Dragon fruit is a unique fruit which originated from South America. It has an oval or elliptical shape and also has a unique outer skin, because you will find a lot of spikes around it. That fact is not a surprise since this fruit belongs to Cactaceae family. So, dragon fruit comes from a plant that is like a climbing vine. Nowadays, this fruit has been widely cultivated all around the world, especially in the tropical and subtropical regions like Southeast Asia, Hawaii, Carribean, and many more.
The pulp of this fruit is typically white or red with a lot of little seeds in it, similar with the seeds that you found in kiwi. Also, the flavor of dragon fruit is quite similar with kiwi, but with more crunchy texture. So, we bet that you already know that dragon fruit will offer you a lot of benefits. But, do you know what are the exact benefits of dragon fruits for your health? If you’re still in doubt about it, then you will find a lot of health benefits of dragon fruit in the lists below:
1. Rich of Nutrients
There always be a lot of love for fruits which contain a lot of nutrients, and dragon fruit is certainly one of them. Dragon fruit contains a high amount of Vitamin B complex, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, polyunsaturated fatty acids, antioxidants, and many more. All of them will bring a lot of advantages for the health of your body starting from preventing cardiovascular disease, lower the blood sugar level, keep the health of the digestive system, and improve the health of the metabolism of your body.
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2. Healthy Heart
Whenever you’re consuming dragon fruit on a regular basis, then you will be less likely to have the health issues related to your heart. This is because this fruit has amazing abilities to reduce the bad cholesterol levels (LDL) and increase the good cholesterol levels (HDL) in your body. In addition to that, according to many research studies, dragon fruit contains monounsaturated fats, which will be very beneficial to keep the health of your heart.
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3. Fight Against Diabetes
Diabetes is considered as one of the deadliest health conditions since it will lead you to more severe health problems. So, in order to keep the diabetes at bay, consuming dragon fruit on a regular basis would be very important. This is because dragon fruit contains a high amount of fiber, which will be helpful to regulate and stabilize the blood sugar levels in diabetic people. In addition to that, dragon fruits also has an effect for the oxidative stress from aortic stiffness, which is a common condition in people with diabetes.
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4. Lower the Blood Sugar
As already mentioned above, this benefit of dragon fruit would enable this fruit to fight against diabetes, especially type II diabetes. So, dragon fruit contains various antioxidants, such as carotenoids, polyphenols, glucosinolates, and many more, which are beneficial to regulate and lower the blood sugar levels. Also, as already mentioned above, the fibers that contained in dragon fruit would avoid the sugar spikes in your body, especially after you eat foods with high glycemic index.
See Also: Symptoms of High Blood Pressure
5. Prevents Cholesterol
This benefit of dragon fruit is closely related to the benefits that already mentioned above. So, dragon fruits would be beneficial to lower the bad cholesterol levels (LDL) and thus, it will keep the health of your heart. In addition to that, it turns out that this fruit also contains high amount of omega-3-fatty acids, omega-6-fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fats which will be beneficial to lower the cholesterol levels in your body.
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6. Prevents Anemia
Anemia is one of the health condition whenever your body doesn’t have enough hemoglobin. Well, it would be very dangerous for your body if you don’t take it seriously. In order to prevent you from having anemia, then you need to consume dragon fruit in a regular basis. This is because this fruit contains high amount of iron, which is beneficial to produce more hemoglobin. Consuming one dragon fruit will fulfill about 8% of your daily requirement of iron. In addition to that, this fruit also contains Vitamin C, which make it easier for your body to absorb all of the nutrition from this fruit.
See Also: Symptoms of Anemia
7. Good For Your Diet
Just like any other fruits, consuming dragon fruit would also become very beneficial to support your diet. For everyone of you who want to lose some weight, then this fruit is also for you. This is because dragon fruit contains high amounts of fibers, which will improve the health of your digestive system. In addition to that, dragon fruit is very low on calories and contains approximately 90% of water. Those facts would make you feel full for a longer period of time and thus, could support your diet.
