Many people love the flavor of tropical fruits like coconuts and mangoes. But did you know that, aside from tasting good, they also have healthy benefits that in some instances could be lifesaving?
For example, five of the most outstanding fruits that can change your life are:
Scientists believe an antioxidant in mangosteens can cause cell death in cancer; and avocadoes, mangoes, and longan berries are rich with vitamins and nutrients that can help prevent common birth defects as well as cancer.
With coconuts, the juice – or water inside – not only is sterile, but has the same electrolytic balance as human blood, which enabled medics in the Pacific Theater in World War II to use it as an emergency substitute for plasma. And not too many years ago, coconut oil's bad reputation caused a panic at the concession stands, when a study claimed that a large movie-theater popcorn, cooked in the oil, delivered as much saturated fat as six Big Macs.
But coconut oil has recently become the darling of the natural-foods world.
Scientists are backtracking on the worst accusations against coconut oil. It turns out that most of the studies involving coconut oil were done with partially hydrogenated coconut oil. Virgin coconut oil, which has not been chemically treated, is an entirely different thing from a health risk perspective -- partial hydrogenation creates trans fats and destroys the essential fatty acids, antioxidants and other positive components present in virgin coconut oil.
According to the New York Times:
"And while it's true that most of the fats in virgin coconut oil are saturated, opinions are changing on whether saturated fats are the arterial villains they were made out to be ... The main saturated fat in coconut oil is lauric acid, a medium chain fatty acid. Lauric acid increases levels of good HDL, or high-density lipoprotein."