Diet Corner

HEALTH BENEFIT OF PAPAYA

Papaya enjoys a rich history, and has been used since very long for medicinal uses in day to day life. The Mayans used to worship papaya trees and called it the “Tree of Life”. It is said to be one of the favourite fruits of Christopher Columbus. The story goes that when his crew landed in America after a long sea voyage on meager meal, the native people welcomed them with extravagant feast, which caused digestive problems. The natives took the voyagers to the forest and offered them papaya and they got cured. The leaves, seeds and the milk of the papaya tree are used to cure intestinal problems and kill intestinal worms and parasites. Women from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh use them to prevent pregnancy and for abortion. Above all, papaya is a very delicious food that has been enjoyed lavishly by people as a part of cuisines and salads. 

Skin & Papaya- It is great for the skin and can be used as a face pack to get its benefits. It helps to get rid of acne and skin infections as it helps to open clogged pores. The fermented flesh of papaya also called as papain helps to dissolve the dead cells, giving fresh and glowing skin as a result. It is good to cure the skin infections and wounds that don’t heal quickly.

Cholesterol & Papaya- As it is a fruit that is rich in fiber it lowers blood cholesterol levels. It contains enzymes that help prevent oxidization of cholesterol, which in return helps to prevent heart-attacks. 

Anti-ageing & Papaya- The antioxidants in papaya help in controlling premature ageing. This quality of the papaya helps you to get a younger look.

Intestinal Worms & Papaya- The seeds of papaya too possess medicinal properties. They are very good in treating intestinal worms in the body.

Constipation & Papaya- Papaya helps in preventing constipation and aids in digestion. The enzyme papain is a digestive enzyme that helps in natural digestion.

Colon & Papaya- Its juice helps in curing infections of the colon by clearing the pus and mucus from it. You need to take it regularly to heal quickly

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Weight Loss & Papaya- It is low in calories and high in nutritional values. Hence, it is a good food for those who want to lose some weight.

Morning Sickness & Papaya- In pregnant ladies, regular consumption of a small slice of papaya helps to cure nausea and morning sickness.

Osteoporosis & Papaya- It contains anti-inflammatory enzymes that help in relieving pain for those who are suffering from arthritis, edema and osteoporosis, and it also possesses anti-cancerous properties that can help prevent cancer.

Pineapples

Pineapple, Ananas comosus, belongs to the Bromeliaceae family, from which one of its most important health-promoting compounds, the enzyme bromelain, was named. The Spanish name for pineapple, pina, and the root of its English name, reflects the fruit's visual similarity to the pinecone.

Pineapples are actually not just one fruit but a composite of many flowers whose individual fruitlets fuse together around a central core. Each fruitlet can be identified by an "eye," the rough spiny marking on the pineapple's surface.

Pineapples have a wide cylindrical shape, a scaly green, brown or yellow skin and a regal crown of spiny, blue-green leaves. The fibrous flesh of pineapple is yellow in color and has a vibrant tropical flavor that balances the tastes of sweet and tart. The area closer to the base of the fruit has more sugar content and therefore a sweeter taste and more tender texture.

Pineapples have exceptional juiciness and a vibrant tropical flavor that balances the tastes of sweet and tart. They are second only to bananas as America's favorite tropical fruit. Although the season for pineapple runs from March through June, they are available year-round in local markets.

Pineapples are a composite of many flowers whose individual fruitlets fuse together around a central core. Each fruitlet can be identified by an "eye," the rough spiny marking on the pineapple's surface. Pineapples have a wide cylindrical shape, a scaly green, brown or yellow skin and a regal crown of spiny, blue-green leaves and fibrous yellow flesh. The area closer to the base of the fruit has more sugar content and therefore a sweeter taste and more tender texture. 

Health Benefits

Potential Anti-Inflammatory and Digestive Benefits

Bromelain is a complex mixture of substances that can be extracted from the stem and core fruit of the pineapple. Among dozens of components known to exist in this crude extract, the best studied components are a group of protein-digesting enzymes (called cysteine proteinases). Originally, researchers believed that these enzymes provided the key health benefits found in bromelain, a popular dietary supplement containing these pineapple extracts. In addition, researchers believed that these benefits were primarily limited to help with digestion in the intestinal tract. However, further studies have shown that bromelain has a wide variety of health benefits, and that many of these benefits may not be related to the different enzymes found in this extract. Excessive inflammation, excessive coagulation of the blood, and certain types of tumor growth may all be reduced by therapeutic doses of bromelain when taken as a dietary supplement. Studies are not available, however, to show these same potential benefits in relationship to normal intake of pineapple within a normal meal plan.

