Over Christmas break,I received a NOOK Tablet as one of my presents; pre-downloaded on it was a sample of the latest National Geographic Magazine about elephants on a reservation in Kenya entitled "Orphans No More" by Charles Siebert. I adore elephants; they are one of the largest, most intelligent and docile creatures on the planet [unless provoked, of course]. So I started to read it, knowing there would probably some content that would make me cry. [Poaching is a prevalent crime in Africa]. The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust in Nairobi, Kenya, is the world's most successful orphan-elephant rescue and rehabilitation center. Most of the orphaned elephants at the center have seen their mothers slaughtered by poachers and some have reservations about humans. The amazing staff at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust save the baby elephants (as well as older injured elephants) and bring them to the center to nurse them back to health, gain their trust and adapt the elephants back into the wild. The author mentioned that the staff working at the center struggled with keeping some of the orphaned elephants alive in the center's infancy, due to the lack of nourishment they should have been receiving from their mother's milk. He spoke of how the people had tried to create formulas to compensate for the lack of elephant breast milk, including using human breast milk. Immediately I thought "Why aren't they using coconut milk?"
I let my thoughts get ahead of me; a few sentences later, the author mentioned how the staff then tried using coconut milk. Unsurprisingly to me, he then stated that the elephants began to thrive off of the formula using coconut milk! The benefits of coconuts are almost other-worldly. Coconut oil got a bad rap in America in the 1960's and '70s, but without reasonable reason.People feared fat in those days- due to the ignorance that we actually NEED fat to live and to maintain brain function. They also weren't aware that there are GOOD fats in addition to bad fats. What the elephants needed in that formula was a high-fat nourishing diet; i.e. : coconut milk.
Coconuts contain the healthy class of fatty acids called medium-chain triglycerides, aka "M.C.T.s". Coconut oil only becomes a harmful fat when it is hydrogenated. [Hydrogenated oils are a man-made product.] Coconut milk is very similar to human breast milk in its pH, fat content and nutrient content. Furthermore, coconut milk and oil contain what is called lauric acid. Lauric acid is only found elsewhere on the planet in human breast milk, and is considered to be antibacterial, antiviral and antiprotozoal. I had learned this information my sophomore year in college at JWU. I did a project on the benefits of coconut oil for a nutrition class and developed a bit of a fascination for coconuts. Even though they contained some saturated fat, they didn't raise cholesterol and were insanely good for you. It was based on this background knowledge, [in addition to knowing that infants need high-fat diets] that led me to almost scream at my NOOK "COCONUT MILK! GIVE THEM COCONUT MILK!"
The correctness of my unheard suggestion got it into my head that I should go into pachyderm nutrition... but...that's unrealisitc and besides the point.
Fact of the matter is, coconuts are a super food to be reckoned with. Coconuts and coconut oil are included in the book by Johnny Bowden, Ph.D, C.N.S. "The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth" ( A GREAT book, by the way. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in nutrition or the bounties of the earth). Dr. Bowen praises the coconut for its antioxidant, M.C.T., capric acid, antibacterial, antimicrobial and antiprotozoaic powers. Dr. Bowen shares that Pacific Islanders and Asians consume diets extremely rich in coconut oil, yet are surprisingly free from cardiovascular disease, cancer and other degenerative diseases. He further shares a study that examined the recognizably coconut-eating islanders of Pukapuka and Tokelau showed that although eating a high-fat diet, [of mostly coconut derived fat intake], were virtually free of atherosclerosis, heart disease and colon cancer.
Now THAT'S some food for thought; for humans, and elephants.
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