The juicy and delicious taste of strawberry carries numerous benefits for your health, skin and hair with the precious nutrition and antioxidants. If you are a fan, you can simply eat this super fruit properly to reap its benefits and if you are not, what not to like?
Strawberry Nutritional Values
- Folate
Folate is an important nutrient your body needs since folate deficiency leads to several diseases such as vascular disease and atherosclerosis. People who are suffering from rheumatoid arthritis might experience folate deficiency and keeping its stock in your body by eating strawberries can be a great and fun idea to do.
- Vitamin C
Strawberries are rich in vitamin C and this is a kind of antioxidant that is good for your health and beauty. The richness of vitamin C in this fruit can even fulfill the requirement vitamin C intake daily for more than 100 percent. Consuming vitamin C can help regulating the blood sugar especially when you are feeling stress.
- Fiber
Maintaining the health of your digestive system can be done using fiber as this is an essential nutrient for the bowel movement. So if you want to improve the digestive system, you can consume strawberries. This can address some digestive problems such as constipation by keeping you regular.
- Antioxidants
Not only vitamin C, strawberries also have the other type of antioxidant, which is anthocyanin. This antioxidant is excellent in from UV damage and free radicals. The most interesting is that this antioxidant can last long even for 24 hours for providing a better protection to your body.
- Low Calories
If you want to choose the best food for diet, strawberries can be one of them. This is low in calorie, but high in fiber, which means you don’t have to worry about gaining weight by consuming it while you still can get the benefits from the fiber.
Strawberry Benefits for Health
- Boosting Immunity System
Vitamin C is a great immunity booster and it can be found in strawberry in a quite great amount. Your body needs vitamin C to improve the immune system so providing it is really important. The good news is you don’t need to eat many strawberries to get the vitamin C, simply consume a cup of strawberries will provide around 100 percent of your vitamin C daily requirement. Moreover, a study showed that the power of antioxidant in strawberries is excellent since the effect can be reaped by your body and is easy to work in the blood just after a few weeks eating the fruit.
- Fighting Bad Cholesterol
Vitamin C is not the only antioxidant contained in strawberries because there are also flavonoids and ellagic acid that are great for the heart. Healthy heart is a key for preventing cholesterol since this chronic disease happens when a plaque buildup is sticking to the arteries’ walls. The antioxidants work to counteract the bad cholesterol while providing an effect of anti-inflammatory to the heart. This great effect on the heart has been also proved by some studies, so get it in your low-cholesterol diet for a healthier heart.
- Regulating Blood Sugar
Containing around 134 mg of potassium in just one serving, potassium is an essential nutrient for the body especially for the heart. This compound can regulate pressure to prevent you from suffering high blood pressure. Potassium works by reducing the level of bad cholesterol and inflammation resulting in a good impact to your heart’s health.
- Preventing Strokes
There are some types of antioxidants can be found in strawberries, they are kaempferol, anthocyanins and quercetin. These powerful antioxidants are great in reducing blood clots formation in your body, which is one of the causes of stroke.
- Fighting Cancer
By boosting the immune system, strawberries help to fight cancer attacking your health. Ellagic acid, which is a kind of phytochemical that can be found in this super fruit, is containing anti-cancer properties. Also, the antioxidants are excellent in neutralizing free radicals in the body to prevent them from giving negative effects to your body cells.
- Supporting Healthy Joints
Free radicals can make the joints running out of fluid and getting toxins accumulated. The antioxidants in strawberries can fight the free radicals and improve the joints’ health. Inflammation and pain from joints can be treated and some diseases like arthritis can be prevented.
- Promoting Healthy Eye
Eyes need vitamin C to maintain its health from the UV damage. By consuming enough vitamin C, which is available in quite high amount in strawberries, you can protect the eyes from cataracts.
- Maintaining Healthy Bones
The potassium, magnesium and vitamin K in strawberries are excellent nutrients for your bone. The bone needs these minerals to maintain the strength and health while increasing its growth. Both children and elderly can reap the benefits from strawberries in improving their bone’s health.
- Enhancing Memory
The content of anthocyanins in strawberries, according to a report, is great in enhancing short term memory, which can be help helpful for kids. That report showed that strawberries can help short memory enhancement up to 100 percent just in 8 weeks. So if you need supplements for your brain, get some strawberries.
