How Can Coconuts Improve Your Gut Health?
When you think about coconuts, your mind probably goes to tropical beaches, palm trees, coconuts as souvenirs and delicious coconut water. However, as we all already know, coconuts have many health benefits. Coconut contains many vitamins and minerals, such as iron, zinc, magnesium, and manganese. It also has a high amount of lauric acid (up to 20 per cent), which can help improve your gut health. This article will explain the benefits of coconuts for your gut health.
What’s Good About Coconuts for Your Gut Health?
Coconuts are suitable for your gut health, either fermented or unrefined. They contain fibre, prebiotics, and probiotics. Fibre helps your gut by slowing your digestion rate and preventing blood sugar spikes. Inflammation happens when blood sugar spikes; fibre can help prevent inflammation in your gut. Prebiotics are a type of fibre that your gut bacteria eat. They are beneficial because they increase the number of gut bacteria, which can improve your gut health. When you eat probiotics, they stay in your gut and can improve your gut health. Coconut has prebiotics and probiotics, making it an excellent food for your gut health.
Moreover, coconut oil not only inhibits the bad bacteria, but studies show that consuming dietary virgin coconut oil (unrefined) can result in substantial increases in beneficial Lactobacillus, Allobaculum, and Bifidobacterium species. Increased Bifidobacteria can help you stay healthier by preventing harmful bacteria and viruses. Bifidobacteria help improves your gut health by producing mucin, which protects your gut lining and prevents leaky gut. Mucin also helps regulate your immune system by preventing bacterial infections and viruses. Bacteria and viruses are the two leading causes of gut inflammation. Bacteria can enter your gut through contaminated food, environment, or hands, while viruses can come from unclean food or water. Bacterial infections and viruses can cause cramping, bloating, and diarrhoea. Having more Bifidobacteria in your gut can help prevent these infections.
Reduction of inflammation
Coconuts contain lauric acid. High amounts of lauric acid in your gut can help reduce the number of bad bacteria there. Harmful bacteria often cause inflammation in your gut, leading to serious health issues. Too many harmful bacteria in your gut can also increase the gases produced by bacteria. These gases can cause cramping, bloating, and diarrhoea. Lauric acid can help decrease inflammation from harmful bacteria in your gut by reducing their growth. It also helps lower the number of gases produced by bacteria. So if you are sensitive to harmful bacteria in your gut and the gases they have, increasing the amount of lauric acid in your diet can help. Always seek professional advice for the correct dosage.
Protection against bacterial infection and viruses
Coconuts contain lauric acid, which can help increase your good gut bacteria and prevent bacterial infections. Good bacteria in your gut can help prevent and treat bacterial infections in your gut. Bacterial and viral infections often come from unclean water and food. Good bacteria can also help prevent viral infections, another leading cause of gut inflammation. These bacteria and viruses enter our gut through contaminated food, environment, or hands. The symptoms of it are cramping, bloating, and diarrhoea. Having more good bacteria in your gut can help prevent viral infections and treat them if they happen.
How to quickly improve gut health?
- Exercise
- Improve your sleeping habits.
- Eliminate sugar and sweeteners from your diet
- Reduce stress
- Eat probiotic fibre
What foods to avoid for a healthy gut?
To ensure a healthy digestive system, we should consider how the foods we eat might impact the health of our gut. We should avoid fried foods, artificial sugars and sweeteners, spicy foods and citrus fruits.
Conclusion
Gut health is essential to your overall health and well-being; therefore, maintaining a healthy digestive system may benefit your physical and mental health! Coconuts may help in increasing the number of good bacteria in your gut. Coconuts may also help reduce inflammation in your gut and protect against bacterial infections and viruses. Now, you can enjoy these tropical fruits knowing they can help improve your gut health and keep you healthy.