Health Benefits Of Dragon Fruit
Dragon fruit or pitaya is a popular fruit, originally from Central America, thought to have many potential health benefits because of its nutritional value and nutrient density. The ancient Mayan civilization was known to consume this fruit. In modern times, particularly in Thailand, this fruit is very popular as a health food. It has also been traditionally used as an immune supporting and anti-diabetic medicine.
The dragon fruit can easily be cut, with the pulp being readily eaten as a snack or in a juice. It is called dragon fruit because of its bright red skin and overlapping green fins. The pulp is slightly sweet in taste, which is also why this fruit has become so popular. Dragon fruit does contain a healthy amount of natural sugar that can form part of a healthy diet, supporting optimal body functioning. It is a low glycaemic food.
Some of the reported health promoting nutrients or phytochemical compounds found within dragon fruit include betalains, phosphorus, lycopene, pectins and dietary fibres, phenolics and also high levels of some antioxidant vitamins.
The peel of the dragon fruit also seems to have a very high density of antioxidant compounds, which is why dragon fruit is generating interest within bioactive cosmetics. There may be supplemental health benefits to the dragon fruit peel, as well as topical antiaging benefits. This is because of strong antioxidant and subsequent anti-inflammatory effects on the body and the skin.
In this article we will consider the potential health benefits of dragon fruit and how this fruit could be an effective preventative health food that supports your overall wellbeing.
Researched Health Benefits Of Dragon Fruit
Dragon fruit has been used as an immune, cardiovascular and anti-diabetic supporting preventative medicine in some cultures. Modern medicine and research has identified other health benefits and reasons why dragon fruit has health promoting properties.
Studies with dragon fruits have found that they improved levels of wound healing. Dragon fruit increased the amounts of protein, strength of wound tissue, DNA and collagen. Dragon fruit may also benefit the circulatory system through reducing blood pressure and improving blood vessel flexibility. This may be because of the antioxidants found within dragon fruits that remove inflammation or support healing within the body. Another study found that dragon fruit consumption could encourage optimal liver health. This happened through dragon fruit preventing damage to liver tissues.
Other studies have found that dragon fruit supports healthy metabolism within the body, either preventing or helping to reduce diabetic symptoms or consequences. This includes insulin resistance, which has been identified as a huge risk factor in the development of diabetes.
Insulin resistance is when insulin signalling is disrupted, leading to abnormal sugar processing in the body and diabetes. Plant compounds found within dragon fruit are thought to support with the normalization of insulin signalling.
The reasons why dragon fruit may have these health benefits is a little more complex. They are source of bioactive plant compounds that could have a significant influence on the body when consumed.
Dragon Fruit Antioxidants
Dragon fruit is rich in various bioactive and health promoting plant compounds. These include a collective group of ancestral compounds known as antioxidants. Antioxidants are very essential to supporting everyday functions, with a wide collection of potential health benefits. Some of these potential health benefits may not have been discovered yet.
Most of the potential health benefits of dragon fruit consumption may be attributed to these antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds. Some of these include vitamin C, phenolics and pigments like lutein.
Vitamin C
One of the most central body antioxidants is vitamin C. Vitamin C is generally recognised as a highly non-toxic and essential vitamin for the entire body. Dragon fruit contains about 20mg of vitamin C per 100 grams of dragon fruit. Your RDA of vitamin C is 90mg, for men, or 75mg, for woman. This is about 24% of your RDA in a 100 gram serving of dragon fruit.
Some potential health benefits of elevated vitamin C status within the body are optimal healing of wounds, immune system strengthening and vitamin C plays an essential role in neutralizing harmful free radical molecules too.
Free radicals cause the body a lot of issues, promoting inflammation and potentially causing cancers. Damage to critical cell parts or DNA causes cells to malfunction and they can replicate uncontrollably, causing cancer. Antioxidants intercept these energetic free radical molecules, restabilising them and preventing them from injuring the body. Antioxidants like vitamin C, such as those found in dragon fruit, also support with preventing the critical damage, or oxidation, of cell membrane fatty acids.
