Everybody loves pawpaw. Either for its sweetness, bright color, beautiful seeds or butter-like consistency, or for no apparent reason.
I am yet to come across anybody that has an aversion for it. The worst I have seen is people with preferences. Some people prefer the soft ones to the hard ones or vice versa. But I have not seen anybody that says they do not consume pawpaw at all.
What makes pawpaw a widely accepted fruit?
It is one of nature’s gifts that comes to us in a complete package. It is packed with full health benefits from promoting good eyesight to promoting good digestive health.
In this post, I will discuss its benefits for good heart health and good digestive process.
For good heart health
Pawpaw takes the lead among other organic fruits When it comes to prevention of heart diseases.
It contains vitamin C and A which are very good in preventing oxidation of cholesterol.
Oxidized cholesterol in the body builds up in blood vessels and then form dangerous plaques that cause heart attack.
The vitamin A nutrient in pawpaw is concentrated with carotenes and the Vitamin C nutrient is associated with paraoxonase. These nutrients come together to inhibit cholesterol oxidation.
Other vitamins that help promote good cardiovascular health include flavonoids, B vitamins, potassium, copper, magnesium and fibre.
For good digestive process
Papain, also called papaya proteinase is an enzyme that is found in pawpaw. It aids the digestive process by breaking down tough protein fibres.
Even though it is generally not recommended to eat fruits after a meal, ripe pawpaw is exempted from this recommendation. You can eat it after meals especially if your meal contains meat, if you ate a large serving or if you rushed your meal. These situations can put great strain on your digestive system and enzyme producing pancreas.
Eating ripe pawpaw after a rushed meal goes a long way to prevent flatulence and other serious health issues that are associated with poor digestion.
It also helps to reduce the risk of having colon cancer. Its fibre represses the toxins that cause cancer in the colon and keeps them away from the healthy colon cells.
Other nutrients that help prevent colon cancer include papaya’s folate, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and beta-carotene.
Some other health benefits you can get from eating pawpaw include high immunity, protection against arthritis, stress reduction, good hair growth, good eye health, and prevention of prostate cancer.
Lastly, if you are on the weightloss train, add pawpaw to your diet. It is full of dietary fibre that gives a filling effect. Also, one medium size of pawpaw contains between 118 – 120 calories. It is a good substitute for unhealthy snacks whenever you are on the go and you feel hungry.
Now that you know the health benefits of pawpaw, how do you plan to incorporate it to your diet?