Pawpaw is one of the fruiting plants that originate in southern Mexico, and also comes from southern America. However, now you can find it in almost all tropical regions, including Indonesia. Pawpaw is sometimes also called papaya.
What are the nutritional contents of pawpaw?
The nutritional content of pawpaw in 100 grams :
- 7 g of water
- 7 mg of phosphorus
- 2 mg of charcoal hydrate
- 23 mg of calcium
- 365 SI vitamin A
- 78 mg of vitamin C
- 46 cal calories
- 5 mg protein
- Folic acid
- Zinc
- Iron
- Beta-carotene
- Fiber
- Potassium
- Calcium
- Beta-cryptoxanthin
- Selenium
- Lutein
- Zeaxanthin
The nutrients and compounds of the pawpaw fruit, of course, bring a lot of Benefits of Papaya that we can get. Not just health benefits for the body as a whole, you also need to know specifically what is the health benefits of pawpaw in pregnancy.
- Smooth digestion
Like the Benefits of Yogurt for Health, pawpaw is also able to help the body in facilitating digestion, because pawpaw contains many useful fibers. Pawpaw fruit can help speed up the process of digesting proteins in the body. The digestive process of the protein itself is one of the most common pregnancy disorders. So, pawpaw absolutely very useful in helping speed up the process of protein digestion, for anyone including pregnant women.
Pawpaw plays a role in controlling and preventing constipation and even heartburn. Pawpaw helps to overcome morning sickness and abdominal cramps that are common during pregnancy. Papain content in ripe yellow pawpaw is also very helpful for digestion.
- The right amount of protein
The pawpaw contains only a small amount of protein, about 5 grams per kilogram of one fruit of pawpaw. However, although the proteins contained pawpaw only slightly, everything can be digested and absorbed by the body properly, especially for pregnant women. Why? Because protein is needed to optimize fetal development.
- Formation of fetal vision organs
One of the Benefits of Vitamin A during Pregnancy which is one of the content contained in the pawpaw fruit makes this fruit has a function to maintaining eye health. Vitamin A contained in pawpaw fruit brings benefits to pregnant women, which helps in the process of formation of infant’s vision organs. This will also make the baby has a healthy eye later.
- Preventing dehydration
The considerable amount of water content in the pawpaw fruit is beneficial to help the water intake needed by pregnant women to avoid dehydration and other effects caused by dehydration.
- Rich in Vitamin C
Like the Health Benefits of Oranges, pawpaw rich in vitamin C that will help pregnant women in maintaining the condition of the body to stay healthy and stable. Vitamin C will prevent the body from fever due to extreme weather changes. During pregnancy, pawpaw is able to prevent the body from getting flu, infections, and colds because it contains vitamin C.
- Maintaining blood pressure
Pawpaw is enriched with enough potassium. This makes the health benefits of pawpaw in pregnancy is to control the process of sodium, so it will help the body in maintaining blood pressure and increase mental alertness, especially in pregnant women.
- Boost immunity
In maintaining immunity, pregnant women need healthy foods during pregnancy containing beta-carotene. Pawpaw fruit is able to meet these needs so that pawpaw is useful for maintaining immune during pregnancy.
- Ward off free radicals
Pawpaw fruit enriched with antioxidants, making pawpaw very good if we use to ward off free radicals. Including during pregnancy, antioxidants have the benefit of fetal development in the mother’s womb.
- Increases hemoglobin
Pawpaw fruit helps in increasing hemoglobin levels. Why is this important? Increased hemoglobin levels help in the absorption of oxygen so that it will overcome the anemia and respiratory problems experienced during pregnancy.
Pawpaw fruit contains a variety of minerals that are important for pregnant women and their fetuses. One of these minerals is iron. The Health Benefits of Iron is not only helps the formation of blood cells in the fetus but also helps the health of pregnant women not to experience lack of blood during pregnancy.
- Gives energy
Pawpaw fruit is rich in sugar content. One medium pawpaw contains about 17.9 g of sugar. One of the Benefits of Sugar for Health is to help energize the body and overcome the common fatigue during pregnancy.
In addition to containing sugar, ripe pawpaw fruit also contains calories that can be a healthy source of energy for pregnant women. Calories will help meet the nutritional needs in the process of burning energy so that pregnant mothers are not weak and tired.
- The benefits of galactagogue
A mixture of ripe pawpaw with milk and honey brings other benefits during pregnancy. This mixture serves as a tonic and is an excellent source of nutrition for pregnant women and while breastfeeding. Pawpaw has galactagogue properties that help in increasing milk production.
- Healthy cardiovascular organs
Pawpaw fruit consumed in sufficient quantities can help to nourish the cardio organ. This is possible because the vitamin C content in the pawpaw fruit that will help launch cardiovascular organ performance such as, heart. During pregnancy, you can eat 1 or 2 pieces of ripe pawpaw along with other healthy daily foods.
- Helping fetal development
One of the benefits of pawpaw fruit for pregnant women is also important to know is to assist the development of the fetus in the womb. The fetus requires a variety of nutrients to develop perfectly. One of the nutrients needed is folate. Folate which is one of the nutrients contained in the pawpaw fruit will also help the development of neural networks in the fetus.
Cautions!
Although there are many health benefits of pawpaw in pregnancy, evidently there are some harm or ill effects that will be caused by pawpaw. Such as :
- Pawpaw fruit that is still raw can cause adverse effects during pregnancy. This is because the raw pawpaw contains pepsins compounds contained in pawpaw sap. This will have an impact in causing early contractions or can cause a miscarriage.
- In addition to causing a miscarriage due to pepsins compounds, latex found in pawpaw fruit can also cause allergies with other adverse effects or reactions.
- Latex content in young pawpaw fruit also causes early induction. This latex can also cause premature birth and birth defects in your baby.
- The young pawpaw also contains edema, which is a latex-like substance and is considered bad for pregnant women. This edema can cause spots and even bleeding. Edema also slows the blood circulation.
- Papain content in young pawpaw can weaken important membranes that affect fetal survival.
- Although the vitamin C content in pawpaw helps to build up immunity, consuming large amounts of pawpaw can lead to kidney stones. Kidney stones can cause stomach cramps, which is very dangerous during pregnancy.
- It would be better if you do not consume pawpaw in the early weeks of pregnancy. Do not consume large amounts of pawpaw.
So, it is advisable to consume pawpaw fruit that is completely cooked and clean from sap during pregnancy to get the benefits.