Nutritive value of Coconut.pdf

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Part of The Coconut Journal

extracted text: NOVEMBER, 1941 IN FILIPINO DIET Nutritive Value Of Coconut By ALICIA PALMA BAUTISTA Home Economics Department Far Eastern University ABOUT a year ago I spoke on the radio regard ing the good qualities of our good friend, Mr. Coconut. To show the value of proper nutri tion, I pictured a woman “with a flight of double chins, and who waddles through a room instead of walking across it.” To night, I have brought to you her sister “Skinny”. You can picture her to yourselves. She is all bones, whether she is tall or short, her waistline is so small you can encircle it with your two hands. She looks fragile so much so that you feel that a strong windy blast may carry her off any minute. She is flat chested, with high cheek bones, and her arms and legs dangling like a twine of rope sus pended from a flag pole. To put some flesh into this walking skeleton is bound to be a nutritional achievement and here is a steady job for Mr. Coco nut. It was sheer luck which took me to the Bu reau of Animal Husband ry on a morning when one of the doctors was cutting up a hog which had been on a hundred per cent coconut diet for some time. Coconut Oil As A Shortening By MARIA OROSA Chief, Plant Utilization Division Bureau of Plant Industry Our recent experiments proved that COCO NUT OIL may be satisfactorily used as a sub stitute for expensive shortenings. We found that an average nut when grated measures about 3 cups and gives about 1/3 cup of oil. If pandan leaves, grated lemon, orange or lime peel is added to the COCONUT milk while it is being made into oil, the natur al COCONUT OIL flavor is masked. Cakes made with this oil are very palatable and can not be distinguished from “butter cakes” baked with butter. Dozens of experiments in butter cake bak ing were performed using the COCONUT OIL as shortening. Some of these were flavored with caramel, with coffee, with chocolate, with vanilla, and in all cases, when compared with those made with butter or other expensive shortenings, the samplers all agreed that the cakes baked with the COCONUT OIL cannot be distinguished from those baked with butter. The procedure used in baking with the CO(Please turn to page 18) The doctor told us that it was an experiment which they had undertaken to determine whether coconut, being as cheap as it is, could be utilized in hog-rais ing intended for hams and bacon. He cut up the hind legs for the ham, he trimmed the flank for the bacon and there was our coconut fed hog with practically no steaks of pink, almost pure white fat clear through to the skin with only a very thin streak of lean meat. It’s no “go” for sure in hog raising, but it is never wise to live on a one sided diet. But to one on a fattening diet it would be very effective. If we were to put “lanky bones”, whether child or adult on a coconut rich diet, couldn’t we expect similar results from the experiment? This state ment is not without a scientific basis. It is a fact, that granted a per fectly normal body free from parasities and a will power exerted to the ut most in the desire of in creasing one’s weight, coconut would be a per fect ally of milk, eggs, cod liver oil, whole cereals, fruits and vegetables. (Please turn to page 20) THE COCONUT JOURNAL ROLE OF COCONUT... (Continued from page 8) 90 coconuts per capita are consumed annually in the Philippines compared with 150 per capita in Cey lon. The importance of utilizing coconut as a sup plementary food in our daily diet may be summar ized as follows: First, and foremost, the contribu tion of fat to the diet, is considerable. If we take into consideration that the main defect of Filipino diet is the low fat intake, the increase consumption of coconut oil or fat by our people will supplement this deficiency. Furthermore, fat as you all know, is high in caloric value. One gram of fat yields 9.3 calories, compared with 4.1 calories for each gram of either carbohydrate or protein. This country is importing fat for food purposes to the value of many thousands of pesos annually. A large part of this amount can be saved by utilizing coconut fat and oil as food in our daily meals. Second, coconut pro vides, biologically, good protein, some carbohy drates, particularly sugar, and little water soluble vitamins B and C in toddy. On the other hand, it contributes little or none of the fat-soluble vitamins and mineral salt requirements of diet, which must be provided by other foodstuffs particularly milk and eggs. I believe the great majority of our people are yet to realize the value of good nutrition. Some how or some way, as a nation, we have to adjust our food habits and our diets to the newer knowl edge of nutrition. This adjustment, even if it takes a long time to filter through the entire population should be continued. We need to make the Filipino people nutrition conscious in terms of nutritional science of today. If the great mass of our people could be brought to understand the relatively simple, basic principles of the modern science of nutrition and understand our deficiencies, the unsatisfactory nutritional status of no less than 50 per cent of our population may be improved. The human resources of the nation must be maintained to a high degree of reserve status, so that it can give its best if called upon in time of emergency and national crisis. If this nation should be forced into war, it is absolutely necessary that every man, woman and child in this country should be prepared by being in the best physical and mental condition to maintain, preserve and defend our de mocratic ideals. We can only accomplish this if our people are properly fed. NUTRITIVE VALUE... (Continued from page 9) One of the facts known about coconut is its oil content. A single mature coconut yields in oil alone about 116 grams or in terms of calories about one thousand and forty-four calories. From its protein we could get sixty calories and from its sugar con tent about forty-two calories. This gives us a total of one thousand two hundred and forty-six calories. Each person requires a particular amount of food for perfect health and vigor—which means so much in terms of calories. We take any person and know ing his age, height and occupation, we determine the total calories required. Let’s take a girl of eighteen, five feet two and we know that she needs from 1,800 to 20,000 calories from food a day. If she is “skinny,” she is probably twenty or thirty pounds underweight. If she took to eating any of the va ried coconut confections, she would be getting addi tional calories not only from the coconut itself but also from the sugar used in the confection. She might take her coconut in the form of a refreshing glass of the young spoon or “buko” and taken three or four times daily this would insure her the much needed additional calories. To a thrifty housewife with the limited allow ance of sixty cents, eighty cents or even a peso a day, this food is certainly a God-send. For every two or three centavos invested in a coconut she gets one thousand and two hundred calories. A table spoon of the coconut eaten with our rice cakes could give us two hundred and eighty-four calories. In preparing diets for our poorer classes we have found the greatest problem in providing sufficient calo ries for the whole family. There are usually so many members, and a family of twelve living on sixty centavos a day finds a great difficulty in ad justing food needs with the money on hand. Where one half of the money is spent for rice, the three centavos spent for coconut could give her as much heat as five pork sausages which might cost her from eight to ten centavos. In case of emergency, the coconut would be a worthy substitute for whatever we may have to fore go. The other speakers have given you all plenty of things to think about and so, I close asking all to join hands together in building up our youth with proper food habits and urging them to maintain the attitude that whatever eventuality may take place, it shall be faced with faith and courage. PAGE 20
Date: 1941
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