antioxidant is its ability to fight free radicals and therefore prevent life-threatening conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease. Antioxidant can also help to postpone signs of aging, and therefore prevent aging-related dementia.

1. Promotes Cardiovascular Health

According to Ceylon Medical Journal, coconut milk contains monoglycerides which is an oily organic compound soluble in organic solvents. It is an important structural component of living cells along with protein and carbohydrates. The good thing is that monoglycerides can be easily absorbed by metabolism system and converted into energy. It will not be stored as fats and it does not clog blood vessels, so it is good for cardiovascular health.

1. Minerals and Vitamins

Coconut milk has good amount of vitamin B, C, and E. While vitamin C and E are good for immune system, vitamin B helps to increase cellular energy. Besides those vitamins, coconut milk stores various essential minerals as well. It has iron to optimize productions of red blood cells which act as oxygen delivery system. There is also magnesium to improve nerve cell function and heart rate regulation. Phosphorus is also presence to strengthen teeth and bone structure. Last but not least, coconut oil provides potassium to sustain tissues of important human body organs including heart, brain, and kidney.

1. Treats Arthritis

People who suffer from arthritis may want to consume coconut milk to improve the condition. This milk contains selenium which functions as antioxidants to treat joint inflammation.

1. Lowers Cholesterol

Coconut milk gains its bad reputation for it contains bad cholesterol. Compared to other dairy products including dairy creams and butter, the milk can actually reduce cholesterol level better. The saturated fats in coconut milk are easier to digest and the milk’s lauric acid can increase HDL level too.

1. Improves Immune System

Besides increasing HDL level, lauric acid found in coconut milk is converted into monolaurin. It is believed that the compound functions as antiviral to fight against viruses that cause influenza and herpes. There are also claims saying that monolaurin can fight Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) as well.

1. Contributes to Bone Strength

Bone structure is affected by at least two important minerals including calcium and phosphorus. Coconut milk does not actually contain as much calcium as any regular milk does, but it has plenty amount of phosphorus which contribute to bone strength.

1. Helps to Control Weight

You may find it surprising that coconut milk can help you control body weight. It does have saturated fats which commonly contribute to weight gain. As mentioned earlier, coconut milk’s saturated fats are easy to digest. More importantly, it has plenty of fiber to prevent you from being hungry a little longer. It may not really decrease weight, but at least the milk helps you to control it better.

It is not fair to judge whether a food or beverage is good for health based on the fact that it contains saturated fats. Coconut milk is probably one of many products that do not get their deserved-recognition as nutritious beverages simply because of saturated fats. Coconut milk is an excellent addition to include in your daily diet for it contains the following nutrients.

1. Calories

If you care about your body weight, calorie amount is certainly your first consideration before eating or drinking anything. A cup of coconut milk contains 553 calories, which is quite a lot for a beverage. Consume it in moderation to take the rest of the nutrients without consuming too much calories.

1. Vitamins

Coconut milk contains a generous amount of vitamin C and E. In every cup of coconut milk, you will get approximately 0.4mg of vitamin E and 6.7 mg of vitamin C. The milk also provides vitamin A and D, but there are only small amount available in every cup.

1. Magnesium

A moderate amount of magnesium helps to control blood pressure and greatly decrease risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular diseases. Coconut milk has at least 89 mg of magnesium in every 240 g.

1. Iron

Iron deficiency can lead to anemia. You need a good amount of it to keep you safe from the disease, and you can do it by drinking coconut milk. In every cup, you will be supplied with 3.93 mg of iron which should be enough to keep anemia away.

1. Proteins

Coconut milk is very low on protein, so it is not the best choice for bodybuilders. It does have arginine and cystine, but the total amount of protein is still too low to meet the standard requirement for daily protein consumption. If you need high protein foods, poultry products are better for you.

1. Sugar

If you don’t like sugar, coconut milk brings good news. Despite the fact that it used mostly as flavor enhancer and the milk does have sweet flavor, its sugar is very low. The milk only provides 8 grams in every 240 grams.

1. Selenium

Thyroid glands require selenium to work properly. Human body actually needs a tiny amount of it, but a deficiency possibly leads to prostate cancer and autoimmune disorder. One of the best ways to prevent the problem is by drinking a cup of coconut milk. It contains 14.88 mcg of selenium, but it should be enough to prevent deficiency.

1. Lauric Acid

It is saturated fat yet it does not increase LDL (bad cholesterol). However, you should only consume it in moderation considering the high amount of previously-mentioned calories. Even if it does not increase LDL, excess of calories are stored as fat by your metabolism system.

