Pineapple juice is a cocktail of beneficial enzymes, minerals, and vitamins that keep your body in best health. The enzyme bromelain, exclusive to pineapple, is anti-inflammatory and anticancer. Antioxidants like vit C and beta-carotene scavenge free radicals, promising better skin and vision. Regular consumption of pineapple juice also ensures sturdier bones, improved fertility, and better immunity. Go easy if you’re allergic to bromelain.
Think tropics and the first thing that might come to your mind is the thorny, juicy pineapples. A real cocktail of beneficial enzymes, minerals and vitamins, this summer tropical fruit is a health freak’s dream come true. It is low in calories, rich in vitamin C, and has minerals like potassium, calcium, phosphorous, and manganese and has both soluble and insoluble fibers. Sample this. Just 8 ounces of unsweetened pineapple juice has only about 130 calories, has 33mg of calcium, and 30mg of magnesium. It takes care of a third of daily recommended vitamin C content for women (25mg) and over 25 percent of that of men (75mg). It contains 0.78mg of iron which comprises 10 percent of the recommended daily intake for men (but negligible in case of women since women need to have more iron).From being anti-inflammatory to being a powerhouse of antioxidants that prevent free radical damage and act against aging, many benefits have been attributed to pineapple juice.
Benefits Of Pineapple Juice
1. Away With Arthritis
A lot of the health benefits of pineapple juice come from the enzyme bromelain exclusive to pineapple juice and pineapple stem. Bromelain has featured in folk medicines and is proven to exhibit anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties. Many studies have been conducted to understand the efficacy of bromelain in treating osteoarthritis, especially in the knee and shoulder and rheumatoid arthritis with encouraging results.
2. Case Of Cancer
Bromelain is the real armor in pineapple’s arsenal against cancer. Glycoproteins, distributed naturally through the body, serve many physiological functions in the body. But the faulty functioning of glycoprotein is a surefire way to get cancer. Bromelain is a mixture of proteolytic enzymes or enzymes that digest proteins that can stop this from happening.
3. Get Younger By Day
Pineapple juice is rich in antioxidants like vitamin C and beta-carotene. Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, which means your body does not store it and has to come from food. Vitamin C plays many important skin functions like the growth and repair of tissues to collagen formation and healing of wounds. Antioxidants block some of the damages caused by free radicals, substances that damage DNA. The build-up of free radicals over time may contribute to the aging process and the development of health conditions such as cancer, heart disease, and arthritis.
4. Better Vision
Beta-carotene is another antioxidant in pineapple juice which constitutes 9 percent of carotenoid mixture in pineapple juice.Unlike other carotenes like lycopene and luteine, beta-carotene converts into vitamin A (retinol) in the body which plays an important role in eye health.
5. Fight Diseases
More antioxidants also mean better immunity against many diseases. Having antioxidants is especially useful in preventing many age-related diseases.
6. Get Rid Of Asthma
Increased consumption of beta-carotene is found to decrease the severity of asthma, especially in women.Pineapple juice provides double benefits in asthma alleviation with the presence of bromelain enzyme which is found to reduce inflammation related to asthma.
7. Sturdy Bones
Magnesium deficiency could affect bone cells and also the secretion and activity of the parathyroid hormone resulting in osteoporosis. As stated earlier, pineapple juice is a good source of minerals, especially magnesium. Magnesium is proven to be beneficial in keeping diseases like osteoporosis at bay by improving bone health
8. Fertility Booster
Can pineapple juice help with fertility? Apparently yes! And that is, thanks again to the bromelain in it; not to miss selenium and folic acid, too. Bromelain is a natural blood thinner, which will help increase the blood flow to the uterus. Selenium in the juice helps thicken the uterine lining and prepares it for embryo implantation.Pineapple juice is high in folic acid, too. Folic acid is a B-vitamin essential for human growth. Folic acid supplementation during pregnancy is important in avoiding many birth defects in babies.
Does Pineapple Juice Help In Weight Loss?
Time to bust some myths. It has been widely publicized on the Internet that pineapple juice helps weight loss. This is mainly because of the low-calorie count of the juice, which as mentioned earlier, is just about 130 calories in 8 ounces of undiluted juice. But that alone does not help really. While foods with low glycemic index or GI promote weight loss, the GI value of pineapples is in the range of 45-66, which is in the medium range.
Pineapple is also a good source of fiber which should help in losing pounds but sadly all that fiber is lost in juicing.
How Often Should You Drink Pineapple Juice?
No matter which fruit you are consuming, the whole fruit always scores way above its juice on nutritional content. It is common knowledge that a lot of the fruit’s fiber is lost in juicing. Juicing, processing and storing can bring the nutritional quality of the pineapple juice down. In a study conducted to assess the effect of storage and processing on pineapple juice, it was noticed that storing the whole fruit for two weeks at room temperature brought the ascorbic acid (vitamin C) content down to about 59-65 percent. Moreover, processing the juice by pasteurization further reduced the ascorbic acid content to 28-46 percent and storing it in plastic bottles for two months left the juice with just about 10-21 percent of ascorbic acid.
Some Side Effects To Watch Out For
It has been proven time and again that pineapple juice is good for health. But it also comes with its flipside. Did you know you could be allergic to pineapple? Though bromelain in pineapple is used to treat many health conditions, some adverse events have been reported from consuming the fruit especially in the form of gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea, nausea and flatulence. It could also manifest as headaches, tiredness, dry mouth, skin rash and allergic reactions.
You should be especially careful if you are on blood thinners as bromelain could increase the risk of bleeding. People with stomach ulcers are also advised to avoid bromelain.
Pineapple juice undoubtedly is an amazing drink with many health benefits. But like we always say, having everything in moderation is key to good health.
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