Pawpaw, botanically known as Carica papaya, is one of the delicious fruits that brings you good health. Most people already know this but only a few people know the health benefits of pawpaw leaves.
Nutrition facts of papaya leaves
Papaya leaves contain more than 50 great nutrients such as Vitamin A, B-Vitamins, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, calcium, flavonoids, tannins, beta-carotene, folate, karpain, antioxidants, dietary fibre, and more.
Those components are often recommended for daily use so that your body can maintain its health by enhancing the immune system. It also works great as a herbal cure even used as one of the ingredients listed in commercial supplements.
Health benefits of pawpaw leaves
Below are some health benefits of pawpaw leaves you should take note of:
1. Fights against menstrual pain
For some girls nowadays, when it comes to their first period of menstruation they will feel unnecessary pain.
How to use: To relieve this pain, take six pawpaw leaves and put it in a litre of water. Then boil them for about 15 minutes.
You can mix it with any juice to make it taste good. Or you can mix it with tamarind and salt. Drink it there times a day.
2. Makes labour easy while having a baby
For women who experience hard labour, pawpaw leaves come in handy as a natural remedy for it while on labour and it’s taking a long time.
How to use: get pawpaw leaves, squeeze with water, take a glass of the mixture and drink. Your delivery will be fast-tracked as this mixture serves as a natural lubricant.
3. Great laxative
If you have already suffered constipation, pawpaw leaves may help you. Pawpaw leaf tea will work great as some laxative to help cure your constipation.
4. Acne remedy
Now you can get rid of your endless acne problem. Just use pawpaw leaves as your natural mask.
How to use: You can make a mask from pawpaw leaves by mashing it or put it in a blender and add some water. You can apply it to your face just like a general mask.
5. Diabetes treatment
The incredible nutrition in pawpaw leaf works great with diabetes patients.
The two main reasons it is good for diabetes patients are:
- Pawpaw leaves enhance insulin sensitivity. Based on a study on the Mauritian population, the extract of pawpaw leaf can improve insulin sensitivity while decreasing ALT and AST (bio-markers of diabetes type II) enzyme levels.
- Reduce complications caused by diabetes. There is much research that has been proven that the antioxidants substances in pawpaw leaf can reduce secondary diabetes complications such as oxidative stress, fatty liver, and kidney damage.
6. Promotes wound healing: There are numbers of studies that have confirmed that since pawpaw leaves can act as an antibacterial and antioxidant agent, the process of delayed wound healing can be promoted.
7. Breaks down wheat gluten
The health benefits of pawpaw leaves have great ability to help your body digest wheat gluten by breaking it down. That’s why it helps in preventing our body from some diseases.
8. Relieve indigestion and heartburn
Inside pawpaw leaves contain karpain which can eliminate bacteria that cause your stomach to growl. Pawpaw leaves also contain a lot of papain, protease enzyme, and amylase enzyme.
Those are the enzymes that can help your body break down proteins and carbs. It can also help you with gastrointestinal track and acid reflux.
9. Anti-cancer
Pawpaw leaves concentrated in their leaf extract, pawpaw leaf contain certain enzymes which have the ability to fight cancer. The acetogenin contained in pawpaw leaf can be anti-cancer cells.
Many have been researching this benefit to cure cancer around the world. One of them is in Japan. According to their research, pawpaw leaves have been proven to cure cancer.
Patients will be given pawpaw tea for an extended period of time to result in maximum effect.
The amazing thing is it won’t bring any side effect or toxin to your body. According to The University of Florida, pawpaw leaf can kill variant cancer, especially cervix, prostate, liver, breast and lung cancer.
Therefore, pawpaw leaf is very recommended for chemotherapy because it can reduce chemotherapy side effect and increase the immune system’s response to cancer.
- Reduce prostate enlargement: As I mentioned above, pawpaw leaves can act as some anti-cancer agent such as prostate enlargement. It can help you with benign one and rectal lesion problem associated with it. You can drink pawpaw tea as much as you can.
- Increase platelet count: Low platelet count also known as thrombocytopenic can make a person blood clots. Based on some research, drinking pawpaw leaf tea can help to cure this problem by increasing platelet counts.
- Eliminate dengue fever: Benefits of pawpaw leaves also have some ability to lower your temperature if you have a high fever, including dengue fever besides flues and colds. Even works great for malarial disease when it becomes endemic in some period.
Despite the less delicious taste, apparently, pawpaw leaves can boost your appetite. As a result, you can have your vigour and vitality to face the day.
14. Prevent cataracts: Consuming pawpaw leaf tea also can keep you away from cataracts.
15. Prevent emphysema: Emphysema can make you progressively shorter breath. In pawpaw leaves contain vitamin D which can help you to prevent such a thing.
- Immune booster: A lot of powerful antioxidants are contained in pawpaw leaves. A cytokine called “Th1” also contained in pawpaw leaves. Those things can significantly boost your immune system and prevent cardiovascular disease, strokes, and cancer.
- Anti-ageing: Many commercial cosmetic offer anti-ageing benefit. Now you can try pawpaw leaf as your alternative. It contains a lot of anti-ageing compounds and more than 50 different amino acids such as threonine, glutamate acid, glycine, alanine, proline, and more. These agents also can be found in your expensive cosmetic ingredients.
- Fight viral infection: The Vitamins A, C, and E that are contained in pawpaw leaves can boost your immune system so that your body can fight viral infection such as a common cold virus.
- Skincare: The most often problem which can result from unhealthy skin is fungal infections. In pawpaw leaf tea contains more than 50 active ingredients. One of them is karpain which can eliminate microorganism such as fungi, worms, parasites, even bacteria from your skin. Besides a cleanser agent, pawpaw leaves also can protect your skin from pimples, freckles, blemishes and act as a cure for eczema, help to heal open wounds and sores and soften the hardened skin or the corn or wart on your feet. It can make your hair shine, soften, and strengthen your hair. The karpain compounds inside have the great ability to get rid of dandruff, dirt, and oil.
- Diuretic properties
Pawpaw leaves have been proved as a diuretic. Drinking pawpaw leaf tea can help you break down food and toxins in your body.
The toxins will be taken out from the body system by aiding the bladder in releasing urine. Many detoxification supplements also use this herbal as one of the ingredients listed.
21. Enhances eyes, healthy and strong bones
The contents inside pawpaw leaves such as calcium and vitamin D are necessary components to straighten your bones. Also, beta-carotene works great to boost your immune and eyes health.
How to use pawpaw leaf
Pawpaw Leave Tea: To boost your health you can consume pawpaw leaves as a tea. It can be used easier and definitely safe with no side effect.
How to make pawpaw tea:
- Chop 10 leaves of pawpaw
- Boil them in ½ gallon water until it reduces to quarter
- Allow it to cool
- Store the tea in the fridge for at least two days
- Preferable put it in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid.
- Your tea is ready to be served.
The use of pawpaw leaves for health benefits is amazingly easy to apply. You can make it as an extract for making a mask, tea, smoothies or even juice.
When not to take pawpaw leaves
Pawpaw leaves are not recommended during pregnancy because they may induce abortion.
Also, you should not consume pawpaw leaves concurrently with any thyroid stimulators or co-enzyme Q10. It can bring harm to your body as well.
The remedy to that your illness might just be in the garden or bush behind your house.
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