|
The News Spot
News and features about coconuts
around the world.
India's
Progress Leaves Traditional Jobs Behind
By Seth Doane, CBS News
KERALA, India, April 22, 2010
KERALA -
As The Next Generation Pursues College and White-Collar Jobs, Who Will
Pick The Coconuts? – (CBS) High up in the
coconut palms of south India there's something that's getting harder and
harder to find - not a rare species but an endangered specialty:
plucking coconuts. Armed with just a sharp knife and a bamboo ladder,
generations have shimmied up to harvest by hand the 15 billion coconuts
India produces every year, reports CBS News correspondent Seth Doane.
P.K. Venu has picked coconuts in the Indian state of Kerala for 22
years. Venu said through a translator, "It's a very difficult job, but I
do not have the option to do anything else."
Full Story Here
Aussie
scientists find coconut-carrying octopus
By KRISTEN GELINEAU,
Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 15, 4:38 pm ET
SYDNEY –
Australian scientists have discovered an octopus in Indonesia that
collects coconut shells for shelter — unusually sophisticated
behavior that the researchers believe is the first evidence of tool use
in an invertebrate animal.
The
scientists filmed the veined octopus, Amphioctopus marginatus, selecting
halved coconut shells from the sea floor, emptying them out, carrying
them under their bodies up to 65 feet (20 meters), and assembling two
shells together to make a spherical hiding spot.
Full
story here
Rio does
away with coconuts on beaches
ONE of the enduring images of Rio's beaches -
coconuts opened to yield their sweet water - is
about to be a thing of the past under a new clean-up
campaign by authorities.
The environment secretariat of the host city of the 2014
soccer World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games has decreed
that the big green fruit beloved by thirsty residents
and tourists alike is an unhygienic eye-sore and its
sale by vendors will be banned from December 1.
Full Story Here
Coconut
Oil Keeps Fat at Bay
September 8, 2009
SYDNEY -
A diet rich in coconut oil keeps fat away and also protects against
insulin resistance, a new study shows. The study also helps explain
how people who incorporate medium chain fatty acids found in coconut oil
into their diets can lose body fat. Obesity and insulin resistance are
major factors leading to the development of Type 2 diabetes. Insulin
resistance is an impaired ability of cells to respond to insulin. Nigel
Turner and Jiming Ye from Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research
compared fat metabolism and insulin resistance in mice fed coconut oil
and lard based diets.
Full story here
November 18, 2009
Dr.
Bruce Fife Says "Go Cuckoo for Coconuts"!
The Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb Show
with Jimmy Moore! Episode 305
Today’s episode features Jimmy sharing his
passion for coconut oil with coconut aficionado
Dr. Bruce Fife. Listen in for
details such as where coconut milk comes from, what
coconut water is, what the melting point of coconut
oil is, how to properly use coconut flour in baking,
and so much more!
click here to listen
Coke
Follows Pepsi Into Coconut Water Market
By
Katherine Glover | Sep
2, 2009
The
Coca-Cola Company just became an investor in ZICO Beverages, a
California company that makes coconut water. The move comes two weeks
after rival soft drink giant PepsiCo purchased Brazil’s largest coconut
water producer, Amacoco. As carbonated sodas fall out of favor, soft
drink companies are looking to expand their offerings and focus more on
things like teas, sports drinks, energy drinks and . . .
Full story here
Spring
Hill couple's Alzheimer's fight tries boost in brain superfuel
By Stephen Nohlgren,
Times Staff Writer Monday, August 3, 2009
They are
brain boosters from caveman days that allow humans to survive on nothing
but water.
They
nurture newborns right out of the womb. Now ketones — a kind of
superfuel for brain cells— are drawing interest as possible treatment
for Alzheimer's disease. In March, a Colorado company began touting
Axona, the first FDA-approved "medical food'' for people with
Alzheimer's. The key ingredient is a saturated fat ...
Full story here
DoH
(Department of Hoaxes)
06/2009
The way the Department of Health (DoH) Secretary Francisco Duque III has
allowed himself and his office to be carried away by the A (H1N1)-Swine
Flu scare really astonishes me. The same is true for local mainstream
media that ape their “Big Brother” counterparts like CNN and BBC, with a
continuous stream of panic “headlies.” We have repeatedly alerted
Tribune readers to the pandemic alarm hoaxes of the Center for
Disease Control (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) because
there is ample evidence to show that these institutions, under the baton
of pharmaceutical transnationals or Big Pharma, have raised these over
the past five decades.
