The truth about coconuts: Superfood or fatty fad?

When early European explorers tossed a few coconuts on-board for the journey back from the tropics, they could scarcely have imagined what they were starting. Today we are obsessed with all things coconut. It's the food fad that just won't quit.

Just look at the figures. Over the past three years in Britain, our annual spending on coconut water has surged from &3.9 million to almost &33 million, according to consumer research group Kantar Worldpanel. Our appetite for coconut oil is equally unquenchable; sales rose from around &1 million to &16.4 million over the same period.

Even more recent figures report we now spend more than &100 million a year on coconut products: &64 million on coconut water alone, a 64 per cent increase in just one year.