In relation to the immune system, vitamin C helps with optimal immune cell production. This includes various white blood cells that prevent you from becoming sick, or that remove cancerous cells from the body. Vitamin C also helps to reduce levels of inflammation in the body through antioxidant action and immune system effects.
Another key role of vitamin C is in enhancing collagen synthesis. Collagen is essential for optimal wound healing, forming a base for connective tissues in the body. This includes cartilage and bone tissues, which are important in inflammatory diseases like arthritis. Vitamin C also supports optimal red blood cell levels, through assisting iron intake into the body. Vitamin C status is linked to optimal blood health.
Dragon Fruit Phenolics
Plant phenolic compounds are natural antioxidants, like vitamin C. While they are not vitamins, they have a chemical structure that gives them potential to assist with ensuring the optimal health of the body. Some fruits contain very high levels of phenolics or specific health promoting phenolic molecules. Often is this due to natural genetic differences between different fruits.
Dragon fruit is no different and containing phenolic compounds with potential health promoting benefits if consumed in the right quantities. Some phenolic compounds found in high amounts in dragon fruit include p-coumaric acid, protocatechuic acid, vanillic acid, gallic acid and syringic acid.
In general, phenolics have an antioxidant ability, like vitamin C, to prevent oxidative damage to the body. This is quite important for preventing various chronic diseases and for ensuring that inflammation in the body is minimal.
One study that used a dragon fruit peel, rich in dragon fruit phenolic antioxidants, found that inflammatory cytokine production was massively reduced. Dragon fruit peel may have protective effects on metabolic function, again through anti-inflammatory action, reducing risk of diabetes.
Phenolic compounds are often able to improve blood cholesterol profiles, improving HDL to LDL levels because of their antioxidant effects on the body. Studies monitoring effects of regular dragon fruit intake confirmed this effect on cholesterol profile occurs in some individuals.
Sometimes these compounds have antibiotic like activity too. This means they inhibit bacterial growth. Plant phenolics can often also have antiviral or antifungal properties. This is one way they could support your immune functioning. They help to conserve levels of really important antioxidants, like vitamin C too, boosting their levels and functioning in the body. This is how the supporting antioxidant effects of plant phenolics, like those found in dragon fruit, can also help to boost the functioning of the immune system.
Lutein And Zeaxanthin
These are two very powerful antioxidant molecules present in many fruits, vegetables and in some seafoods. Lutein and zeaxanthin levels are much higher in other foods, however the amount is significant enough to contribute in part to an acceptable daily intake. There is 49µg lutein and zeaxanthin per 100 grams of dragon fruit. They are known as carotenoids, which are collectively very powerful antioxidants and a sort of sister group to vitamin A.
Some known health benefits of lutein and zeaxanthin within the body include the prevention of certain age related degenerative diseases of the eyes and maintaining optimal heart functioning. Age related degeneration of the macula, in the eyes, is the leading cause of blindness in older people. Their strong antioxidant activity and specific activity within certain areas if the body, such as the eyes, are why they have these potential benefits to our health. They, along with the other antioxidants found in dragon fruit, guard tissues from oxidative stress. This is how their actions prevent the body from developing diseases, particularly to the eyes where they have the strongest activity.
Lycopene
While there are foods with a higher lycopene content, dragon fruit contains a high level of lycopene relative to the range of available fruits. Lycopene is fairly abundant in dragon fruit, with dragon fruit containing about 227µg of lycopene in 100 grams of dragon fruit. While there isn’t exactly a chart for this, dragon fruit is most likely amongst one of the highest lycopene containing foods on the planet.
