Papaya: Nutritional Value & Benefits

Papaya: Nutritional value

Papaya Health Benefits

• Anti-Cancer
• Anti-Inflammatory
• Antioxidant
• Detoxifying
• Good for the Heart
• Good for the Skin
• Aids the Digestion
• Boosts the Immune System

Papaya, also known as Papaw and Pawpaw, is well know for its culinary and medicinal uses.

The papaya fruit can be eaten ripe and raw, peeled and without its black seeds. When unripe and green, it can be cooked and it´s commonly used in curries, stews and warm salads. In Brasil, where Juicers & Recipes is on holiday right now, it´s widely eaten as part of the breakfast, and also as desserts, the ripe one creamed in a dessert called Cup Camargo, or Creme de Papaya, and the green one as a traditional, conserve sweet. If you´re interested in making the dessert, you can find it here.

Now to the many health benefits this delicious fruit provides. The papaya is very rich in vitamin C and Beta-carotene, which are crucial right now, in the winter, when there´s a Flu epidemic going on. These nutrients are essential for the skin and the immune system.

Papaya also contains the enzyme Papain, which aids the digestion of protein. This enzyme also soothes inflammation, so it could be helpful in treating and easing joint pain from the inflammation in conditions like arthritis and many sports injuries.

Besides all this benefits when eaten or in juices and smoothies, papaya flesh is said to help in the healing process of skin sores, and its seeds have been used in treatments and are known to be useful when dealing with stomach aches and fungal infections.

Again, we thank the book The Top 100 Healing Foods: 100 Foods to Relieve Common Ailments and Enhance Health and Vitality (The Top 100 Recipes Series), by Paula Bartimeus, in helping us writing about the papaya and many other ingredients. You can get it online clicking on the link, it´s not expensive and we do use it all the time here at home.