Kerson fruit is one of the fruit free that easily found in someone’s backyard. However, not a lot of people aware of the health benefits of kerson fruit. Children love the sweet taste of the fruits while adults decided to grow the tree in the backyard because it could make good shading. The cherry like appearance of kerson fruit is the reason why this fruit is commonly mistaken as cherry when the fact is kerson fruit is among varieties of berry.
What Is Kerson Fruit?
From the appearance kerson fruit looks like berries but it tastes similarly like cherry. It has scientific name Muntingia calabura from the family of Muntingiaceae. The fruit is edible while the leaves have a lot of health benefits as long as the health benefits of kerson fruit itself. This fruit tree is originated from Mexico but since it could grow vigorously in tropical climate, kerson fruit becomes popular in Asia regions and less popular in its origin regions around America. Kerson fruit could be consumed raw because of its sweet taste and due to its juicy texture, kerson fruit is also a perfect ingredient for jam. Not only that, the leaves of the kerson fruit could be made into herbal tea.
Nutritional Value of Kerson Fruit
One of the reasons why people love chewing on kerson fruit is due to its tasty and juicy texture. Not only that, this fruit is an excellent source of fiber. Though in size the fruit is really tiny but you must be surprised how this fruit is packed with certain vitamins and minerals. Kerson fruit is not only rich of fiber but also vitamin C, some traces of vitamin B, some minerals and other organic compounds such as flavonoids and phenolic. To learn more about the health benefits of kerson fruit the list below will discuss it in details.
- Excellent Source of Fiber
The juicy texture of kerson fruit is the strong indication that this fruit is rich of fiber. Though to fulfill your daily intake of fiber you should consume more than a handful of kerson fruit but you will love it.
- Great for Digestion
As mentioned in the previous point, kerson fruit is rich of fiber. One of the health benefits of fiber is great for digestion. Whenever you feel there is something wrong with your stomach, so don’t hesitate to grab a handful of kerson fruit to enjoy and you could say goodbye to constipation instantly.
- Relieves Headache
Kerson fruit is an excellent and natural solution to relief headache because a handful of kerson fruit could help relaxing the blood vessel that disturbs the oxygen distribution. It will help reducing the symptoms of headache significantly and instantly.
- Contains Antibacterial Agents
As it contains antibacterial agents, kerson fruit could be used to treat diarrhea. How to prevent diarrhea using kerson fruit is quite simple, you could just consume it directly to while the leaves could be used to cure rashes on skin caused by the bacteria.
- Excellent Source of Vitamin C
Just a handful of kerson fruit you could get all the vitamin C benefits. Vitamin C is essential to the production of collagen for healthy and younger skin. It optimizes the iron absorption to promote the production of red blood cells to prevent anemia.
- Natural Immunity Booster
As mentioned in the previous point, kerson fruit is excellent source of vitamin C which is an excellent immunity booster. Among the other vitamins, vitamin C is a potent antioxidants and the trace of vitamin A found in kerson fruit makes it even better.
- Relieves Gout
For over centuries, kerson fruit has been used traditionally to treat gout. It is a natural pain killer that could help you dealing with gout in much easier and bearable way. The anti-inflammation properties found in kerson fruit is also good to treat gout.
- Healthy Snacks for Diabetic Patients
It is a common knowledge that people who have been diagnosed with certain types of diabetes should avoid all sweet stuffs including certain fruits. Well, kerson fruit is the exception. It is a sweet snack highly recommended for diabetic patients due to its ability in lowering the blood sugar level.
- Contains Potent Antioxidant
Vitamin C found in kerson fruit is one of the potent antioxidants along with vitamin A and beta-carotene. Moreover, kerson fruit also contain flavonoids that make this fruit an excellent source of antioxidant.
- Treats Light Fever
Though further studies are required to support the claim but traditionally, kerson fruit has been used by people to treat light fever. It is due to the potent antioxidant contents and high amount of vitamin C that could act as immunity booster and protect your body from further infection to accelerate the recovery process.
- Promotes Healthy Heart
As rich of fiber, kerson fruit is excellent for heart. Not only fiber, the anti-inflammatory properties found in kerson fruit has prominent role in heart health as well and beneficial for bloodstream.
- Manages Hypertension
One of the symptoms of high blood pressure or hypertension is when blood vessels are narrowed due to some factors. Kerson fruit contains some active compounds that could help relaxing the blood vessels and reduce the risk of hypertension.
Cautions of Kerson Fruit
When it comes to the health benefits of kerson fruit the list is probably endless. However, when it comes to the caution, so far there is no case that is reported regarding this fruit but still there are some cautions as below that you should aware as well.
- Allergic reaction may occur to those who are allergic to some varieties of berries.
- Though some people have proven that kerson fruit may be beneficial to deal with some health conditions, depending on the medication to this fruit is not recommended unless you have agreement from the professional to replace your medication with this fruit.
- The fruit is very tiny, making sure you wash it thoroughly before you consume is highly recommended especially fruits that obtained from the tree that is growing widely.
Kerson fruit is well known as wild fruit and it is not something you could easily find in fruit market. Though right now, due to its raise of popularity there are a lot of products or supplements claimed to be made from kerson fruit. So, for those who want to prove the health benefits of kerson fruit but don’t have access to the fresh fruit, supplements made of kerson fruit could be an excellent option.