Coconut as Folk Medicine

It’s been a while since my last blog post. What drives me to write this post is because in my home in Sukodono District, every 100 meters I go, all I can see is a coffee shop and a wholesale coconut shop.

Coconut is considered to be number two as the miracle trees, because its whole trees are useable, providing food, home, shelter, medicine, utilities, and etc., for millions of people in the world.

Since ancient time, tropical people have used every parts of coconut tree for folk remedies, such as: abscesses, alopecia, amenorrhea, asthma, blenorrhagia, bronchitis, bruises, burns, cachexia, calculus, colds, constipation, cough, debility, dropsy, dysentery, dysmenorrhea, earache, erysipelas, fever, flu, gingivitis, gonorrhea, hematemesis, hemoptysis, jaundice, menorrhagia, nausea, phthisis, pregnancy, rash, scabies, scurvy, sorethroat, stomach, swelling, syphylis, toothache, tuberculosis, tumors, typhoid, venereal diseases, and wounds.

In term of medicine, coconut may also consider as miracle tree, because it reported has many active substances, or bioactive compounds, such as:

Anthelmintic (a medicine used to destroy parasitic worms).

Anti-blenorrhagic (an agent used to manage gonorrhoea).

Anti-inflammatory.

Antibronchitis (used to treat bronchitis, an inflammation of the airways leading into lungs).

Antidotal (a medicine taken, or given to counteract a particular poison).

Antigingivitic (used to treat painful inflammation of the gums).

Antihypertensives (used to treat hypertension, high blood pressure).

Antipyretic (used to prevent or reduce fever).

Antiseptic (an antimicrobial substance or compound that is applied to living tissue/skin to reduce the possibility of infection, sepsis, or putrefaction).

Aperient (used to relieve constipation).

Aphrodisiac (a substance that increases sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior).

Astringent (a chemical that shrinks, or constricts body tissues).

Antiepileptic (used to treat epilepsy).

Bactericidal (a substance which kills bacteria).

Cardioprotective (protect the heart).

Cytokinins (anti-cancer compounds).

Depurative (herbs that are considered to have purifying, and detoxifying effects).

Diuretic (substance that promotes diuresis, the increased production of urine).

Febrifugal (as medicine to reduce fever).

Hemostat (preventing the flow of blood from an open blood vessel by compression of the vessel).

Kinetin (N6-Furfuryladenine, strong anti-ageing effects on human skin cells).

Pediculicide (an agent that destroys lice). Another way to get rid of lice naturally, just like I’ve already wrote in my previous post.

Purgative (a medication that encourages bowel movements).

Refrigerant (a medication for reducing body heat).

Stomachic (a medicine that serves to tone the stomach, improving its function and increase appetite).

Styptic (a drug that causes contraction of body tissues and canals).

Suppurative (undergo the formation of pus).

Vermifuge (an anthelmintic medicine).

Coconut Water to Prevent Acid Reflux

Coconut water contains 95.5% water, 0.1% protein, 0.1% fat, 0.4% ash, and 4.0% carbohydrate. 100g of coconut water contains 105mg Natrium, 312mg Kalium (Potassium), 29mg Calcium, 30mg Magnesium, 0.1mg Ferrum, 0.04mg Copper, 37mg Phosphorus, 24mg Sulfur, and 183mg choline. Coconut water also contains vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7 and B9.

Research shows that consuming coconut water can help prevent dehydration in children with mild diarrhea. Also that drinking coconut water might lower blood pressure in people with high blood pressure, but taking coconut water along with medications for high blood pressure might cause your blood pressure to go too low.

Due to coconut water contains high levels of kalium or potassium, a person with kidney problems should also watch more carefully when consuming coconut water.

It was my son, Michael’s regular barber who aged about 60 yrs old told me his story why his barbershop was closed for couple of months. The old man said that he was being treated at an island called Bawean Island, about 135km north of Gresik City, due to suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). He often felt a burning sensation in his chest, known as heartburn, and sour taste in back of his mouth. That’s why the doctor diagnosed him as suffering from GERD.

After several visits to the doctor in the hospital and taking the medicine, the symptoms never recovered. The old man also suffered from shortness of breath, like he had asthma, even though he had never had asthma complaints before. So, he quit visiting the doctor and sought alternative treatment.

Then he ended up in Bawean Island, in a traditional hospitals whose owners do not have health certificates, or any medical degrees. The old man stayed there for a month, and everyday, he used one young coconut to drink its water. The practitioner told him, that he should consult his former doctor to perform more medical checkups after consuming coconut water for a month. .

Why should I?, the old man said to me. I feel much better now. I don’t need to go to the hospital anymore. I never felt heartburn anymore., he added.

Like the old man, I also had GERD when I was young. Smoking and drinking coffee are most likely to be the sources of problems. The doctor once said to me that GERD patients often suffer from irritation of the skin if exposed to alcohol compounds. That was when I suffered from boils in my armpits when using deodorant and itching on my chest when I sprayed perfume directly on my chest. Since that moment, I never use any deodorant or perfume anymore.

Based on the old man story, whenever I had symptoms like heartburn or a sour taste in my mouth, I quickly bought coconut water and drank it without adding any sugar.