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8. Protects You From Congenital Glaucoma
Do you know what congenital glaucoma is? So, congenital glaucoma is an eye-disease that commonly occurs in babies and young children. It is a type of glaucoma, whenever there is a high fluid pressure in your eyes, which then will damage the nerve optic. This disease is a serious condition and you need to pay attention to it. So, a published study has shown that this fruit could inhibit the human cytochrome P450, which is a protein that commonly found in your liver and this protein is considered as the main cause of congenital glaucoma. Thus, there is no doubt that dragon fruit will be beneficial to avoid congenital glaucoma in your children.
9. Prevents Cancer
Dragon fruit benefits, it turns out that dragon fruit would also be beneficial to prevent various cancers too. This is because dragon fruit contains an enzyme called lycopene, which is well know for its anti-carcinogenic qualities. In addition to that, dragon fruit also contains Vitamin C and beta-carotene, which also possess anti-carcinogenic qualities. Those nutrients and enzyme would be beneficial to prevent the growth of cancerous cells. Also, dragon fruit contains a powerful antioxidant called polyphenols, which will be very essential to protect you from cancerous cells.
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10. Cure Gastrointestinal Problems
If you have a constant problem related with your gastrointestinal, then consuming dragon fruit would be the perfect solution for it. As you already know, dragon fruit contains a very high amount of fibers and water. Thus, it will ease the constipation in a natural way. The fibers in dragon fruit would improve the bowel movements because it will make the feces become smoother. That thing, undoubtedly, would keep the health of your digestive system and you will be less likely to have a dangerous disease like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
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11. Boost Your Immunity
There is no surprise that dragon fruit would be beneficial to improve your immune system. This is because dragon fruit contains a very high amount of Vitamin C in it, which will protect your body from various ailments. In addition to that, dragon fruit has a lot of beneficial nutrients in it, such as polyphenols, which is a powerful antioxidant that will fight against free radicals. Also, it has niacin, thiamin, calcium, iron, and phosphorus, which will be beneficial to get rid of the bad bacteria out of your body.
12. Improves Appetite
If you have a problem with your eating habits, then you need to consume dragon fruit as soon as possible. Dragon fruit could be the perfect solution to bring back your appetite, even whenever you lost your appetite because of diseases. As already mentioned above, high amount of fibers contained in dragon fruit will be very beneficial for bowel movement and treat any kind of gastrointestinal problems. Thus, it will indirectly increase your appetite and you will feel the need to eat.
See Also: Health Benefits of Guava Seeds
13. Healthier Eyes
Maybe you already know that carrot is one of the best natural sources to improve the health of your eyes, but it turns out that dragon fruit offers the same benefit too. Specifically, dragon fruit will protect the health of your eyes and prevent many diseases associated with your eyes. Dragon fruit contains beta-carotene and other nutrients which will be very important to keep the free radicals away from your eyes. Thus, you will be less likely to have diseases associated with your eyes such as cataract or age-related macular degeneration.
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14. Good for Your Metabolism
There is no doubt that dragon fruit will also very beneficial to improve the metabolism process of your body. So, as you already know, the most important nutrients in order to improve the metabolism of the body is protein. This is because protein would make every part in our body run smoothly and thus, it will certainly improve our body metabolism. Dragon fruit is one of the greatest sources of protein and because of that, it would improve the body metabolism as well as increase the muscle mass and help you to lose some weight.
15. Antibacterial Properties
You know that the bad bacteria inside our bod would bring a lot of bad effects on our health. Thus, we need to consume healthy foods in order to fight them and get rid of them out of our body. Dragon fruit is one of the natural sources which possess antibacterial properties which will beneficial to fight against bad bacteria inside our body. In the matter of fact, dragon fruit will increase the production of white blood cells, which then will inhibit the growth of bacterial infections in our body.
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16. Prevents High Blood Pressure
Aside from its benefit to regulate the blood sugar levels, it turns out that dragon fruit will also beneficial to keep your blood pressure in the desirable range. This is because dragon fruit contains a specific substance called pectin. So, this pectin consists of galacturonic acids, which has a perfect quality to unclog the blood vessels. Aside from that, galacturonic acids would be very good to regulate the blood pressure, which then of course would protect you from high blood pressure or low blood pressure.