Full story here
A Lovely
Bunch of Coconuts
01/2009
One man
wants to use the fruit’s hairy husks to cover our floors, pad our feet –
and save the world. This week the cure for global warming was revealed
in a quiet corner of the Environment 2009 exhibition in Abu Dhabi. Al
Gore may not be espousing it yet, but it is surely only a matter of
time.
Full story here
Coconut
oil: India's Brylcreem
12/2008
Earlier today,
as I sat morosely patting the emerging bald spot on the back of my head
which my 10-year old son viciously brought to my attention after I told
him to work on his equivalent fractions, I began to wonder if my broken
love affair with coconuts was to blame for the thinning of what was once
an impenetrable thicket envied by one and by all.
Full Story
Here
Cambodia
Calling
11/2008
One
person's move to Cambodia in an attempt to make trade fair -- fair wages
for producers and fair prices for consumers. Bloom eco-friendly bags are
recycled bags hand made by fairly paid workers in Cambodia that are
sought after by ethical consumers everywhere. At the
cooking class I wrote about, Joannes, the executive chef at the Hotel de
la Paix told us Palm is the national plant of Cambodia. Indeed,
Wikipedia's entry on the tree lists Cambodian Palm as one of its names.
The photo, from Wikipedia, shows the palm fruit trees around Angkor Wat.
Every part of the palm can be used (just like the coconut ...
Full story here
Coconut
Oil May Help Fight Childhood Pneumonia
Symptoms
eased faster when it was added to antibiotic therapy, study found
10/2008
By Serena Gordon, US News and World
Report
THURSDAY,
Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Virgin coconut oil, added to antibiotic
therapy, may help relieve the symptoms of community-acquired pneumonia
in kids faster than antibiotic therapy alone, a new study finds.
Full story here
Coconuts
in India
2008
Contributed by V.T. Markrose, Coconut Development Board, Kochi 11,
Kerala, India
The Coconut
Palm (Cocos nucifera Linn.) is supposed to be one of the five legendary
Devavrikshas and is eulogised as Kalpavriksha - the all giving tree - in
Indian classics. All parts of the palm are used in someway or another in
the daily life of the people of the west coast; the traditional coconut
growing area. Its fruit is called Lakshmi Phai and is used in social and
religious functions in India irrespective of whether palm is locally
grown or not
Full Story
Here
"Oil
Pulling Therapy" Interview with Bruce Fife
10/2008
A 4-part
audiovisual interview featuring Dr. Bruce Fife, author of Oil
Pulling Therapy: Detoxifying and Healing the Body Through Oral Cleansing.
In this interview Joyce Riley of The Power Hour radio broadcast
interviews Dr. Fife who discusses the many benefits of oil pulling
therapy, as well as the correct methods for oil pulling. Includes
live testimonials.
Oil
Pulling Therapy Interview Part 1
Oil Pulling Therapy Interview Part 2
Oil Pulling Therapy Interview Part 3
Oil Pulling Therapy Interview Part 4
Coconut
Water Solids Goes GRAS
08/2008 After
review of safety and toxicology data by an independent panel of
scientists assembled by Soni & Associates, Inc., a coconut water solids
ingredient has been deemed self-affirmed GRAS in a variety of foods and
beverages, such as nonalcoholic and alcoholic beverages, frozen dairy,
dairy product analogues, milk products, snack foods, imitation dairy
products, chewing gum, instant tea and coffee, and soups.
Full story here
Palm-Juice Tappers Trapped by Loans
06/2008
Kirno
climbed up the coconut tree with little difficulty, his muscular legs
moving agilely.
A short
while later he was perched at the top of the tree and then used his
knife to cut off the tips of the coconut flowers found atop.
Kirno's family relies on the tips of these coconut flowers, called
Maggar in the local Banyumas dialect, in which drops of coconut palm
juice can be made into brown sugar.
Full
story here
Packaged
Coconut Water Receives Thumbs Up from Customers
03/2008 BANGALORE: Amidst
all the heat generated by the cola wars and the fizz created by their
advertisement blitzkrieg, it is good old grandmother's-recommended
cool coconut
water, albeit in tetra packs, that is making a come back
on the healthy drink trail of Indian consumers.
Full story here
Coconut
Oil Powers 747
02/2008 UK: Virgin Atlantic carried
out the world’s first flight of a commercial aircraft powered with
biofuel yesterday in an effort to show it can produce less carbon
dioxide than normal jet fuels.
Some analysts praised the
jumbo jet test flight from London to Amsterdam as a potentially useful
experiment.
