Health benefits of baobab fruit derived from baobab tree which is a plant belonged to the genus Adansonia. Nine species of Baobab tree can be found in Madagascar, Australia, and Africa while introduced to South Asia during ancient times. Today, the fruits of baobab tree have been exported all around the world commonly sold in the form of powder. The benefits of baobab fruit are always appreciated by many people since the fruits provide healthy nutrition such as minerals and vitamins. Learn more about the benefits of baobab fruit by reading some information below.
About Baobab Fruit and Its Nutritional Values
In fact, it’s not only about the health benefits of baobab fruit that can we appreciated since both the leaves and oil also provides a lot of healthy advantages. As for the baobab fruits, they can grow from 20 to 25 cm long in size with velvety hard outer shell so they look much like large mango or small coconut. They can weight around 1.5 kilograms.
Baobab fruits, leaves, and powder have been popular not only in various medicinal uses, but also for wide range of natural food products. They are harvested and then processed into supplement; thickener in certain recipes such as soups, porridge, puddings, and so on, while the baobab fruit resembles a lot like small coconut so does the tart taste and that’s why they can be used for various things including dishes. And today we want to share several amazing health benefits of baobab fruit as well as its nutritional value.
Baobab Fruit Nutritional Value
The super fruit contains more antioxidant compared with blueberries and acai berries. In addition, it provides more vitamin C than oranges, more magnesium than coconut waters, and twice as much as calcium in the milk. Baobab also contains potassium and high quality fiber for healthy heart. 100 gram of baobab fruit nutrition facts as follow:
- Total carbohydrates = 85.2 gram
- Total sugar = 33.1 gram
- Total soluble fiber = 28.8 gram
- Total dietary fiber = 43.9 gram
- Protein = 2.1 gram
- Calcium = 169 gram
- Potassium = 2.7 gram
- Energy = > 260.88 cal
- Iron = 0.9 milligram
- Antioxidant = 1200 gram
1. It Helps to Maintain Healthy Blood Pressure
Baobab fruit contains potassium which is essential for human blood system and to maintain healthy heart. Potassium supports stimulate the blood flow and hearth function and furthermore, it also help to lower blood pressure so it prevent cardiovascular disease such as heart attack as well as stroke and atherosclerosis.
2. Support and Improve Circulatory System
The most powerful health benefits of baobab fruit comes from the mineral content which is the iron that really useful for blood system, particularly to support hemoglobin and brings oxygenated blood to all human body organs. As the result, iron helps to prevent anemia while boosting energy for our body and this is why the baobab fruit known as the super fruit.
3. Enhance Immune System
Among the health advantages of baobab fruit, enhance the immune system is the typical one thanks to the high vitamin C levels contained in the super fruit, it even brings six times vitamin C more than oranges. This vitamin plays important roles in supporting immune system by giving the best protection to the whole body. It helps to prevent and relief infection and inflammation. In addition, it fights against the foreign pathogens therefore helps to stimulate the system as an antioxidant behavior.
4. Helps to Treat Varicose Veins and Heart Disease
To treat varicose veins and heart disease is just other healthy benefits of baobab fruits. In fact, any foods which provide enough vitamin C content can help to maintain healthy heart plus healthy cardiovascular system. There are some studies that proof the benefit of vitamin C for healthy heart by gave the participants vitamin C supplement and after few months the result showed that the subjects show significant drop in the C-reactive protein levels which is used to measure heart or cardiovascular disease risk even more potential than the cholesterol level. In addition, varicose veins can also being reduced with the help of vitamin C by produce collagen and elastin to make the veins stronger and toned. The maximum health benefits can be gained by adding vitamin C and vitamin E together.
5. Helps to Relieve Inflammation
Baobab fruit is not only about vitamin C since there are anti-inflammatory properties contained in the super fruit to help relieve inflammation such as acne, injuries, stomach upsets, respiratory condition, and pains. By reducing inflammation in the body, the immune system can be more focused fighting against more dangerous threat like eradicates pathogens and foreign bodies.
6. Support Weight Loss
Weight loss diet menu plans need some foods that are low in calories and sugar but high in minerals, vitamins, and protein so they can provide more energy without adding too much fat. Baobab fruit contain those essential minerals and vitamins as well as protein to improve burning fat process during work out and you can experience how effective the health benefits of baobab fruits and powder when consumed them for your dietary menu plan. Some studies also proof that adding baobab fruits to the meal can help obese or overweight people decreasing their craving and appetite level while promoting weight loss.