- Providing Pregnancy Nutrients
Pregnant women need to consume folate for helping the brain and skull development of the unborn baby. This compound is also useful in preventing birth defects, which makes strawberries a good kind of fruit to consume during pregnancy.
- Treating Constipation
The high amount of fiber and water in strawberries are effective for treating constipation. Not only they can help regular bowel movements, strawberries can also maintain your hydration.
- Alleviating Allergic Symptoms
Strawberries have anti-inflammatory properties, which are not only good for the joints, but also helpful in reducing allergic symptoms such as watery eyes.
- Treating Diabetes
Its lowness in glycemic index makes strawberries a good type of fruit for diabetics. Also, the high mount fiber can help stabilizing blood sugar. Researches even found, by using mice for testing, that consuming 37 strawberries daily can help reducing some complications of diabetes thanks to the fisetin.
- Lowering High Blood Pressure
The high amount of magnesium and potassium in strawberries can lower the blood pressure as it works by reducing hypertension and easing the blood flow.
- Helping Depression
Depression can happen when homocysteine formed preventing the blood going to the brain. Excess amount of it will also interfere the serotonin production, a hormone that makes you feel good. Strawberries contain folate that can prevent the excess amount of homocysteine resulting with a better mind.
- Burning Fats
The combination of anthocynanins and vitamin C in strawberries are great in helping your body burn stored fats, which is a good thing to add to your diet with its low calorie as the bonus.
- Reducing Inflammations
The anti-inflammatory agents in strawberries are indicated to lower inflammation, according to a recent study. This is effective in addressing inflammation for elderly over 60. Ellagic acid and anthocyanins are good in fighting inflammation, which is good for some inflammation-related diseases like asthma, cancer and atherosclerosis.
Strawberry Benefits for Skin
- Controlling Aging Signs
Aging signs appear mostly by free radicals and strawberries have antioxidants to fight them. You can prevent aging signs, but you can at least control them and slowing them down. Mash some strawberries and mix it with two teaspoons of milk cream and one teaspoon of honey to mask the face for around 20 minutes before washing.
- Improving Skin Complexion
Apply strawberry juice to your face can lighten its tone, removing the age spots and freckles and cleaning it. Just use a cotton ball dipped in the juice and let it sit for 15 minutes before washing. It is best to use lukewarm water.
- Controlling Excess Oil
Using strawberries as a face mask can control the excess oil in your skin, thanks to its richness in vitamin C while nourishing your skin at the same time.
- Preventing Eye Puffiness
Eye puffiness is always uninteresting, so go fight it by putting a thin slice of strawberry on the puffiness area and leave it 10 minutes before washing. It is also good in treating dark circles.
- Cleansing Skin
Strawberries have cleansing properties that are great in removing the dirt from your skin while smoothing it. That is why many products of face washes or skin cleansers use strawberries as one of the ingredients.
- Toning Skin
Mix two teaspoons of strawberry juice and rose water can be used for toning skin after refrigerated. You can have clear skin without blemish and wrinkles simply using this simple natural mixture.
- Repairing Skin
Not only your body, but also your skin needs vitamin C for repairing damages and wounds, so consuming strawberries will provide benefits for your skin’s health.
- Foot Scrub
The cracks in the foot can be treated by scrubbing it using mashed strawberries mixed with glycerin just in a few drops. Add oats for helping the scrubbing process and grind them firstly before mixing. The dead cells can be removed leaving you with smoother foot.
- Treating Pigmentation
The ellagic acid in strawberries is excellent in controlling skin pigmentation. Eat this super fruit daily and you can feel the benefits.
- Protecting UV Damage
Still about the greatness of ellagic acid, this is also helpful in protecting your skin from UV damage, which is also a cause of aging signs, simply by applying it to the skin.
- Treating Acne
Mask your face with mashed strawberries mixed with a tablespoon of milk for 10 minutes and wash it will help reducing excess oil while controlling acne.
- Lip Scrub
Scrub your lip with two tablespoons of sugar mixed with two mashed strawberries can help to soften and plump the lip. Just rub gently for a minute and rinse for exfoliating.
- Treating Sagging Skin
Create a paste using strawberries puree from 3 ripe strawberries and two tablespoons of plain yogurt can promote smooth and firm skin. Just let the mask sit for 10 minutes and use lukewarm water for rinsing. You can stick with this treatment daily for some weeks to achieve the best result.
