Early in NMK’s history, there was a pervasive myth being spread that coconut and coconut products ere bad for you. People believed that coconut was bad for your heart and created an unhealthy rise in cholesterol. But Mr. Manjula Narayana knew that for generations, people in Sri Lanka have been using different forms of coconut in their food and had suffered no ill effects. In fact, they were much healthier than people are now. So he rallied the support of the Asia Pacific Coconut Community in 1988 and raised funds to have research conducted in the United States on coconuts and their effects on health. This resulted in several ground breaking research papers confirming the benefits of coconuts and marking it as a superfood.
Mr. Manjula has continued to provide the Asia Pacific Coconut Community with several research papers proving the health benefits of coconuts. The research was conducted through several top tier Sri Lankan universities and has provided immense support for the positioning of coconuts as a superfood.