7. Treat Gastrointestinal Issues
Baobab fruit contains high quality fiber including both insoluble and soluble fiber which useful to treat gastrointestinal issues. These two types of fiber help to improve digestive system and also reduce inflammation in the gut. Additionally, the fiber in the baobab fruit helps to regulate glucose and insulin levels in the blood and thus lowering bad cholesterol which in the end prevent heart disease. Aside the fiber, this fruit contains prebiotic properties to increase good bacteria in the gut while maintaining healthy digestion system.
8. Prevent Several Chronic Diseases
Nowadays, people paying more attention to the healthy diet due to chronic disease significantly increase caused by unhealthy and lower hygienist level in the foods. One of the many ways to prevent the risk of chronic disease as well as their symptoms, it’s recommended to eat food high in antioxidant properties such as the baobab fruit. The antioxidant level in baobab fruit helps to fight against free radicals which can cause diseases.
9. Maintains Healthy Liver
Liver has an important role for our body by detoxifying toxic substances and remove them out of our body. However, liver cannot function properly in unhealthy body and thus it’s vital to maintain healthy body. As you may already know, bad habits such as smoking, consuming alcohol, and other dangerous substances can damage our liver. Baobab fruit is just one way to maintain healthy liver thanks to the presence of several properties like ursolic acid, triterpenoids, beta-amyrin palmitate, and beta-sitosterol and so consuming baobab fruit helps to keep healthy liver.
10. Improves Strong Bones
People who want to maintain their strong bones especially when they reach older condition need to consume foods that high in minerals and nutrients particularly magnesium and calcium. Health benefits of baobab fruit rich in these two important minerals that help to improve stronger bones. If you suffer from osteoporosis when getting old or loss mineral density in the bone then you should start to consume healthy foods rich in calcium and magnesium just like baobab fruit provided for your body and bones.
11. Benefits of Baobab Fruit for Healthy Skin
Baobab fruit which is high in vitamin C and antioxidant can help to maintain healthy skin. The vitamin C is the source for anti-wrinkle skin and help to make the skin more elastic and smooth. It support collagen production as well as fight against free radicals which can cause certain cell damages. For those who want to treat their skin especially women who want to have smoother skin and face free from wrinkles and fine lines then you can consume baobab fruit since the super fruit contains more antioxidants level when compared with other fruits such as strawberry, orange, apple, kiwifruit, and so on.
12. Helps to Improve Sleep Patterns
The fact that baobab fruit contains vitamin B which can act as tryptophan, a mineral to help better sleep while relaxing the brain makes the fruit crucial for your life style. Other minerals such as calcium and iron have many important roles to prevent restless leg syndromes, calming nervous and muscle system and in the end lead to a better sleep patterns. Therefore, if you want to have good quality of sleep and you want to wake up feeling better in the next day, you can start to eat the fruit to gain health advantages of baobab fruit.
13. Prevents Dementia and Alzheimer
We already mentioned earlier that baobab fruit contains high level of antioxidant that helps to fight free radicals while delay aging process. For your information, the aging process in brain can causes Dementia and Alzheimer and thus when you consuming baobab fruit frequently, it can helps to prevent both of the diseases. In addition, the fruit brings good fatty acids and macrominerals to maintain healthy brain and cells.
14. Treat Stretch Marks
Actually this benefits can be taken when you applying baobab oil. Baobab fruit is not only good to make the skin looks better, but the oils can help to treat stretch marks meaning that it can be used as home remedy for healthier skin appearance. To reduce the stretch marks you can apply baobab oil on the skin and it will help to encourage collagen production to make the skin more elastic and heal stretch marks. In addition, this amazing oil can also be used to treat wound scars which caused by surgical scars.
15. Give Dental Care
The baobab oil is not only can be used to treat our skin, but it can give some care to our teeth. If you want to treat swollen gums or inflamed gums then you can give small massaging to the gums by applying the baobab oil. The oil will help to fight against inflammation by massaging your gums directly using the oil.
Those are several health benefits of baobab fruit which you can experience directly by eating or consuming as well as applying baobab oil. Despite all of the advantages provided by the fruit or the oil, you still need to pay attention to the amount of baobab fruit when you consume it regularly. You can ask an expert regarding baobab fruit consumption to treat certain issues or problems.
Baobab fruit is an excellent fruit which you can consume for your diet in order to feel healthier and getting better condition thanks to the healthy benefits provided by this amazing fruit. However, baobab fruit is still rare on the store and thus you may only find them in the form of powder, oil, or an extract of baobab fruit.