Friday Favorites: Coconut Water for Athletic Performance vs. Sports Drinks

Coconut water is tested head-to-head against plain water and sports drinks in athletes.

My other videos on coconut oil include:

Thanks for watching. I hope you’ll join in the evidence-based nutrition revolution!
-Michael Greger, MD FACLM

[lukeweaver]

The ONLY thing that works to revive me when working in the 90+ degree Florida summers is watermelon 🍉. I even juice the rind for less sugar & more nutrients, including citrulline (arginine, nitric oxide). Tried all the rest, including the unhealthy sports drinks, water, and coconut water. Nothing else came close.

[stephss]

I'd predict that sports water, with the synthetic sweeteners, are actually far worse for our health, than just plain clean water. Plus all the micro plastics in the bottles.

[NoLimitsNatty]

I like mixing 1/2 coconut water 1/2 water when I'm doing a long heavy workout.

[raystaar]

The only time I've ever notice a performance difference between drinking and not drinking anything is when I drink the excess water left after I cook my vegetables.

[chuggeez_]

Well... not everybody is interested in coconut water for athletic performance cuz we're not all athletes - What about the health benefits of coconut water over regular water..??

[antoinemorcos]

Very interesting. I am waiting for the rest.

[nicole]

A glass of coconut water can get me through my workouts. Its just amazing. Also beetroot juice works as well.

[fdagpigj]

The title was so absurd I had to click. I had never heard of coconut water being used for anything, let alone athletic performance, and reading it I couldn't fathom it could have any other impact than make you feel and thus perform worse, not better. Seems my intuition lined up with the conclusion.

[ceidrenv]

Coconut water (fresh from the coconut) has always made me feel bloated and yuck. I'm glad water has won.

[MingCChen]

If too much Potassium is not good for people how about Potassium water softener? does it makes the water with too much potassium?

[VeganLife_]

If anybody does use coconut products, make sure that the companies don't use monkey labor

[truesight]

The issue is all (bottled) coconut water is (heat-treated) so although it still has electrolytes and nutrients and still 100x better than artificial drinks like powerade, gatorade ect.. There are no Enzymes thus some of the most Vital elements in the water/fruit are destroyed by heat/processing. This is why Raw "living" food is superior to "cooked" in almost every way. Enzymes are some of the Key players in Human Health and Energy expenditure and only RAW (fresh) coconuts have Active enzymes. Bottled or packaged stuff, water, food, plant-milks and almost everything at the supermarket have to be (heat-treated) or they go off relatively quickly. Luckily you can find fresh coconuts in most fridge sections.

[Scarlett-jqcj]

I like coconut water after I give birth? Anecdotal, but still. Also, where are the studies with women?

[Anna-qzxw]

I just don’t understand how it is harmful that coconut water is rich in potassium. According to nutritional label, one cup of it has as much potassium as is in some fruits. And most of the people are deficient in potassium. Did I hear it right that dr Greger was talking about the adverse effects if drunk in quarts (4cups)?

[aroundandround]

The potassium in even three cups of coconut water is just half the daily RDI, so I don’t understand the hyperkalemia paranoia pushed here.

[Greentrees]

I really appreciate you sharing the dog study - that is a very unexpected result!

[Jess]

I think the pink coconut water is the only one to drink not the others ?

[humanegarcia]

I drink a bottle of cocunut water a day for years lol

[ThoseStairsTheFirst]

So just put some salt in the coconut water to counter the harmfully high level of potassium??

[samiryan]

Coconut and anything related to it is just a trend same as another trends out there, when something go comercial they do pay money to publish health studies to increase their sales, but in the end of the day no one care about your health at all, it's all about money only. Remember fish oil products, they spend a lot of money in paid rearches to increase their sales despite the fact the humans since the beginning lived till now without any of such products. It's a fact that a lot of peoples don't live near sea or oceans but they're alive and healthy without fish or anything related to seafood. Same goes with a lot of stuff in the market, it's all about ripping off your money for stuff you actually don't need.