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17. Boost Your Energy
Do you feel that you’re not energized enough these days or you always get tired easily? Then you don’t need to consume unhealthy energy drink in order to solve your problem. This is because dragon fruit would offer the perfect solution for your problem. So, this fruit contains a high amount of Vitamin B complex such as thiamin, niacin, and riboflavin. These nutrients will be very important to convert all f the nutrients from the food that you just ate into energy. As the result, you will feel more energized than before.
18. Healthy Nerve Functions
Dragon fruit would also bring a positive effect on your nervous functions. As you already know, dragon fruit contains a very high amount of Vitamin B, such as niacin, thiamin, and riboflavin. Aside for their benefit to boost your energy, those Vitamin B complex would also stimulate the formation of nerve cells and healthy fats which are necessary to support the health of your nerve functions. As the result, you will have a proper function on your nerve, because they will be able to send the conductive signaling.
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19. Repairs Body Cells
It turns out that dragon fruit will also beneficial to repair the body cells, So, the most important nutrients so that the body cells could be repaired is protein. As already mentioned above, dragon fruit contains a lot of protein in int and thus, it will stimulate the regeneration of body cells. Also, various enzymes that contained in dragon fruit would be beneficial to repair the body cells too. Because of this benefit, there is no doubt that dragon fruit is considered as one of the fruits with a perfect healing properties.
20. Boost The Brain Function
As already mentioned before, dragon fruit will be beneficial to support the health of your nerve functions. Healthy nerve functions would further boost the performance of your brain. In addition to that, dragon fruit contains a lot of iron in it and thus, it will stimulate the production of red blood cells. This red blood cells would be beneficial to provide nutrients to our body, including brain, which then will protect your brain from any damage in the future.
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21. Protects Respiratory Health
Another health benefit that you will get from consuming dragon fruit in a regular basis is that you will be less likely to have issues related with your respiratory system. This is because dragon fruit contains a very high amount of Vitamin C, a vitamin that will alleviate all of the discomforts related to your respiratory system such as asthma, cough, or blocked nose. In addition to that, the Vitamin C would also be beneficial to keep you away from bacteria and viruses which will do harm against your health.
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22. Fights Against Dengue
It turns out that dragon fruit will also beneficial to fight against dengue disease. So, the most common thing that occurs whenever a person has dengue disease is their platelet count that below the normal. While normal person has a platelet count in range of 150,000 until 450,000 in every microlitre of blood, the person with dengue just only has 10,000 platelet count. This is very dangerous and even can lead to death if you’re not taking it seriously. So, consuming dragon fruit will be a good solution since it has various strong antioxidants, which will fight against the harmful free radicals.
23. Strengthen Your Teeth and Bone
There is no surprise that dragon fruit would be very good to improve the health of your bone and your teeth. As already mentioned above, dragon fruit contains various nutrients, including a high value of calcium and phosphorus. Those nutrients would be very important to promote the health of your bone and teeth. Also, the calcium and phosphorus would increase the bone density and strengthening the roots of your teeth. So, if you don’t want to have a disease associated with the poor bone density such as osteoporosis, then consuming dragon fruit as soon as possible would be a very good choice.
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24. Prevents Renal Bone Disease
Renal bone disease is a disease that commonly associated with the kidney failure. So, your kidney is unable to absorb the calcium that your body truly needed in order to strengthen your bone. Because of that, you really need the high intake of calcium in order to prevent this disease. As already mentioned above, dragon fruit is very rich of calcium, which will be beneficial for you to stay away from this dangerous disease.
See Also: Symptoms of Bone Cancer
25. Good for Pregnant Women
While most foods are considered not-safe to consume among pregnant women due to their side effects, it turns out that dragon fruit is very good to consume among pregnant women. So, pregnant women are very prone to have anemia and thus, you need the high intake of iron everyday. This fruit contains a very high amount of iron, which will be beneficial to prevent you from anemia. Also, dragon fruit contains folate, which will protect your baby from neural tube defect. On top of that, the high amount of fibers in a dragon fruit will ensure that you have a healthy digestive system during the pregnancy.