Bromelain extracts can be obtained from both the fruit core and stems of pineapple. Potentially important chemical differences appear to exist between extracts obtained from the stem versus the core fruit. However, the practical relevance of these differences is not presently understood. Most of the laboratory research on bromelain has been conducted using stem-based extracts, however.

Although healthcare practitioners have reported improved digestion in their patients with an increase in pineapple as their "fruit of choice" within a meal plan, we haven't seen published studies that document specific changes in digestion following consumption of the fruit (versus supplementation with the purified extract. However, we suspect that the core fruit will eventually turn out to show some unique health-supportive properties, including possible digestion-related and anti-inflammatory benefits.

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The mango

                       The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to South Asia, from where it has been distributed worldwide to become one of the most cultivated fruits in the tropics. While other Mangifera species (e.g. horse mango, M. foetida) are also grown on a more localized basis, Mangifera indica – the 'common mango' or 'Indian mango' – is the only mango tree commonly cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. It is the national fruit of India Pakistan and the Philippines, and the national tree of Bangladesh.

GRAPES

 GRAPES

 Green, purple, white, or red, grapes overall are rich in nutrients and have great medicinal value to their sweet ample bunches. From helping your kidneys to curing a nasty migraine, learn the medicinal uses for grapes that we eat every day.

Grapes are awesome for asthma, as the assimilatory benefits of grapes make the lungs more moist, opening bronchial tubes and making it far easier to breathe overall. Also helpful for aiding in getting over a cold or cough due to blocked airways, and helps to get rid of and break up mucous in the body while you are sick. Drinking grape juice can open your airways and help improve your lung function either due to asthma-related issues of a cough or cold.

Grapes help the heart out as well, by raising the nitric oxide levels in the blood. This helps to prevent blood clots, which keeps heart attacks and strokes at bay. Furthermore, the antioxidants in grapes help prevent the oxidation of bad cholesterol, keeping it from clogging the arteries to the heart and keeping the heart healthier overall.

For migraines, grapes work with their powerful concentration of potassium and magnesium, which helps to relax the muscles of the body and boost energy fighting immunity to ward off a migraine. If fresh grape juice is drunk at the onset of a migraine, it will fade much more quickly.

Grapes contain flavonoids which help to reduce environmental and societal effects of aging. If you want to look younger, longer, drink grape juice or pop a bunch in your mouth as part of your regular diet to keep you healthy, get those nasty free radicals out of your body, and increase your health overall. Plus, grapes are just plain tasty

Medicinal properties of Grape

Red grapes and red wine contain levels of flavonoids which have antioxidant properties and help to reduce the risk for cancer and heart disease. These flavonoids also have an anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effect. Red grape leaves have been traditionally used to treat diarrhea, heavy menstrual bleeding and uterine hemorrhage.

Heart disease
Several epidemiological studies have shown that moderate consumption of red wine has cardioprotective properties and can decrease coronary heart disease mortality. Studies have shown that quercetin and other polyphenols in wine prevent oxidation. Frankel et al showed in the study entitled "Inhibition in vitro of oxidation of human low density lipoproteins by phenolic compounds in wine" published in Lancet (1993, 39:1743-1748) that red wine protects low density lipoproteins from oxidation. The flavonoids ellagic acid and resveratrol have been shown to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease. Grape seed proanthocyanidins may have therapeutic potential in the prevention and treatment of vascular complications in diabetic patients.

Anti-cancer
Grape contains phenolic compounds, including resveratrol, flavon-3-ols, caffeic acid, ellagic acid and quercetin. Phenolic compounds have anticancer properties and have been correlated with the inhibition of various cancers, including colon, esophagus, lung, liver, mammary and skin cancers. Resveratrol can inhibit cancer formation in different ways: resveratrol stops DNA damage, improves DNA repair, slows down tumor growth and slows cell transformation from normal to cancerous. Jang et al demonstrated in his study "Cancer chemopreventive activity of resveratrol, a natural product derived from grapes" published in Science (1997, 275:218-220) that resveratrol has cancer chemopreventive activity in different stages of carcinogenesis. Resveratrol was found to act as an antioxidant and antimutagen and to induce phase II drug-metabolizing enzymes; it mediated anti-inflammatory effects and inhibited cyclooxygenase and hydroperoxidase functions. Not only red grape juice but grape seeds are rich in anticancer phytochemicals.