Full story here
Coco
Loco
01/2008 Jennifer Aniston uses it and
the England rugby squad swear by its metabolism-boosting qualities.
Coconut oil is being touted as the health food of 2008 - but is this
just more 'superfood' hype? By Lucy Atkins
Full story here
How to
Open A Young Coconut
01/2008 Jenna loves drinking
refreshing and nutritious young coconut water and eating the succulent
meat inside. Young coconut water is an amazing elixir and its meat is
pure ambrosia. The challenge was how to get into a young coconut without
being injured in the process. Join Jenna on her journey to the Hollywood
Raw Lifestyle Film Festival where Rod Rotondi, founder of Leaf Cuisine,
teaches her the safe and easy way to open a young coconut.
Watch Video
Conrado
Dayrit, Dr. Coconut; 88
10/2007
MANILA, Philippines--DR. CONRADO S. DAYRIT, cardiologist,
pharmacologist, National Scientist and past president of the National
Academy of Science and Technology, died at 6:45 a.m. yesterday at the
Victor Potenciano Medical Center where he was serving as its medical
director.
Full story here
Pacific
Islands look to coconut power to fuel future growth
09/2007 By
David Brooks
Agence France-Presse
MAJURO, Marshall Islands -- The first thing you notice about a diesel
engine running on coconut oil is the smell. "It smells sweet.
You can put your nose right up to the exhaust," says Witon Barry,
assistant manager of the Tobolar Copra processing plant in the Marshall
Islands capital of Majuro.
Full story here
The Palm
Oil Miracle
08/2007 COPYRIGHT 2007 Midwest Book
Review
The Palm Oil Miracle:
Discover the Healing Power of Palm Oil is a fascinating guide to the
healthful and nutritional properties of palm oil, especially virgin
(red) palm oil. Palm...
Full story here
A
Hangover Hangs No More
07/2007 It’s a question I often have
to ask myself come Sunday morning… “How will this hangover subside?”
Well, maybe I don’t say “subside” I don’t usually say anything, in fact
it’s even hard to formulate sentences sometimes, but nevertheless here I
have for you some news.
Full story here
Ceylon
Medical Journal on Coconut Fats
06/2007
Compiled and
coordinated by Edward Arambewala, Daily News, Sri Lanka
There is
the need to clarify issues relating to intake of coconut fats and
health, more particularly for populations that still depend on coconut
fats for much of their fat intake. This paper describes the metabolism
of coconut fats and its potential benefits, and attempts to highlight
its benefits to remove certain misconceptions regarding its use. Coconut
consumption and lipid patterns in Sri Lanka. A recent study has
shown that in Sri Lanka, whereas 91 per cent of the poor still consume
coconut as their main source of fat....
Full story here
Coconuts: Taste Yourself Away
05/2007
Coconut
Caravan (video instruction of coconut dishes)
Although we encourage people to buy local ingredients, sometimes we all
just need to escape. Not only does a coconut taste like the tropics, but
its high potassium, vitamin C, and mineral content make it a very
healthy ingredient. Enjoy these recipes and the temporary taste bud
vacation!
Watch Video
Fill it
Up with Coconuts: Solomons Gets Green Fuel
05/2007
HONIARA (Reuters Life!) - Who
needs crude oil when you've got cheap coconuts?
An Australian entrepreneur
based in the Solomons Islands is producing fuel and profits from the
fruit he sells locally for 70 U.S. cents a liter, slightly less than the
price of regular fuel.
Full story here
Cocosplit:
A New Coconut Splitting Tool
2007
The Cocosplit is a tool designed to easily split a
mature coconut into two equal halfs. All it takes is one blow from a
mallet or hammer. Watch video…
Watch Video
Making
and Using Coconut Milk
04/2007
To make
coconut milk from fresh coconut, put 4 cups freshly grated coconut (the
yield from 1 medium coconut) in a blender. Add just enough boiling
water, or boiling water mixed with reserved coconut water, to make a
slurry that blends freely, probably 1 cup or a little more. Blend for at
least 30 seconds to extract as much flavor as possible...
Full story here
UN
agency promotes new coconut water preservation process to help small
farmers
02/2007
21 February 2007 – The United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) is seeking to boost sales of bottled
coconut water by small farmers with a simple cold preservation process
that protects the natural taste for up to three weeks while avoiding the
loss of nutrients and almost all the delicate flavor entailed in
commercial canning.