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Dragon Fruit Benefits for Beauty Treatments
There are also health benefits of dragon fruit for beauty tricks:
26. Anti-Aging Properties
It turns out that dragon fruit will be very good to fight against various signs of aging. Whenever you’re being worried about wrinkle, fine lines, or dullness in your skin, just start to consume dragon fruit on a regular basis immediately. As already mentioned before, dragon fruit contains various nutrients, such as polyphenols, niacin, and riboflavin, which are a powerful source of antioxidants. As you already know, antioxidant would be beneficial to fight against free radicals, which are the common source of the sign of aging in your skin.
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27. Treats Acne
If you have a constant problem related to acne, then you need to apply dragon fruit as an external use as soon as possible. Yes, it turns out whenever we apply it externally, dragon fruit will be beneficial for the health of our face. So, as already mentioned above, dragon fruit contains a high amount of Vitamin C, a vitamin which will boost the production of collagen. Collagen is a protein which will make your skin become smooth and free from acne. It is very easy to use the dragon fruit as a remedy for your acne, you just need scrap out the pulp of the fruit, mash it, and then apply it in the affected area with a cotton bud.
28. Soothe Sunburned Skin
As already mentioned above, dragon fruit possess a perfect anti-inflammatory properties, which of course will be beneficial to soothe the sunburned skin. Aside from that, dragon fruit contains a high amount of Vitamin C and Vitamin E. The combination between those two vitamins would be very good to protect your skin from the effect of UV rays and thus, it will soothe the sunburned skin too. To use the dragon fruit as the UV protector is very easy. You just need to scalp out the fruit, mash it until smooth, apply it in the sunburned skin and wait for 30 minutes before you rinse it with cold water.
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29. Moisturize the Dry Skin
If you’re a kind of person who has a dry skin, then you’re prone to have an irritation in your skin. Then, it is very important to consume foods that have the ability to moisture your skin. One of the food that would be beneficial to moisturize your skin is dragon fruit. As already mentioned above, dragon fruit contains about 90% of water, which of course would moisturize your skin and prevent you from various skin irritation and many signs of aging.
30. Improves the Health of Your Hair
It turns out that dragon fruit would also important for the health of your hair. So, as you already know, dragon fruit contains polyphenols, niacin, and riboflavin, which all of them are powerful antioxidants. Those antioxidants would protect your hair from the damage caused by the free radicals and thus, it will improve the health of your hair. Aside from that, those antioxidants would make your hair smoother too. To use dragon fruit to improve the health of your hair is very easy. You just simply apply the pulp of the fruit to your scalp and then keep it for 20 minutes, before you wash it off with cold water.
See Also: Health Benefits of Vitamin E
Final Thoughts on Dragon Fruits
So, after you know all of the health benefits of dragon fruit, we bet that you want to consume it as soon as possible. Well, dragon fruit is considered as one of the healthiest fruits and that fact is not wrong. Aside from that, dragon fruit seems doesn’t have any negative effect for your health and it is safe to consume among pregnant women too. Here are our final thoughts or conclusion on dragon fruits:
- There are no health risks related to this exotic fruit and this fruit is safe to consume among pregnant women too. It is very rare to have foods which don’t have any specific health risks.
- Although dragon fruit has no health risks, but you need to watch out your dosage whenever you consume this fruit. This fruit has a fructose in it which will add some weight in your body if you over consume it.
- The easiest way to peel the dragon fruit is by cutting this fruit in a half, and then you just take out the pulp of the fruit before you can consume it.
- Avoid consuming the outer skin of dragon fruit since the outer skin possibly contains pesticides, which may will harm your health in the future.
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So, now you already know all of the health benefits of dragon fruit. Considering that this fruit will do a lot of greatness for your health, we suggest that you go out to the nearest market and grab some dragon fruits as soon as possible. Stay healthy!