Soursop, its nutritional composition, antioxidant activity, anti-inflammatory activity, anti-carcinogenic activity, antimicrobial activity and its therapeutic advantages
Description : Soursop is a nutritious fruit belongs to Annonaceae family. It contains various imperative
Article Details :
Soursop is a nutritious fruit belongs to Annonaceae family. It contains various imperative nutrients and significantly rich in Vitamin C and potassium that provide various health benefits. It is extensively used for decreasing the prevalence of carcinoma.
Some important information regarding soursop
- It is an oval shaped fruit
- The exterior portion of the fruit is green in colour and covered with tiny spines
- It has a creamy, white texture inside
- Unripe soursop is bitter in taste whereas ripe soursop is relatively sweeter
- Most parts of the plant like its fruit, leaves, seeds are well utilized for various medicinal purposes
- It is native to the tropical regions of America
Nutritional profile
- It contains lesser amount of carbohydrate. Carbohydrate present in soursop mostly comes from natural sugar
- It contains desirable amount of dietary fibre
- It contains lesser amount of protein as well
- It contains too some extent of fat and totally free from cholesterol
- It is packed with several essential micronutrients, which include Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, B2, B3, B6, B9, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, magnesium, copper and iron
- It contains various phytochemicals as well, which are responsible for exerting several nutraceutical activities
Health benefits
Anti-carcinogenic activity
- Soursop fruit or its extract exerts potent anti-carcinogenic activity that helps to lowers the prevalence of cancer by killing cancerous cells in body. Its root, bark and leaves also exhibit anti-carcinogenic activity
- It has seen that soursop extract plays imperative role in inhibiting the growth of breast cancer cells. It contains desirable amount of annonaceous acetogenin compounds or AGEs that show potent cytotoxic effects on breast cancer cells
- It is very effective against leukemia cells as well. It helps to inhibit the growth as well as the formation of respective cancerous cells in body
- It is also very effective for decreasing the prevalence of melanoma, liver, pancreatic, lung, head, neck and colorectal cancers
- It helps to suppress the growth of tumor cells as well and helps to decrease tumor size too
Antioxidant activity
- It contain various imperative plant compounds like quercetin, luteolin and tangeretin that show strong antioxidant activities, which help to fight against free radicals. Its micronutrient components also exert antioxidant activities
- It helps to prevent cellular damages by providing them proper protection against oxidative damages thus helps to promote their functionality
- It is also associated with protecting the body from the harmful effects of reactive oxygen species (ROS). It helps to prevent lipid peroxidation as well, which ultimately decreases the generation of ROS in body
- It helps to protect several important biological substances of body like proteins, lipid, nucleic acid etc from oxidation thus helps to sustain their activity as a result helps to reduce oxidative stress. Reduction in oxidative stress lessens the risk of developing various chronic diseases
Anti-inflammatory activity
- Inflammation is generally defines as the normal immune response of body to injury. Whereas chronic inflammation may develop various diseases thus it is better to delay the onset of inflammatory events in body in order to decreases the prevalence of inflammatory damages
- Consumption of soursop or its extract is considered as an effective remedial action for preventing chronic inflammation as it contains several polyphenolic components that exert anti-inflammatory activities
- It helps to prevent inflammation mainly by decreasing the concentration of inflammatory mediators in body, which are responsible for triggering inflammation
- It helps to decrease swelling as well. Its consumption is thought to be very effective for improving joint health as it helps in preventing joint swelling thus individual suffer from arthritis can include soursop in their diet for improving their symptoms
Hypoglycemic activity
- It exerts hypoglycemic effect as well thus its consumption is associated with decreasing blood sugar concentration
- Consumption of soursop with balanced diet and proper physical activity significantly improves the symptoms of diabetes mellitus especially type 2 diabetes mellitus
Antimicrobial activity
- It has powerful antibacterial activity. It helps to prevent the growth and reproduction of bacteria within host as a result reduces the susceptibility of developing infectious diseases
- It has seen that consumption of soursop extract plays significant role in destroying various bacteria, which are responsible for developing oral disorders like tooth decay, gingivitis etc
- It is also very effective against the bacteria accountable for Read more
