Papaya fruit nutrition facts

Exotic papaya fruit or pawpaw is packed with numerous health benefiting nutrients. The fruit is one of the favorites of fruit lovers for its nutritional, digestive, and medicinal properties. Papaya tree is grown extensively all over the tropical regions and cultivated for its fruits and latex papain, an enzyme that is used in food industry.
Papaya tree bears many spherical or pear-shaped fruits that can have about 6-20 inches in length and 4-12 inches in diameter. The average-sized papaya weighs about a pound. The fruit is said to ripen when it feels soft to thumb pressure, and its skin has attained an amber to orange hue.
Inside, the fruit features numerous black seeds, encased in a mucin coat, in the hollow central cavity. The flesh is orange in color with either yellow or pink hues, soft in consistency and has a deliciously sweet, musky taste with rich flavor.
Babaco fruit is closely related to papaya, has similar appearance and flavor as papaya.

Papaya fruit health benefits

• The papaya fruit is very low in calories (just 39 calories/100 g) and contains no cholesterol; however, is a rich source of phyto-nutrients, minerals, and vitamins.
  
• Papayas contain soft, easily digestible flesh with a good amount of soluble dietary fiber that helps to have normal bowel movements; thereby reducing constipation.
  
• Fresh, ripe fruit is one of the fruits with the highest vitamin-C content (provides 61.8 mg or about 103% of DRI, more than that of in oranges, or lemons). Research studies have shown that vitamin C has many important functions like free radicals scavenging, immune booster, and anti-inflammatory actions.
  
• It is also an excellent source of Vitamin-A (provides 1094 IU/100 g) and flavonoids like ß-carotene, lutein, zea-xanthin and cryptoxanthin. Vitamin A is required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin and is essential for visual sight. These compounds are known to have antioxidant properties; help act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging and various disease processes. Consumption of natural fruits rich in carotenes has known to protect the body from lung and oral cavity cancers.
  
• Papaya fruit is also rich in many essential B-complex vitamins such as Folic acid, pyridoxine (vitamin B-6), riboflavin, and thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins are essential in the sense that body requires them from external sources to replenish and play a vital role in metabolism.
  
• Fresh papaya also contains a good amount of potassium (257 mg per 100 g) and calcium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids and helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure countering effects of sodium.
  
• Papaya has been proven natural remedy for many ailments. In traditional medicine, papaya seeds are anti-inflammatory, anti-parasitic, and analgesic, and they are used to treat stomachache and ringworm infections.