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Gastropod

Trouble in Paradise: Coconut War Waters and Coconut Oil Controversies

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Arts, History, Food

4.73.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 October 2022

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Whether enrobed with chocolate in a candy bar or sucked up through a straw on the beach, coconut has become shorthand for the good life: clear blue waters, white sand beaches, and an ocean breeze. But it’s not just a tropical treat. All around the world, people who live alongside the coconut palm refer to it as the “tree of life,” thanks to its ability to provide food, oil, fresh water, and the sturdy raw materials to build homes, clothes, and even musical instruments—all from one plant. But can this delicious, Swiss Army-knife of a nut (that's not technically a nut) also prevent heart disease, clean your teeth, and even stave off Alzheimer's? This episode, Gastropod cracks open what makes coconuts so great, including their role as everything from a Presidential lifesaver to the missing ingredient in nuclear fusion. We've also got the backstabbing battle that made coconut water popular, and the science on all of that Paleo coconut oil hype. Plus, we take on our toughest field assignment yet: traveling to a tropical island to taste the fruit of the tree of life ourselves—if we can just figure out how to get it open... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Coal-canon oil kind of swept in and became the darling of the decade.

0:06.9

And it certainly did.

0:07.9

So we've got company some headlines.

0:10.1

This is some of the coconut oil hype.

0:11.8

Specifically, one headline said, five ways you can use coconut oil to lose weight.

0:17.1

Another said one said, why everyone's obsessed with coconut oil.

0:21.3

I know what I'll do right after the next president's inaugurated and I'll be on a beach somewhere.

0:29.9

I'm drinking coconut.

0:31.9

I'm going to be singing that all day.

0:43.1

Honestly, it's not often you'll find Dr. Oz and President Obama on the same page, but

0:49.0

if there's one thing that can bring us all together, it is apparently the coconut.

0:54.3

And we have a gastropod listener who certainly agrees.

0:56.9

Yeah, my name is Danny Sely and I am a long time listener.

1:00.7

Danny is both a gastropod fan and a coconut superfan.

1:04.2

In fact, his avatar on Zoom is a coconut.

1:07.2

Growing up in Sierra Leone, there's like a little coconut eat issues.

1:11.5

I remember going to the beach with my parents and as I grow up, as I've got older and older,

1:17.7

I just enjoy more and more coconut.

1:21.1

Danny was into coconuts way before coconuts were cool.

1:24.6

Basically, yes.

1:27.5

I started looking into it more and more and seeing it becoming more and more cool.

1:31.8

And I'm like, well, there's a reason for it.

...

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