Beyond the vitamins and minerals that most fruits provide, pineapple offers a rich source of some of the lesser known micronutrients that your body needs. In addition, fresh pineapple is a very healthy and low calorie fruit that can stave off hunger.
If you don’t need to watch your intake of fructose, pineapple is a healthy food for supplementing your diet. A cup of pineapple chunks is a refreshing and healthy snack, with 80 calories, no fat and one gram of protein. But one cup of pineapple contains 15 grams of sugar—a rather high amount that can cause a blood sugar spike in diabetics. People have used pineapple to treat inflammation and indigestion.
Not only does fresh pineapple add juicy sweetness to your dishes, but it also contains bromelain—a digestive enzyme that helps break down food to reduce bloating. Bromelain is used today in supplement form to reduce inflammation after surgery and to treat nasal swelling during sinus infections. Bromelain may also ease pain from osteoarthritis. Most people believe that pineapple is able to burn fat in the body.
However recent scientific findings show that while the pineapple does prevent deposition of a new fat, it has a little effect on decreasing already existing body fat. The latest studies reveal that pineapple contains anti carcinogenic agents. Pineapple may play a role in keeping your cells healthy. A cup of fresh pineapple chunks contains 70 milligrams of vitamin C and 95 milligrams of vitamin A, supplying you with all the vitamin C you need each day, and about 20% of your recommended daily intake of vitamin A.
One cup of raw pineapple gives you 1.55 milligrams of manganese, a mineral that helps develop strong bones and connective tissues. This tropical fruit can prevent blood clots and marble bone diseases. Eating pineapple will strengthen your gums, and will help to keep your teeth healthy and strong. Including pineapple in your diet will lower your risk for macular degeneration—the leading cause of vision loss in adults—by as much as 35 percent, because this tropical fruit contains ß carotene, a substance known to benefit sight.
Source: fitnea.com