Full story here
Canine
Candida: Many Common Health Problems Can be Traced to a Yeast Overgrowth
02/2007 COPYRIGHT
2007 Belvoir Media Group, LLC
Thirty years ago, even though
the systemic yeast infection called candidiasis had already become an
epidemic, practically no one knew anything about it. Even now
conventional medicine tends to ignore the problem, but word has spread
among health-conscious consumers.
Full story here
Coconut
Cures
11/2006
Townsend
Letter for Doctors and Patients
In Coconut
Cures, Bruce Fife explores the health benefits of various components of
coconut: its water, pulp ("meat"), milk, as well as its...
Full story here
Get
Baking with Gluten-Free Flours
11/2006 COPYRIGHT 2006 PRIMEDIA
Intertec, a PRIMEDIA Company. All Rights Reserved.
A diet free of gluten used to
mean giving up baked goods. Luckily, it doesn't have to anymore.
Nowadays gluten-free flour options abound--even for those on low-carb or
hypoallergenic diets--and making gluten-free treats has never been
easier.
Full story here
How
Coconuts Sell Like Soft Drinks in India
10/2006
It's 'ready to serve" and like a soft drink
bottle or tetra pack, you can take it inside any office, drink and then
dispose. Sold with the brand name Tender Fresh, 1500 - 2000
tender coconuts every day are reaching a clientele that reads like the
who's who of Bangalore's software companies.
Full story here
Coconut
Oil Still Stands Good
Ishi Khosla : Posted: Sunday , Sep 03, 2006
Sesame,
coconut, desi ghee, mustard and other traditional fats have made way for
refined oils. Treasured for centuries for their health benefits,
these fats have faded into oblivion by the invasion of so-called
scientific breakthroughs. It is true that coconut oil is dominated by
saturated fat (the kind of fat that solidifies at room temperature). But
whether this fat is detrimental to health is a different issue.
Full story here
Ken Lay
Claims Amnesia After Coconut Fell on His Head
Controversial 'Gilligan Defense' makes debut at Enron trial
By Andy Borowitz |
Newsweek Web Exclusive | Mar 14, 2006
In what
many experts are calling a high-stakes legal strategy, former Enron CEO
Ken Lay testified at his trial today that a coconut fell on his head
while he was running the Texas energy company, causing amnesia that
wiped out all memory of anything that happened during his tenure
there...
Full story
here
Rediscovering the Coconut for Environment, Energy, and Good Health
n/d
As far as environmental
impact is concerned, the coconut palm is a very long lived tree which
stabilizes the soil of sand dunes where it is established and especially
on the fringe of the beach where strong wind and high tide can cause
great erosion. It is highly wind resistant once established, being
capable of surviving cyclonic storms...
Full story here
CocoTap:
Easy Access to Coconut Water
2006
The Cocotap is a stainless steel tube with a sharp
spike at one end, the tube opens into a T shape, making it easy to hold
and screw into a coconut. Watch video…
Watch Video
Why
Coconut Oil is Best
09/2006
Why are fish oils like cod
liver oil good for you? It is because they are high in omega 3 fatty
acids, which research shows significantly reduce the risk of
cardiovascular and heart disease and also essential for normal fetal and
infant brain and eye tissue development.
Full story here
YouTube
- Coconut Water
09/2006
The
best Sports Drink Ever!!! 5 essential electrolytes, no ...
Watch video
Savvy
Shopper: Coconuts
Don't be
shy: get to know a coconut and reap the dividends.
05/2006
By Rose Prince
There was a
time when the closest we could get to coconut was to eat coconut ice.
Whether dyed a vibrant pink or covered in chocolate, the cake of
desiccated coconut remains something to love or hate.
Full story here
Coconut
Power! Promising Diesel Alternative
09/2005
WorldChanging has a very interesting post on how plain coconut oil is
used to replace diesel in parts of the South Pacific. There, it is
plentiful and can be had for $0.55/liter ($2/gallon), which is a lot
cheaper than the price of diesel in that region, especially after the
recent oil spike.
Full story here
Coconut
Crude
09/2005
Ethan
Zuckerman
Price of
gasoline got you down? If you're driving a diesel vehicle in the South
Pacific, you may be in luck. Vanuatan entrepreneur Tony Deamer has
adapted his fleet of rental cars to run on coconut oil, a plentiful
local commodity. Unlike with many biofuels,...
Full story here
Farmer’s
Income Up with Virgin Coco Oil
11/2004
TAGUM CITY,
Davao del Norte -- Lowly farmers are now fetching higher prices for
fresh coconut from manufacturers of virgin coconut oil, whose
anti-microbial and heart-friendly properties have reportedly made it the
healthiest dietary oil on the planet.
