By Rebecca Rose of ChoiceEating.com

Take a walk down the drinks or natural foods aisle at Jewel, Dominick’s or Caputo’s and you’ll see the shelves burgeoning with coconut water. They come in a variety of flavors, including tangerine, pineapple, and acai and pomegranate.

Drinking this is all the rage, especially after a workout, but is it as good as we’re told?

Not to be confused with coconut milk, which is pressed from the meat of the coconut, coconut water is the actual fluid drain from the cavity of a coconut. Those who swear by it say it’s good for weight loss, muscle performance, heart health, stress reduction ad cleansing of the kidneys. It also is supposed to work wonders for hair, skin and nails.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, one 8.5-ounce serving contains about 46 calories – more than water but definitely a fraction of soda or juice. About 35 of those calories come from carbohydrates, most notably the six grams of sugar.

A strong source of dietary fiber, magnesium, potassium and manganese, coconut water also is a good source of vitamin C and iron. For those with diabetes, it contributes only three points to the glycemic load, which should be 100 or less per day.

But coconut water’s real claim to fame is the multiple electrolytes they contain, making it a natural replacement for sugary sports drinks. Electrolytes are necessary for electrical conductivity in the body and critical for proper nerve and muscle function.

On the down side, coconut water can be mildly inflammatory. A natural
reaction to harmful stimuli, chronic inflammation can be expressed as hay fever, gum disease or rheumatoid arthritis.

Though the good may outweigh the bad, at about $1 per serving, it isn’t as friendly on the pocketbook as water or milk.

Rebecca Rose is an award-winning writer based in Oak Park, IL, who routinely covers health and fitness, financial and women’s issues regionally and nationally.