Have not seen enough studies on coconut water to really see what the impact on hydration/replacing electrolytes is - I know alot of sports teams now have now replaced the old Powerade/Gatorade with Coconut Water - but for your avg everyday trainer I don't think it will make much difference tbh. I have been drinking coffee flavored coconut water lately > mixing it in my protein shakes in the morning - purely though from a taste perspective - tastes like an ice coffee...
Just another fade but prob with some merit though - more than likely fade out though over the next few years and something else will take its place...
Coconut water been around for thousands of years, so not a fad (not fade) really, just because westerners have just realised the benefits, of drinking a natural (living as Fadi likes to call it) beverage rather than a sugar loaded sports drink.
Bazza seems to think it's the same as normal water, which it clearly is not, and seems to find fault that for some reason the electrolyte balance is not 100% perfect, then again which food has the perfect balance of ingredients, I think the body is smarter than that (even Bazza's body is probably smarter than what he is), and the body will take what it needs and discard the rest, getting other nutrients and electrolytes from other sources as required.
Not sure what an average trainer is really, if I train I sweat, same as an elite athlete and I also need electrolytes to keep going throughout my day. It's currently 42 degrees in my training area (I just checked it and came inside to hydrate before going out to train, sipping water at the moment) I will be out there in about 30 minutes sweating up a storm, pretty sure I will need electrolytes the same as an elite athlete.
Was hot here yesterday and my lawn really needed doing so I weight myself before doing the lawns, and again after, I lost around 1.3kg of sweat in around 2hrs, and I was sipping water throughout from a 800ml water bottle that I finished off while mowing, so that is around 2.1kg of water or 2.1 litres for the novices that my body 'used up' to keep cool.
Personally I think may be 500ml (may be more, only guessing) of coconut water in addition to my water would have had a good effect on my electrolyte levels, more so than the 800ml of plain old tap water I drank. So no need to be a professional athlete to require a lot of water and electrolytes, just working outdoors in a hot climate will do it.
And all this because my 13 year old daughter likes drinking it... and Bazza thinks the sky is still green
PS I just bought another four litres today as stocks were running low at home, beware the wrath of a 13 year old girl