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Passion Fruit Benefits

7 min. read

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You may have heard that passion fruit is extremely healthy and a worthy addition to your diet. It should be understood, of course, that all bodies are different, and the level of health benefits may vary from person to person. It’s also rare that someone would be allergic to passion fruit, but never be afraid to bring these concerns up to your healthcare expert.

In this article, we’ll confirm some of the most prominent health benefits of eating passion fruit.

Passion Fruit Common Knowledge

There are three different forms of the beloved passion fruit: red, purple, and yellow. You may not know it since easily the most common way to use passion fruit is its flavor. Inside the fruit is a yellowish pulp and seeds that taste sweet and tart.

You’ve probably seen a passion fruit listed in the ingredients of a smoothie or juice but perhaps found it difficult to pinpoint since it primarily just tastes sweet. At least in America, this is the most common way of finding a passion fruit since it is a tropical fruit, and if you wanted to buy a whole fruit, you would have to wait until the summertime.

Passion fruits, or “Passiflora edulis,” is indigenous to parts of Brazil and Indonesia. In these parts of the world, passion fruits are developed with the most ease due to the proper climate and are grown in great quantities. The demand for passion fruit is relatively high worldwide, making it rather expensive compared to other fruits.

In the act of comparing, however, you would find that passion fruits are fairly accessible compared to other exotic and tropical fruits that may be facing a shortage due to the exporting process or the limited amount of resources required to produce them.

Here’s a list of the fruit’s most notable nutritional counts:

  • carbohydrates (23.38 grams)
  • protein (2.20 grams)
  • dietary fiber (10.40 grams)
  • Niacin (1.500 milligrams)
  • pyridoxine (0.100 milligrams)
  • riboflavin (0.130 milligrams)
  • vitamin A (1274 milligrams)
  • vitamin C (30 milligrams)
  • potassium (348 milligrams)
  • calcium (12 milligrams)
  • iron (1.60 milligrams)
  • magnesium (29 milligrams)
  • phosphorus (68 milligrams)

Now let’s get into the health benefits of eating passion fruit. There’s a number of them associated with the fruit, and any one of the benefits could make it enticing to add to a diet. If you eat enough passion fruit, you’re sure to feel plenty energized afterward.

The chief reason for this is the amount of vitamins and minerals that passion fruit contains.

Passion Fruit for the Blood

The first thing to consider is how this fruit can help your blood. Passion fruit contains a high amount of potassium, which is high enough to almost rival the potassium level in bananas (358 milligrams).

Potassium is capable of helping to regulate blood pressure levels. It does this by relaxing the walls of blood vessels, which takes away the pressure and can even help with muscle cramps anywhere in the body. Taking away pressure also makes it easier for the heart to pump blood. This makes it work less, meaning eating passion fruit (and being watchful of your potassium count in general) can help alleviate the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Passion fruit also contains seeds that are rich in natural compounds that help the blood circulate properly. That’s right, even the seeds are edible and provide an extra boost of blood benefits all by themselves. In fact, nearly the entirety of the passion fruit’s design is capable of helping to keep your blood healthy and flowing.

Studies have shown that even the extract from the peels of the passion fruit contains healthy properties and could be used as an ingredient in some medication, although a way to apply this knowledge has yet to be developed.

Passion fruit’s vitamin and sugar levels also make it a possible layer of prevention against some conditions or diseases.

Diabetics, for example, may consider eating more passion fruit. The fruits are very filling to eat, leaving you feeling satisfied afterward, but their sugar levels won’t overload your system. In fact, the sugar is absorbed very slowly, giving you what the body needs without putting it at risk.

Benefits of Passion Fruit

Passion fruit is so helpful that it may even be a source of cancer prevention. Passion fruits are also an undeniable help to immune systems. This is healthy and should attract anyone to eat it, but a healthy, robust immune system is vital for potential health conditions.

Boosting The Immune System

One of the aspects of fighting cancer is fighting while being “immunocompromised,” meaning the immune system is vulnerable to just about everything. Eating a daily dose of passion fruit may not yield immediate or drastic results, but it can serve as a healthy supplement while getting the immune system back on track.

Strengthening The Bones

It may not seem like much, but passion fruit does contain a level of much-needed calcium, which is always good for the bones. In combination with its magnesium, iron, and phosphorus levels, it means that passion fruit is a great thing to eat if you are struggling with osteoporosis or arthritis. It might not be able to turn back the hands of time, but it can strengthen your bones and joints and ease some of the pain.

Or maybe passion fruit can turn the hands of time? Well, at least on the surface. Passion fruit does have a good amount of vitamin A which is a necessary vitamin to keep in check if you want good, healthy skin.

Protects The Skin

Other vitamins like vitamin C are found in passion fruit which acts as antioxidants and helps to give your skin plenty of protection. Thus, eating passion fruit could potentially improve your complexion and keep your skin nice and healthy.

Boost Digestion

Passion fruits are excellent sources of fiber, which is a necessary element to be on the lookout for if you are having trouble digesting food.

Fruits like passion fruits, prunes, and figs are always good fruits to put on the list to help the digestive tract do its job and get you on the way to doing your business. Eating them can even help prevent constipation before it even starts.

Supports Emotional Wellness

One of the last yet most important reasons to keep up on your fruit is their ability to fight against poor mental health. By eating fruits like passion fruit, you give your body its required amounts of natural sugars.

A sugar imbalance leads to a disruption of hormones and emotions, which does not help cases of stress, tension, or doubts. By watching your diet and eating more healthy foods (in general), you can immensely help your own mental health.

This has been a scientific fact for a long time. Polyunsaturated fats, for example, are vital to our bodies. However, our bodies cannot produce them on their own. Luckily, passion fruit comes to the rescue with a level of polyunsaturated fats ready to go.

The Takeaway

Eating more of this fruit and others like it instead of high-sugar foods like candy or some fast foods can stop you from contributing to the levels of stress hormones being produced throughout your system. Less stress hormone production means better mental health, making your whole body feel better and more energized.

In conclusion, passion fruits are capable of containing a lot of benefits. But even if you never see the exact benefit you were hoping for, passion fruits are incredibly healthy (within moderation, like any other healthy food that still contains levels of calories and fats).

We hope you found this article insightful and helpful! Click here if you want to explore any of our other topics.

Sources:

Hepatoprotective Activity and Nephroprotective Activity of Peel Extract from Three Varieties of the Passion Fruit (Passiflora Sp.) in the Albino Rat | NIH

The no-drug approach to mild depression | Harvard Health

Healthy Directions Staff Editor