Everyone knows the benefits of green coconut water. It helps keep the body free of many ailments and is also good for glowing skin. Nothing matches it for sudden relief in scorching sun.

The article looks at how coconut water is used to keep skin and hair looking their best, as well as a number of traditional remedies.

Because it contains potassium, coconut water helps control blood pressure, the article says.

It says drinking coconut water is beneficial for people with hypothyroidism, known as an underactive or low thyroid. The water contains a natural enzyme that helps stimulate an inactive thyroid, and it can also help regulate the thyroid if it is hyperactive, according to the article.

It adds that coconut water is good for hypothyroidism because it helps with weight gain and bowel regulation, and suggests drinking two or three glasses after meals for 20 days.

Coconut water is very useful for any skin, oily or dry. People prone to acne can soak cotton wool in coconut water and wipe their face with it from time to time.

For allergy marks or acne scars, the article suggests wiping the face with cotton wool soaked in coconut water; done for a month, the marks gradually fade. For spots or dark patches, it says washing the face with coconut water every day and drinking plenty of it clears dark marks and stops new spots appearing.

Many people suffer from hair loss. The article suggests warming coconut water slightly and massaging it gently into the scalp, which it says will bring relief in a short time. Hair can also be rinsed with coconut water after shampooing, which it says makes hair shinier and removes dandruff.

Coconut water also works well against the smell of sweat. Cotton wool soaked in coconut water can be wiped over the parts of the body that sweat most, or coconut water can be put in a spray bottle and sprayed on. The article says the odour goes almost immediately.

• Constipation: a cup of water from a mature (jhuno) coconut every morning on a completely empty stomach for 10-12 days, the article says, will relieve constipation.
• Worms: water from a very young, tender coconut that tastes salty and astringent should be drunk after meals for seven to eight days. It must not be sweet, the article warns, or it will do more harm than good.
• Diabetes: when blood sugar is very high, the article suggests making a hole in a tender coconut, adding two pinches of black cumin (kalojira) to the water at night, and drinking all the water with the black cumin the next morning on an empty stomach. It says doing this for one and a half to two weeks will bring diabetes under control, after which it can be taken occasionally.
• Headache: the article suggests mixing 10-12 grains of sugar into coconut water and drawing it in through the nose little by little, or putting it into the nose with a dropper, and says it works like magic.
• Painful urination: where difficulty passing urine comes from indigestion, too much time in strong sun, overwork or sitting in one place for long periods, the article says drinking the water of one or two coconuts will ease it temporarily.

Source: Ittefaq. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.