Aside from being a delicious fruit, guava has a lot of health benefits. It’s abilities include regulating blood pressure, treating diarrhea, improving the skin, curing colds and coughs, aiding with weight loss and treating constipation, dysentry, scurvy and cancer.
What is Guava?
Guava, or Psidium Guajava, is a delicious and sweet fruit mostly nurtured in tropical countries. It is a seasonal fruit with a pear shape that is green, light green, maroon or yellow in color. Its flesh can bemaroon or white, depending on the type, and it has a soft and sweet pulp enveloping its tiny hard seeds.
The most common types of guava are the yellow-fruited cherry guava, apple guava, red apple guava and strawberry guava. It’s usually eaten raw and can be made into a juice, jelly or jam. What makes it special is its naturally long shelf-life. In fact, guava is one of the least chemically treated or sprayed fruits.
Nutritional Facts of Guava
Guava is rich in a wide variety of nutrients. It’s a good source of dietary fiber, energy, minerals and vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, niacin, thiamine, riboflavin and folate. Furthermore, guava also has essential minerals like phosphorus, iron, calcium, potassium and magnesium.
Healing Prowess of Guava
Guava isn’t just a delicious fruit that fulfils your cravings. Its healing powers protect against many diseases and conditions. Some health benefits you might not know about include the fact that guava:
Promotes Skin Care. Guava doesn’t just have an effect on your insides, it also affects your outside. The fruit can help improve the texture of your skin and help prevent skin conditions.
Contains Antioxidants. Guava is richer in Vitamin C than oranges, making it perfect for boosting the immune system. The antioxidants in guava help defend the body from harmful toxins, free radicals and more. Vitamin C also protects against scurvy.
Helps Improve Eyesight. Guava is rich in vitamin A, which helps boost the vision and slow down macular degeneration and cataracts.
Helps Regulate Hypertension. Guava helps reduce the body’s cholesterol level and prevent blood clots, thus maintaining the blood’s fluidity and reducing blood pressure.
Helps Prevent Cancer. This is probably one of the most important healing properties of guava. If you eat guava, it helps inhibit the metastasis and growth of cancer cells in the body. Numerous studies show the adverse effect of guava in treating various cancer types like breast, oral and prostate cancer. The oil extract of the fruit acts as an antiproliferative, which is proven to be more effective than any leading medicines.
Improves Brain Health. An additional benefit of guava is the vitamin B3 and B6. Vitamin B3, or niacin, helps increase blood flow, while vitamin B6 is great for improving brain health.
Helps with Weight Loss. Those who want a natural way to lose weight may consider consuming guava. Since it is very low in cholesterol, it is ideal for diets.
Final Thoughts on Guava
You can use guava leaves to prepare herbal medicines to cure diseases like diabetes, infections, obesity and diarrhea. This is thanks to the leaves’ palmitoleic and palmitic acid.
Moreover, the seeds can help treat common gastrointestinal problems like constipation. It also works as a laxative, since it has a lot of dietary fibre. This helps bulk up your stool and pass it through your system.
The healing powers of guava are very surprising, aren’t they? It’s not just a delicious fruit. However, as with anything, consult with your doctor before making any big dietary changes.
