KINGSTON, Jamaica – As consumers are becoming health conscious, the sale of natural waters is beginning to take off. The general consensus seems to be that what is found in nature is thought to be safer and more useful to the body than man-made chemical drinks concocted in laboratories.
One natural drink that is growing in popularity is coconut water. Global sales of coconut water are 400 million dollars each year. Some project the market to expand to 1 billion dollars a year market future.
Coconut water has significant nutritional value.
The drink has less sugar than most fruit juices—between 9 and 12 grams of sugar compared to 33 grams in a cup of apple juice. It also contains more potassium than a banana—a whopping 660 mg of potassium compared to a banana’s 422 milligrams.
In a typical serving of coconut water, you will be replenished with 19 percent of the recommended daily value of potassium and 4 percent each of the recommended daily value of calcium and magnesium.
As the presence of coconut water grows, in stores and also in advertisements all over cities, sports drink companies increasingly feel threatened.
Sports drink companies have begun to put out propaganda to undermine the sales and growth of the coconut water industry, alleging that coconut water is not a miracle drink that fights of kidney disease, viruses, and osteoporosis—a miracle that because an inanimate object like the drink does not speak for itself, I am certain it never claimed to be.
Their insecurity and the feeling that they will lose their grip in the sports drink category has led to at least one lawsuit against coconut water brands.
After a 2011 class-action lawsuit the coconut water company was forced to keep mum on its positive impacts on health, which though are widely discussed in informal conversations, both among consumers and in those sports industries, have yet to be scientifically proven.
Companies are now banned from saying that coconut water rehydrates people better than sports drinks.
After the settlement, the company’s publicist conceded, “ We don’t try to compare ourselves to much of anything anymore.”
But why the battle between drink companies? Coconut water is simply from the earth. The best drinks are, especially nature’s original refresher—water. It appears people have decided that Mother Nature treats her children well. And those scientists in lab coats, well, who knows?
Other natural waters are soon to follow, including those from barley, cactus, maple and birch trees, and even artichokes.
The kind and merciful earth gives us minerals and natural drinks. The least we could do is appreciate them.
