What is Coconut Powder?
Coconut powder is made up of the dried, ground-up meat of a mature coconut. It is typically blended with water and strained to create coconut milk. However, one can also add it directly to different cooked or baked foods for flavoring. Commercial coconut powder is also defatted and contains significantly fewer calories than dried, pure coconut that has been ground.
There are a ton of uses and recipes one can use to help maintain optimal health. And, thankfully, anyone can incorporate it into a variety of foods to assist the body in reaching its peak performance.
Countless people across the globe regard themselves as coconut lovers. However, many people steer away from coconut products because they often contain heavily processed sugar and other ingredients. With supplements, though, that rarely is the case.
Coconut Powder Benefits
Contains Healthy Saturated Fats
Coconut powder contains high levels of healthy saturated fats that the body requires, like MCFAs (medium chain fatty acids). Your body uses MCFAs to assist in supporting a more healthy metabolism, for energy and to help balance your blood sugar levels, among many other things. Coconut powder is also chock-full of fiber. In fact, the meat of coconuts boasts upwards of 61 percent of your daily dietary fiber requirements. Your body can’t absorb fiber on its own, and most of the carbs and calories present in coconut powder are, for the most part, unusable. However, these fibers move through the digestive tract to help your body eliminate waste and toxins (x, x).
Stabilizes Blood Sugar
As a a low-glycemic food, coconut powder won’t spike your blood sugar level. According to recent studies, consuming foods made with coconut powder can assist in decreasing the glycemic impacts on food and also provide support in stabilizing blood sugar levels. This is highly beneficial for those who are diabetic and/or trying to reach a healthy weight. Additionally, it is famous for aiding in healthy digestion. It even boasts increased levels of nutrient density while assisting in the overall health of your heart (x).
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Coconut Powder Side Effects and Dosage
The only major side effect that has been found when it comes to consuming it as a health supplement is the risk of food allergies. If you are allergic to coconut or any of its byproducts, you will most certainly want to steer clear of consuming it in any form. If you are unsure if you have a coconut allergy, be sure to consult with your doctor or healthcare provider to ensure that it will not negatively affect you (x).
When it comes to the proper dosage to reap all the benefits that coconut powder has to offer, it is best to speak with your healthcare provider. For those who have no relevant allergies, they can take one tablespoon of it (or however much they want) and mix it with water, smoothies and other drinks they prefer. Take note that there is not enough research available at this time to be able to pinpoint all of its benefits specifically. Therefore, as with any supplement, it should not be used for any medical purposes. Also, be sure to follow the nutrition guidelines and talk to your doctor if you have any questions about the product’s effects.
Did You Know?
- The origins of the coconut are found to be rooted in New Guinea. However, it is believed that coconuts were being distributed from Southeastern Asia to Africa and throughout the entire Pacific region before Christopher Columbus ever even reached the Americas (x, x).
- Over 20 billion coconuts are produced every year (x).
- Up until the 1960s, coconut oil was the most used type of vegetable oil, until soybean oil came into use.
- Urban legends suggest that coconuts falling from trees kill at least 150 people each year. This is over ten times the amount of people killed by sharks annually (x).
Forms of Coconut Powder
On top of the tremendous amount of health-related benefits that coconut powder has, it also comes in different forms. Virtually anyone can find a way to take it based on personal preference or circumstance. Coconut powder or coconut flour? Coconut milk powder or coconut milk? Are there even any differences? These are the questions that people find themselves asking when they are first considering supplementation.
Coconut powder can come in either coconut milk powder and coconut cream powder. Both are very popular methods of incorporating coconut into your cooking. Coconut milk powder and coconut cream powder are both superfine powders that are common ingredients in Southeast Asian dishes. They are also both crafted through the process of spray drying unsweetened raw coconut cream, meant to be reconstituted with water and used in recipes that require coconut milk. There are numerous healthy coconut cream powder recipes.
Coconut powder can also come in the form of flour, which is a gluten-free kind of flour made up of leftover coconut solids from the coconut meat that would have been utilized to make milk. These leftover solids are in turn ground-up into a super fine powder, with a texture similar to that of flour.
While the methods of creating these different kinds of coconut powders may vary, the benefits remain the same.
The Bottom Line
From cardiovascular and digestive health to blood and brain health, the benefits of coconut powder are impressive. And once further research takes place, it may offer even more to the human body. But for now, it is great to know that we can take advantage of all of its health benefits.