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Coconut water seems to be the latest craze. It wasn't too long ago, when the only way to get coconut water was to buy a whole young coconut and crack it open yourself to get the coconut water inside it. But now...you step into a grocery store and you're bound to run into at least one kind of bottle/packaged coconut water. 

People have been using coconut as part of their diet for thousands of years and on many islands coconut is a staple in their diet. Coconut is not a "nut", even though it has "nut" included in the word and it can be eaten at all stages of it's development. 

The great thing about coconut is that it can be used for many different things at different times of maturation. Young coconut is great for getting coconut water since it's the sweetest at the time. The meat of the coconut can also be eaten on it's own since it's nice and soft (almost gelatinous in texture). As it matures the meat gets firmer which then can be pulverized to make coconut flour which can be substituted (partially) for regular flour if you're into baking and want to avoid gluten, along with the dense carb content of regular flour. Pulverized coconut meat can also be combined with water at different ratios to make coconut cream, coconut milk, coconut butter and coconut oil as well. 

Other than it's multiple uses, coconut also has two main health benefits that make it even more appealing for consumption.

i.High fiber content - Coconut meat has about 9 g of dietary fiber per 100 g of coconut. Fiber helps your bowel movements, it lowers bad cholesterol and lowers the glycemic content of food which lowers the insulin effect (which helps with fat burning). And on top of all these benefits, coconut fiber in particular is fermentable (in your colon) and produces short chain fatty acids (butyrate) which has additional health benefits. It promotes a healthy gut environment, reduces the risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease.

ii.Medium chain fatty acids - This is one of the main reason why coconut is so popular. It has a high content of medium chain fatty acids (MCFA). The great thing about MCFA is that, unlike long chain fatty acids (which is pretty much, all other common fats), it can be utilized by your body immediately for energy. So when you eat coconuts the fat content is available to be used by your body instead of being converted and stored as fat. In fact, the immediate energy provided increases your body's metabolism up to 5% according to one European. You're literally eating fat to burn fat!

Another quick note: Coconut oil is great for cooking, since the high content of short chain and medium chain fatty acid makes the structure stable at high heat and keeps the oil from oxidizing (which produces harmful free radicals) unlike most other common cooking oils.

So now that the benefits of coconut is clear...coconut water must be good for you...right?

Well...yes and no. Coconut water does have some health benefits. It has all of the important electrolytes your body needs (ie. potassium, magnesium, sodium, phosphate, and calcium) so it makes for a good natural rehydrating drink. However, it's also high in sugar. It's has about 16 g of sugar per 12 oz. of coconut water. And in terms of health benefits...it's really not much better than any other sports drinks out there...other than the artificial food coloring...it's basically sugar water with electrolytes. 

The high sugar content and high price of these various coconut waters (out on the market today) really don't make it worth the money.  Making your own sports drink from water, lemon/lime (or any other citrus fruit), sugar and a pinch of salt is much cheaper, just as effective and healthier since you can adjust the amount of sugar.  

That being said (once in a while) after a real hard workout, if you can get your hands on a fresh very young coconut...it's worth the indulgence. It makes for a great summer drink, and there's something primal about sipping coconut water from a young coconut while basking in the sun...even better, if you're on a beach.