The fitness industry brings in billions of dollars every year and while there are certainly some products that do exactly what the claims say, there are other items that are nothing more than gimmicks, designed to prey on the hopes of desperate people. That concept gets even wider when the health, health food and nutritional supplement industry is added into the mix. Every year it seems a different food or drink item becomes the virtual darling of the industry, promising to help people to lose weight, having glowing skin or even cure certain conditions. And, every year more and more of those products get pulled from shelves for failing to meet their advertising claims. One of the most recent is coconut water, touted to be the best way to rehydrate after exercise, a great resource of electrolytes and alleged to have a number of health and fitness benefits. But, does the product live up to the hype?

Coconut water is the thin, liquid center of the coconut. An average sized fruit can yield roughly four cups of the water which is described as slightly nutty in flavor with just a hint of natural sweetness. Each eight ounce serving has around forty five calories and zero grams of fat. A single serving container of coconut water, often sold in bags or in bottles is expensive, averaging between two to three dollars each.

A number of celebrities and sports stars have endorsed various brands of coconut water while others have been spotted with the beverage in public as unofficial spokespeople of it. Sometimes, those endorsements alone can be enough to boost sales. In a five year period, sales of coconut water have gone from virtually unheard of to more than thirty five million dollars in the United States alone. In other nations, it is a dietary staple and has been for centuries.

Fans are calling it the natural sports drink, claiming that it is the better option than water because of its electrolytes and even better than sports drinks because it has no sugar. The average sports drink can have nearly as many calories as soda or other high sugar beverages. But, according to recent studies, coconut water is not any better than water for the average exerciser who is not working out hard enough to truly cause electrolyte imbalances that would warrant a sports drink of any kind. It has more calories than water but far less than most other sports drinks and is all natural. It is not the miracle product that some would claim it to be, but it certainly is a better choice than some of the alternatives.