Furthermore, micronutrients (nutrients needed in small quantities) such as inorganic ions and vitamins in coconut water play a vital role in aiding the human body antioxidant system [27]. Hypermetabolism gives rise to an increased production of reactive oxygen species (or free radicals), as a result of increased oxidative metabolism. Such increase in free radicals will cause oxidative damage to the various components of the human cell, especially the polyunsaturated fatty acids in the cell membrane, or to the nucleic acids in the nucleus [27]. Fortunately, living organisms have well developed antioxidant systems to neutralize the most detrimental effects of these oxidizing species. Micronutrients have important functions in this aspect. For example, they act directly to quench free radicals by donating electrons, or indirectly as a part of metallo enzymes (a diverse class of enzymes that require a catalytic metal ion for their biological activity) such as glutathione peroxidase (selenium) or superoxide dismutase (zinc, copper) to catalyse the removal of oxidizing species [28