The wonders of coconut flour

WITH more people getting health conscious, many are now aware of the miracles in natural foods especially their healing effects.

Healing foods like virgin coconut oil and coconut flour can help reduce the risk of serious medical problems like cancer, heart and liver diseases. They are good supplement for diabetics while facilitating healthy digestion.

By stimulating the body’s absorption of nutrients, vitamins and minerals, coconut oil and coconut flour allow the body to become healthier and stronger while effectively eliminating toxins and bad cholesterol.

According to Dr. Trinidad P. Trinidad, a scientist of the Department of Science and Technology, coconut flour from “sapal” is a good source of dietary fiber, it contains 60 percent of total dietary fiber.

She said foods rich in dietary fiber are low glycemic index foods.

Glycemic index (GI) is a classification of food based on the glucose response of an individual relative to a standard glucose.

“Dietary fiber slows down the release of glucose with time and therefore needs only enough insulin in order to break down the glucose into energy,” Trinidad said.

On the otherhand, food without dietary fiber results in a fast release of glucose, needing more insulin to break it down.

“If an individual does not have enough insulin needed to break the glucose, glucose stays in the blood and therefore can cause diabetes. The excess glucose can also be stored in our body and increase our weight,” she said.

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute in collaboration with Philippine Coconut Authority conducted a study on bakery products supplemented with high amount of coconut flour on 10 normal and 10 diabetic persons.

It was found that bakery products with coconut flour lowered the glycemic index of the food. Trinidad said this is very important in the proper control and management of diabetes mellitus and in the maintenance of weight.