Full story here
ALL THE
REST of the tree, too!
n/d
There is
hardly anything growing on a coconut tree that does not have some use,
making the total economic potential of the plant worldwide an immense
figure. The tree is a source of food, wood for building materials and
crafts, and raw material for clothing and numerous industrial products.
Full story here
Coconut
Oil
n/d
Many now
embrace it for a range of ills, contrary to warnings about its saturated
fat.
Filipinos
call coconut trees the "tree of life" for all the products derived from
its leaves, husks, meat and milk. In America, the coconut tree has made
new believers because of one product: coconut oil.
Full story here
Eat Fat,
Look Thin: A Safe and Natural Way to Lose Weight Permanently
07/2004
No, Eat
Fat, Look Thin is not another Atkins-type high fat/low carb book. The
fats discussed by Dr. Bruce Fife are the special group known as
medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) with unique properties. Numerous
published studies have found that MCT oils, used to replace other
dietary fats, can reduce body fat significantly, and lower weight. MCT
can be used to prevent and treat obesity, the ever-growing health
problem.
Full story here
Nata de
Coco
n/d
This case
study is about nata de coco, a chewy, translucent, indigenous dessert in
the Philippines that is very popular in Japan. In 1993, Japanese people,
especially young people considered nata de coco a popular dessert,
however, its popularity declined because their interest moved to another
trendy dessert. Small coconut farmers and those who started
manufacturing nata de coco in the Philippines began to export more nata
de coco to Japan in 1993.
Full story here
Virgin
Coconut Oil Wins War of Oils
06/2004
Asia
Africa Intelligence Wire
AN AMERICAN
health expert is amazed that more than 80 million people who live in a
veritable coconut paradise planted to 300 million trees have not fully
utilized the healthiest dietary oil on earth. For opening the eyes
of many people, including nutritionists and skeptical medical
professionals in the United States, to the scientific fact that virgin
coconut oil's unique and abundant antimicrobial properties makes it
superior to any other oil...
Full story here
The
liberation of coconut oil
04/2004
published: Friday |
April 16, 2004
THE STORY
of coconut oil is a story of how science can be manipulated by
commercial interests. Until a couple of decades ago coconut oil was an
acceptable part of people's diets, particularly in the tropics where the
coconut plant flourishes. Then a massive campaign against its saturated
fat content commenced while the virtues of soya oil, corn oil and other
new vegetable oils were pushed.
Full story here
What’s
Killing Panamas Coconut Palms?
UCSC
sleuths hot on the trail of a mysterious disease
2003
Graceful coconut palms are a
fixture of the tropical landscape from Hawaii to Puerto Rico. Along
Panama's scenic Caribbean coast, the statuesque trees dot the shoreline
like pearls on a necklace. The Kuna Yala region of Panama, made up
of a 400-kilometer stretch of sandy beaches and 300 nearby islands,
remains largely undiscovered...
Full story here
Are 150
People Killed Each Year from Falling Coconuts?
07/2002
During a
recent ABC television report about how infrequent shark attacks really
are, we were told, "Each year coconuts falling from trees kill 150
people." That sounded absurd to me. Could it be true? If so, what is the
cause of death?
Full story here
Usage of
Green Coconut Water and Different Tissue Culture Media for In Vitro
Honey Bee Semen Storage
2002 Honey
bee semen was stored in green coconut (Cocos nucifera L.) water
plus dihydrostreptomycin and in commercial tissue culture media at
different temperatures. Glass capillary microtubes of 0.1cm diameter and
centrifuge microtubes 0.2ml capacity were used for semen storage. Sperm
motility was assessed after 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 30, 50, 80 and 120 days.
Queens were instrumentally inseminated with diluted semen and their
laying behavior evaluated.
Full story here
Coconut
Oil by Dr. James South, MD
2002 A wealth of
scientific data refutes claims that coconut oil is rich in
"artery-clogging" saturated fats. Switching from polyunsaturated
vegetable oils to traditional cooking fats such as coconut oil would
actually reduce several significant health risks - So says James South
MD.
Full story here
New
sports drink: coconut water
Simple
production process gives tropical countries the key to a booming market
1998
Players in
the world's $1,000 million market for "sports beverages" may find
themselves facing an unexpected new competitor: coconut water. FAO has
taken out a patent - its first ever - on a new process that would allow
manufacturers to bottle coconut water that is biologically pure, very
tasty and full of the salts, sugars and vitamins demanded by both
sweating urban joggers and serious athletes.
Full story here
|