- Skin Scrub
Combine five ripe strawberries, half a cup of sugar and three teaspoons of olive oil and use it to scrub your skin before bathing. This can help your skin hydrated and fresh with any harmful ingredients.
- Reducing Dark Spots
Containing ellagic acid, strawberries are good in reducing dark spots. Use a cotton ball to dip in strawberry juice, apply to the dark spots and rinse off.
- Fading Freckles
Freckles on the skin as one of the aging signs can be faded using a mixture of 2 mashed strawberries and half teaspoon of honey. Make it into a paste and apply it to the freckles. Leave it for around five minutes, rinse it off and enjoy. You need to do this daily for some weeks to achieve the best result.
Strawberry Benefits for Hair
- Moisturizing Hair and Scalp
The antioxidants in strawberries are great in keeping the scalp from dryness by protecting the cell membrane. You can eat strawberries and treat the scalp with a mixture of egg yolk and strawberries to act as a moisturizer.
- Fighting Dandruff
Mixing strawberries with thyme or tea tree oil and apply it your scalp can be helpful in fighting dandruff. Do this until you get your desired result for a healthier scalp.
- Preventing Hair Thinning
The vitamin b6, B5 and folic acid in strawberries can prevent your hair from falling and thinning by moisturizing it.
- Helping Fungal Growth
Some minerals in strawberries, which are copper and manganese, are great in preventing fungal growth. When they are mixed with dicarboxylic acid, they can produce complexes to inhibit the growth.
- Promoting Shiny and Silky Hair
A simple and natural hair mask made from some ripe strawberries with mayonnaise can help your hair and scalp nourished. Apply this mixture to the hair and leave it for 20 minutes by covering the hair with a shower cap and shampoo the hair.
- Exfoliating Hair Follicles
Exfoliate the follicles using mixture of orange juice, strawberries and yogurt as a natural exfoliator that is much safer to use.
- Preventing Hair Fall
Vitamin C can support your body to absorb iron better, which leads to hair growth improvement. Moreover, silica in strawberries can also help in preventing baldness and supporting hair growth. Just mash two ripe strawberries and mix with a tablespoon of honey and extra virgin coconut oil to apply on the hair and scalp for 20 minutes before rinsing with cold water. Do this twice a week after cleaning the scalp.
Tips Eating Strawberries
There are many ways to help you reap the benefits from strawberries to enjoy the juicy taste while improve the health of your body, skin and hair.
- Eaten Whole. The best way to enjoy strawberries is by eating this raw to get all the provided nutrients. You can eat up to the seeds after washing and drying the strawberries.
- Salad Addition. Add some sliced strawberries to your green salad would make it juicier and more delicious. You can also get the additional nutrients from strawberries as the bonus.
- Strawberry Mousse. If you want your desserts to be more flavorful, make your own strawberry mousse to enhance the taste. Eat the mousse alone is also another great and simple idea.
- Parfait Dessert. Make some layers containing of whole blueberries, sliced strawberries and plain yogurt in a glass can be a great and healthy dessert you can enjoy.
- Strawberry Pie. Add fresh strawberries to the pie filling will make this dessert look more beautiful and taste better completed with the high nutrition.
- Pizza Toppings. A more unique idea to consume strawberries is to use it as a pizza toping along with pistachios or soft cheese. Make your own pizza to make it healthier and you don’t have to worry about carving for pizzas since this one is excellent.
- Strawberry Tea. Mix a cup of strawberries and some tea in boiling water will end up with a healthier and more flavorful tea you can enjoy hot or cold. Let the mixture for around five minutes before straining. Add sugar to sweeten it and make it refreshing by drinking it cold with some iced cubes.
Possible Side Effects
- Allergy
Strawberry has an allergic substance, the Fragaria allergen 1, that can trigger allergic symptoms for some people. It depends on the sensitivity and strawberries amount consumed. Those with food allergies should consult with a doctor first before eating just in case some symptoms might be experienced.
- Pesticides Effects
Make sure to always consume organic strawberries since many strawberries today are grown with pesticides, which make it less healthy.
Now you know how strawberries when eaten or applied to your skin can improve your overall health. So get this in your daily meals, skin and hair treatment to prevent you from having too much contact with chemicals. Ensure you choose and store the strawberries properly for maximum benefits and pay attention to some allergies.