Rightly called as “fruit of the angels”, papaya was once an exotic fruit but is now available in the market in any season throughout the year. The spherical-pear-shaped, deliciously sweet, buttery-soft and bright fruit does not need any more reasons to get a place at your plate. But there are some amazing health benefits of papaya which encourage you to include this delicacy in your diet as often as possible.
This tropical fruit is a rich source of vitamin B and C, flavonoids, carotenes, folate and pantothenic acid. It is also packed with minerals like copper, potassium and magnesium. All of these substances help improve your health in several ways. In addition to this, papaya also contains an digestive enzyme named papain, which is widely used to treat causes of trauma, allergies and other injuries.
Take a look at these 10 amazing benefits papaya and consider including it in your diet:
1. It improves digestion and helps you lose weight
Eating papayas can actually help you hang on to your new year’s resolution to lose weight as it is packed with the digestive enzyme named papain and fibre which improve digestion. Also, a medium-sized papaya contains only 120 calories in average. That means you can lose weight while eating this delicious fruit all the way.
2. It lowers cholesterol
As papaya is a great source of fibre, antioxidants as well as vitamin C, eating the fruit can prevent cholesterol from building up in your arteries. With lower level of cholesterol, you are less prone to heart diseases and this means you can add a bowl of diced papaya in your daily diet and get away from heart related diseases in a delicious way.
3. It boosts immunity
Being rich in vitamin C, papaya provides more than double amount of your recommended daily vitamin C intake. This means your immune system that shields your body against all kinds of infections is stronger than ever with the daily consumption of papaya.
4. It is good for diabetics
Despite being sweet in taste, papaya has low sugar content and low glycemic index, which makes it excellent for diabetes patients. Being rich in phyto-nutrients and vitamins, papaya also helps reduce the risk of heart diseases for diabetics and protect our hearts.
5. It keeps your eyes healthy
Containing an abundance amount of flavonoids including cyptoxanthin, zeaxanthin and lutein as well as vitamin A, papaya prevents macular degeneration caused by ageing and protects your eyes from possible damages.
6. It prevents signs of ageing
As much as you hate the thought of showing signs of ageing, you may consider adding papayas to your daily diet to prevent them from appearing on your face. Eating papayas fights readily against female hair loss and as mentioned earlier, the antioxidants and flavonoids prevent radical damage in the cells and make your skin look younger with every bite.
7. It protects against prostate and colon cancer
According to a study conducted by Harvard School of Public Health’s department, beta carotene in papaya was found to be effective in suppressing the growth of colon cancer as well as prostate cancer. Also, the antioxidants and flavonoids present in papaya prevent radical damage in the cells and helps reduce the risk of cancers.
8. It eases menstrual pain
If you are a woman who struggles with menstrual pain every month, you have a new reason to include papayas in your diet as an enzyme found in papaya called papain helps in regulating an easy flow during menstruation.
9. It reduces stress
Reward yourself with a papaya fruit at the end of your long and tiring day as papayas help to reduce your stress with its richness in vitamin C that has been proven to keep your stress hormones in the low side.
10. It protects you against arthritis
Papaya has strong anti-inflammatory properties and is rich in vitamin C. So it is good at strengthening your bones and protecting you against arthritis.
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