Lycopene is also quite a strong antioxidant. Because of this activity, some of the potential health benefits of lycopene, as found in dragon fruit, include reducing risk of strokes and heart disease. Lycopene may also have neuroprotective qualities and may influence some neurodegenerative conditions. Some researchers believe that a lot of the antioxidant properties of dragon fruit are due to the high lycopene content within the flesh.
Dragon Fruit Betalains
Betalains are found in large amounts in beetroots, but are also present in dragon fruit. There is about 42mg of betalains per 100 grams of dragon fruit. These are pigments with intense colouration containing a compound called betalamic acid. Betalains also have intense antioxidant properties because of their structure.
One study found that the anti-inflammatory action of betalains improved insulin resistance and also fatty acid profiles. They may also reduce blood pressure, through their anti-inflammatory properties, showing they have potential protective effects on heart and circulatory health.
Another study showed than betalain rich concentrates improved athletic performance and recovery, most likely through antioxidant effects on the muscles. Betalains seem to have a broad spectrum antimicrobe and anti-viral effect too, inhibiting the growth of various microorganisms. These effects have been noticed with dragon fruit betalains, with phenolic compounds thought to play an additional role too.
Dietary Fibre
Dragon fruit may also support optimal gut bacteria levels. One study found that dragon fruit consumption had a positive effect on gut microbes, which could support optimal gut health. Dragon fruit is also slightly anti-inflammatory on the intestines, as another study discovered, which could further support optimal gut health.
This may be due to the healthy levels of dietary fibre that are present within dragon fruit. Dietary fibres are usually complex polysaccharides from fruit cell walls. They aren’t strong antioxidant molecules and have other nutritional functions. The total fibre content is 1.8 grams per 100 grams of dragon fruit. While the total carbohydrate content is 16.24 grams per 100 grams of dragon fruit.
Our bodies don’t really digest dietary fibres that well, meaning our gut bacteria can use them as food. Dietary fibres are therefore prebiotics, encouraging optimal growth of bacteria. This effect can be anti-inflammatory, encouraging non-pathogenic gut microbes to thrive and suppressing unhealthy gut microbes. Unhealthy gut microbes may worsen intestinal inflammatory responses through activating the immune system. Our gut microbes support our health through improving these responses and our brain health.
The high levels of antioxidants and healthy sugars found within dragon fruits may also support healthy gut microbes and lower gut inflammation too. This was observed in one study where Dragon fruit, or pitaya, complex sugars improved the levels of Bifidobacteria and Lactobacillus. These are all potential means as to how dragon fruit may support optimal gut and gut microbe health.
Summary
Dragon fruit has become very popular as a health food because of its potential to support our overall wellbeing. This fruit is rich in various bioactive compounds including betalains, phosphorus, lycopene, pectins and dietary fibres, phenolics and vitamin C.
These compounds all contribute to the potential health benefits of dragon fruit. Researchers have found that dragon fruit extracts and consuming the fruit regularly could improve the functioning of certain systems within the body. Dragon fruit may improve cholesterol profiles, help to lower blood pressure, improve wound healing and reduce risk of insulin resistance.
The antioxidants within dragon fruit are thought to be responsible for most of these health promoting properties. This includes vitamin C, phenolics like gallic acid and lycopene.
Vitamin C has very conserved interactions with the immune system, improving levels of white blood cells. Dragon fruit phenols may reduce inflammation throughout the body, because of antioxidant activity, while also supporting the immune system. Phenolic compounds are also often able to improve blood cholesterol profiles.
Other dragon fruit antioxidants, such as lutein and zeaxanthin, can help with the prevention of certain degenerative diseases of the eyes. Some researchers believe that most of the antioxidant properties of dragon fruit are due to the high lycopene content. Betalains also have strong antioxidant properties and may have protective benefits to circulatory health.
Health dietary fibre, or complex polysaccharides from dragon fruit, may help to improve gut health. They can help to support optimal gut bacteria levels, which have anti-inflammatory effects.
Dragon fruit is clearly a food that could form part of a healthy diet and has health promoting potential.
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