Star Fruit: Including plenty of fruits in your diet is a great way to be healthy. But there are times when you want to eat something different without compromising with your health.
There is one fruit which is gaining so much popularity these days as it is loaded with tremendous nutritional health benefits. The fruit that we are talking about is Star Fruit.
The post gives you a clear picture of all the health benefits of star fruit along with its nutritional value, side effects and the proper way to eat it.
Table of Contents
What’s Star Fruit?
Star fruit is a delicious fruit which is also known as carambola. The reason why it’s called so is because of having the shape of a five-point star.
The skin of this fruit is edible along with flesh having mild and sour flavor. Due to these properties, it has become popular in a number of dishes.
It’s basically yellow or green in color and comes in the form of a smaller, sour, larger and a sweeter one.
Star Fruit Benefits
Star fruit is recommended due to its various health benefits. Check some of them below:
Improved Digestion: One of the star fruit benefits comes in the form of its fiber content that aids in digestion. Further, it can also stimulate the movement of stool through your digestive tract. And so, it relieves the symptoms like diarrhea, cramping, bloating and constipation.
Improved Heart Health: It enhances the health of your heart due to the presence of sodium and potassium. It’s also because these act as your body’s electrolytes. And so, it helps in regulating your blood pressure. The calcium content present in star fruit is known to relieve tension in your arteries and blood vessels, further helping to reduce the risk of a stroke or heart attack.
Respiratory Health: Due to its anti-inflammatory properties, star fruit helps to smooth your sore throat. Its juice is known to cut phlegm and mucous. Due to this, it comes a popular choice to be used treating respiratory infections and also supporting your overall health.
Immunity Boosting Ability: Star fruit has a lot of vitamin C, ensuring the body to produce right amount of white blood cells to make your immune system stronger.
Weight Loss Promotion: Due to the presence of high amounts of fiber in star fruit, it helps boost your overall metabolism and allows to lose weight. Since each serving of star fruit is low in calories, it can also be used and enjoyed as tasty snacks.
Anti-inflammatory Properties: Due to the high amounts of antioxidants, star fruit is best in anti-inflammatory properties. And this helps easing symptoms like dermatitis and psoriasis.
Anticancer Potential: It can really help in preventing cancer. Due to the fiber content present, it reduces the toxic levels and further allows lowering the risk of developing cancer.
Star Fruit Nutrition Facts
Before you start eating this fruit, it’s advisable to first know how it’s going to be nutritious for you.
There are several nutrients found in it like vitamin C and fiber. Take a look at the nutritional content of a single, medium sized (90 gm) fruit:
- Magnesium: 2% of the RDI
- Potassium: 3% of the RDI
- Copper: 6% of the RDI
- Folate: 3% of the RDI
- Vitamin B5: 4% of the RDI
- Vitamin C: 52% of the RDI
- Protein: 1 gram
- Fiber: 3 grams
By looking at the above percentages of nutrients, you might be thinking that a star fruit is low in nutrients.
But you are mistaken as the above serving only has 6 grams of carbohydrate and 28 calories. And this clearly suggests that consuming it can really give you loads of health benefits.
Star Fruit Is Loaded With Healthy Plant Compounds
Have you ever seen a star fruit plant? It’s where the it comes from.
There is not one reason why this fruit is recommended by health experts. In fact, it contains some other substances that make it healthier.
For example, it’s a great source of healthy plant compounds like epicatechin, gallic acid and quercetin.
The above compounds in are found to reduce the risk of fatty liver and cholesterol in mice. At present, studies are being done to establish that it also prevent liver cancer in mice.
In addition to this, there are some evidences that suggest that sugars present in it reduce inflammation. But there is no research in humans to prove the above benefits.
Safety & Side Effects
It’s seen that star fruit may sometimes cause adverse effects in some people due to the presence of high amounts of oxalate content.
Experts recommend those with kidney problems should avoid eating this fruit. They need to consult a doctor before eating it in any form.
Those who have known kidney issues need to avoid taking it on a regular basis, otherwise it may damage kidneys. It may also produce some kind of toxity in such people causing neurological problems like seizures, confusion or even death.
People who are currently taking prescribed drugs from their physicians also need to proceed with caution. It’s better to consult your doctor before eating star fruit.
How to Eat It
You should know how to eat it in the best possible ways. Take a look at this simple way to prepare and eat:
- First, make sure it’s ripe (a ripe star fruit will be yellow in color)
- Simply, rinse the fruit with water
- Cut off the ends of the fruit
- Slice it and remove the seeds
You can add this fruit to your diet in a number of ways like:
- Use it in the form of a beverage by extracting its juice
- Make chutney, jelly or jam
- Cook it with shellfish or seafood dishes
- Add it to different curries and stews to make them enjoyable
- Make delicious puddings or pies
- Make it use as a garnish
- Add it to salad
- Simply slice and consume it raw
Conclusion
Star fruit is becoming increasingly popular as it is low in calories. It’s packed with nutrients like fiber, vitamin C and antioxidants.
But there is a need for kidney patients to consume this fruit with caution. Similarly, those taking prescribed drugs from their doctors also need to consult them before consuming it.
Still, for most people, star fruit happens to be a tasty and healthy addition to your diet.
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