Drink the coconut water, but don’t bet your life on it

Today’s question:

Is it true that the liquid in coconuts can be used as a substitute for human blood plasma? Not really.

There is anecdotal evidence of both British and Japanese medics giving coconut water intravenously to patients during World War II when regular IV saline solution was in short supply. And there is a report it had been used successfully on a man in an emergency situation in the Solomon Islands when nothing else was available.

That, however, does not make it a good idea.

Human blood is about 55 per cent salty water — plasma — and about 45 per cent red and white blood cells and the like. The plasma is a clear, slightly yellowish liquid, with high levels of sodium, low levels of potassium, and trace amounts of other minerals. Genuine intravenous fluids have high sodium and low potassium.

Coconut water has the opposite — a fraction of sodium and 10 to 15 times more potassium than plasma, plus a lot of calcium. The potassium and calcium levels are high enough to be dangerous to some people.

So coconut water may make for a refreshing drink, but you wouldn’t want to bet your life on it as a substitute for plasma. What are the origins of the words “hoedown” and “shindig?” A hoedown as a noisy dance came into common use in 1841. It probably was the name of a specific dance that mimicked the movements of farm chores. Washington Irving wrote about a dance called "hoe corn and dig potatoes" in 1807. I have never hoed corn myself, but I have dug potatoes and it did not feel much like dancing.

A shindig, meaning a party and loud gathering, dates to 1871. It probably comes from shindy, which meant a spree, merrymaking, or from “shinty,” a Scottish game sort of like hockey.

Have a question for Clay? Reach him at 602-444-8612 or clay.thompson@arizonarepublic.com