1. Saturated Fats

A cup of coconut oil contains incredibly high amount of saturated fat (50 grams). Once again, drink it in moderation to enjoy the benefits without risking health. However, the milk also has 626 mg of omega 6 essential fatty acids.

1. Potassium and Phosphorus

The best things that come with a cup of coconut milk are potassium (631 grams) and phosphorus (240 grams). Potassium is essential to increase energy level, while phosphorous is crucial for teeth and bone structure. Phosphorous can also help to improve your kidneys function.

Coconut milk recipes are easy to be gotten, in fact, you can make any foods or dishes use coconut milk.

For your information, coconut milk is the white liquids like milk that can be gotten by squeeze the scraped coconut with add plenty water.

Coconut milk can be used to make some salty foods or to make sweet dishes as the dessert. Not only that, coconut milk also can be used as the beauty treatment for women.

Coconut milk is mainly used as flavor enhancer, but you can apply it to hair and scalp for beauty treatment too.

It is a nutritious milk produced by extracting the meat of fresh coconut fruit. It is also available in canned form, making it easier for everyone to get it.

Coconut milk contains good nutrition and can help your body to get enough vitamin and mineral.

In this occasion, you are invited to see what kinds of coconut milk recipes and how to make the good quality coconut milk.

As you know, the packaged coconut milk (tetrapak) is not really good to be used because the vitamin and mineral inside the coconut milk has been disappeared because of the long production process. If you are worried about quality and the possibility of chemical additives in the ready-made products, follow these instructions to make coconut milk at home.

Before making a homemade and fresh coconut milk, you need to know this:  to make a fresh coconut milk, you will need a fresh coconut too.

Make sure you choose the ripe coconut but still fresh to get its coconut milk. The green coconut usually produces the dirt coconut milk, whereas the red coconut can produce the coconut milk with florid color. It depends on your taste, if you want to make the clean dishes, it is better to use coconut milk from red coconut than the green one.

However, if you need the coconut milk just for the sowing and mixture on cakes, choose the average coconut, it means don’t choose the too ripe or unripe coconut in order the taste is sweeter and has the nice aromatic.

Besides the coconut flesh, you can use the coconut water as the additional ingredient to make the best quality coconut milk.

It repeats again, the coconut milk recipes consist of the coconut flesh itself, water, or you can use its coconut water for the strong smell of that coconut.

Before it explains about the coconut milk steps, you need some tools, like knife, grater, or if you don’t want to grate the coconut flesh, you can use blender.

Blender will ease you to grate the coconut because it will be automatically grated and your hand can be still clean.

Prepare the clean coconut flesh and make sure there is no husk is left in order you get the white and clean coconut milk later. Sometimes, it is difficult to grate the coconut because its texture is hard. To anticipate this difficulty, you can soak the coconut into the boiling water for minutes.

And then, you can try to grate that soaked coconut, there is no requirement about the technique or grate.

Don’t forget to mix the grated coconut with clean water then pressed manually using filter and the coconut milk recipes has become the coconut milk off the peg.

1. Get the Coconut

The first thing to do is purchase the coconut fruit. The meat is protected by hard protective layer, so you have to break it open to take what you need. Put it on a hard flat surface, hold it with one hand, and use a sharp knife to make circular cuts around the fruit’s eye. Another method is to simply crack the fruit with a hammer. Before you do this, drill a hole to the fruit to drain the water.

1. Check the Meat

Fresh coconut has white and moist meat. If the meat is discolored or dried, discard the fruit and get another one. If you want to make good quality coconut milk, the fruit from which the milk is extracted from should be fresh as well.

Coconut Water

Coconut fruit has water inside the round-shaped meat. When you crack open the hard protective layer and meat, you should see it. The water will be used as ingredient to make the milk, so you can pour it directly into a blender.

1. Take the Meat

Coconut meat is not very thick or hard. You can easily scoop it with a spoon little by little and put every piece into the blender. Try to take as much meat as you can by scraping off the lid.

1. Blend Them

Close the lid of your blender and start blending immediately. The meat is soft, but you may want to set your blender to “high” for best results. It will not take long before the coconut meat and water blend properly and produce a creamy mixture. Some people will want to strain the remaining solid parts before drinking the milk, but it is actually fine to consume them. Consider this an orange juice with pulps.

1. Store the Milk

One fresh coconut fruit can produce more than a cup of coconut milk. It is nutritious beverage, but you have to consume it with moderation to avoid high calorie intake or the saturated fat. Freshly blended milk can be stored in a refrigerator, and it will stay fresh for about two days. You can either drink it or use it as hair conditioner, hair moisturizer, or shampoo.