Antioxidant activity
Grape phenolics such as catechins, flavonols, anthocyanins and tannins have strong antioxidant activity and help to prevent oxidative damage. Grape antioxidants help to prevent the risk of several chronic and age related diseases including dementia, cancer, heart disease and cataracts.

Antibacterial and antiviral activity
A study by Pisha et al, entitled "Fruits and vegetables containing compounds that demonstrate pharmacological activity in humans" and published in Economic and Medicinal Plant Research (1994, 6:189-233), showed that grape phenolics possess antibacterial and antiviral activities. The following phytochemicals in grape have weak antibacterial activity: hydroxybenzoic acid, salicylic acid, gallic acid and protocatechuic acid. Chlorogenic acid and epicatechin have shown antiviral activity against some viruses.

Other facts: The grape originates from the Mediterranean regions from where it was introduced to all temperate regions. About 80 percent of grapes are used for the production of wine, mainly in France, Spain, California, South Africa, Chili and Argentina. Grapes are eaten as such or transformed into juice or wine. Grape pomace is the left-over product of wine production and contains considerable amounts of anthocyanins, which can be extracted.

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Health benefits of apple

• Delicious and crunchy apple fruit is notable for its impressive list of phtyto-nutrients, and anti-oxidants. Studies suggest that its components are essential for normal growth, development and overall well-being.
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  Apples are low in calories; 100 g of fresh fruit slices provide only 50 calories. They, however, contain no saturated fats or cholesterol. Nonetheless, the fruit is rich in dietary fiber, which helps prevent absorption of dietary-LDL or bad cholesterol in the gut. The fiber also saves the colon mucous membrane from exposure to toxic substances by binding to cancer-causing chemicals inside the colon.
• Apples are rich in antioxidant phyto-nutrients flavonoids and polyphenolics. The total measured anti-oxidant strength (ORAC value) of 100 g apple fruit is 5900 TE. Some of the important flavonoids in apples are quercetin, epicatechin, and procyanidin B2. Additionally, they are also good in tartaric acid that gives tart flavor to them. Altogether, these compounds help the body protect from deleterious effects of free radicals.
• Apple fruit contains good quantities of vitamin-C and beta-carotene. Vitamin C is a powerful natural antioxidant. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals from the body.
• Further, apple fruit is a good source of B-complex vitamins such as riboflavin, thiamin, and pyridoxine (vitamin B-6). Together these vitamins help as co-factors for enzymes in metabolism as well as in various synthetic functions inside the body.
• Apple also contains a small amount of minerals like potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure; thus, counters the bad influences of sodium.

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 Banana 

A banana is an edible fruit produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants of the genus Musa.(In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called plantains.) The fruit is variable in size, color and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starchcovered with a rind which may be yellow, purple or red when ripe. The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant. Almost all modern edibleparthenocarpic (seedless) bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The scientific names of most cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana, and Musa × paradisiaca for the hybrid Musa acuminata × M. balbisiana, depending on their genomicconstitution. The old scientific name Musa sapientum is no longer used.

Musa species are native to tropical South and Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. They are grown in at least 107 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber, banana wine and as ornamental plants. In 2013 bananas were fourth among the main world food crops (after rice, wheat and maize) in financial value.

Worldwide, there is no sharp distinction between "bananas" and "plantains". Especially in the Americas and Europe, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet, dessert bananas, particularly those of the Cavendish group, which are the main exports from banana-growing countries. By contrast, Musacultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called "plantains". In other regions, such as Southeast Asia, many more kinds of banana are grown and eaten, so the simple two-fold distinction is not useful and is not made in local languages.

The term "banana" is also used as the common name for the plants which produce the fruit. This can extend to other members of the genus Musa like the scarlet banana (Musa coccinea), pink banana (Musa velutina) and the Fe'i bananas. It can also refer to members of the genus Ensete, like the snow banana (Ensete glaucum) and the economically important false banana (Ensete ventricosum). Both genera are classified under the banana family,Musaceae.