Powerful Health Benefits Of Guava
The potential health benefits of guava are many and include its ability to help control blood sugar levels, regulate blood pressure, and provide relief from diarrhea. It further helps strengthen the immune system and digestive system. It also aids in weight loss, improves the skin, provides relief from cough and cold, dysentery, and scurvy.
Due to the unique and high concentrations of minerals and vitamins, guava can also help increase energy.
🍐What is Guava?
Guava is a sweet and delicious fruit cultivated in tropical climates. This seasonal fruit, scientifically known as Psidium guajava, is round or pear-shaped. It is light green, yellow or maroon in color when it ripens. It has white or maroon flesh, depending on its type, and has small hard seeds enveloped in its soft, sweet pulp.
The common types of guava include apple guava, yellow-fruited cherry guava, strawberry guava, and red apple guava. Guava is mostly eaten raw (when ripe or semi-ripe) or consumed in the form of juice, jams, and jellies.
Guava is believed to have originated in Mexico or Central America. It is now very popular in Asian countries and is also increasingly available in American countries, particularly after its health benefits have been revealed. Some say it has a floral taste, a cross between a pear and a strawberry.
What makes it special is that increasing the shelf life of this fruit does not require excessive use of chemicals or pesticides as in the case of grapes, apple, and other “exotic” fruits. It is one of the least chemically treated and sprayed fruits. Guava leaves also have many benefits as noted above, are used to make guava leaf tea and guava leaf juice.
🍐Guava Nutrition Facts
This popular fruit is a powerhouse of nutrients. As per USDA’s Food Data Central, guava is a good source of energy, dietary fiber, vitamins, and minerals. The guava fruit contains vitamin C, A, E, B-vitamins, as well as potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, sodium, and zinc.
🍐Health Benefits of Guava
The traditional adage says, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away,” in Europe and America. Given the plentiful benefits of guava, the phrase can be probably changed to “a few guavas in the season keep the doctor away for the whole year,” in their native tropical and subtropical regions of the world. Let us look at the most important health benefits of this tropical fruit.
🍐Antioxidant Properties
The naturally high content of vitamin C in guavas, four times higher than that found in oranges, helps boost the immune system. According to a study published in the Food Chemistry Journal, the antioxidants in the fruit help defend the body against the proliferation of free radicals, which are one of the main causes of serious health issues.
🍐Controls Diabetes
The intake of guava can also help patients suffering from diabetes. It contains a high level of dietary fiber, which has a beneficial effect on lowering blood glucose levels in the body. According to recent studies published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, animal models have shown that consuming guavas may help prevent the risk of type-2 diabetes. However, more research is needed to confirm the entire scope of its benefits.
🍐Regulates Blood Pressure
Research published in the American Journal of Cardiology found that guava helped reduce LDL cholesterol levels and blood pressure in study participants. The fruit, being very rich in fiber and hypoglycemic in nature, was also beneficial in helping to reduce blood pressure.
🍐Improves Thyroid Health
Guava is a good source of copper, a mineral important for regulating metabolism by helping to control hormone production and absorption. The thyroid hormones play a significant role in energy regulation and metabolism in the body.
🍐Fights Scurvy
Guavas contain 4 times more vitamin C than oranges. According to a 2003 study published in Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, the deficiency of vitamin C can cause scurvy; the only known remedy for this dangerous disease is an adequate intake of vitamin C.
🍐Eliminates Diarrhea & Dysentery
Guava has properties that are thought to help against a number of digestive disorders like diarrhea and dysentery. Whether you chew on its leaves or eat the raw fruit, the astringent qualities add substance to loose bowels and reduce the symptoms of diarrhea. These astringents are alkaline in nature and have disinfectant and anti-bacterial properties, thus helping against dysentery by inhibiting microbial growth and removing extra mucus from the intestines. Furthermore, other nutrients such as vitamin C, carotenoids and potassium, strengthen the digestive system while simultaneously disinfecting it. The fruit is also beneficial in cases of gastroenteritis for similar reasons to those stated above.