Is it better to eat longan or lychee is always a question that many people wonder, because these are two fruits that are delicious, sweet, and even longan and lychee bring certain health benefits if eaten in moderation.
1. What nutrition do longan and lychee provide?
Nutritionally, both fruits provide similar values, are fat-free, low in carbs and calories, specifically:
-18 grams of fresh longan provides 17 calories and 4 grams of carbs.
-18 grams of fresh lychee provides 18 calories and 5 grams of carbs.
Compared to fresh fruit, dried longan and dried lychee have higher calories and carbs, specifically:
-18 grams of dried longan provides 80 calories and 21 carbs.
-18 grams of dried lychee provides 78 calories and 20 carbs.
2. How are longan and lychee good for health?
2.1 Longan and lychee are good for tissue cells
Fresh longan and lychee contain vitamin C. Compared to the recommended daily vitamin C value, consuming 18 grams of lychee and longan can provide 33% – 40%.
In the body, vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, plays a very important role, helping to heal skin wounds, produce collagen to help firm the skin, and make cartilage, muscles, and bones supple. For oral health, vitamin C helps strengthen teeth and gums.
Supplementing vitamin C naturally with fresh fruits, including longan and lychee, is much better than using synthetic supplements. Some studies show that vitamin C is also an antioxidant that protects cardiovascular health. Vitamin C can reduce arteriosclerosis, which is one of the factors that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease.
2.2 Longan and lychee fruit support weight loss
You may not know that although it is a sweet fruit, lychee fruit helps support weight loss because it helps reduce body fat. In 2009, a study published that lychee is rich in polyphenols.
When entering the body, polyphenols are digested and help significantly reduce visceral fat and abdominal fat, thereby reducing waist circumference and weight. Abdominal fat and visceral fat are considered factors that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
Meanwhile, eating longan causes obesity. With low calories, carbs and fat, longan can replace other processed foods that are high in sugar and cause weight gain. However, one thing to note is that lychee and longan should only be eaten in moderation, because these are small fruits that are easy to eat a lot, so it is easy to increase the amount of carbs taken into the body and increase blood sugar levels.
Although they are sweet fruits, longan and lychee have weight loss effects.
2.3 Eating longan and lychee helps control blood pressure
In terms of minerals, longan and lychee contain a small amount of potassium that is just enough for the diet. Potassium helps control blood pressure. However, in the minerals provided to the body every day, potassium is often supplemented below the recommended level. Instead, the amount of sodium consumed increases, coming from fast foods.
The difference in the amount of sodium and potassium absorbed into the body leads to an imbalance and causes high blood pressure, which is a risk factor for stroke. Therefore, providing enough potassium to the body in the diet will help reduce the risk of stroke.
2.4 Longan and lychee are good sources of fiber
Both fresh and dried longan and lychee provide good fiber. Fiber plays an important role in maintaining and keeping normal bowel movements, thereby improving the health and bacterial system of the intestines.
In particular, for diabetics, consuming a lot of fiber will help reduce blood cholesterol as well as control blood sugar levels. However, supplementing fiber from fruits and vegetables, such as longan and lychee, brings more health benefits than other placebo products.
2.5 Longan and lychee contain many antioxidants
Both longan and lychee contain many antioxidants, which have the effect of fighting free radicals that damage cells and cause disease. In particular, polyphenol, a substance extracted from lychee, is an antioxidant that protects and strengthens the liver and pancreas (according to traditional Chinese medicine).
In addition, some compounds extracted from lychee are also known to increase the ability to restore damaged liver cells, treat fatty liver and liver scarring.
2.6 Some other benefits of lychee
Compared to fresh longan, fresh lychee contains more minerals such as magnesium, copper, manganese, and phosphorus. In addition, fresh lychee also provides a number of other essential vitamins such as folate, vitamin B6 and niacin.
In the body, niacin can help improve HDL cholesterol levels (good cholesterol), while vitamin B6 helps support the metabolism of proteins, fats, carbs and the nervous system. In particular, folate in lychee is essential for women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, because this substance has the effect of preventing neural tube defects in the fetus.
However, like many other fruits, consuming too much lychee can lead to increased blood sugar levels. Therefore, women with gestational diabetes or people with diabetes need to pay attention to only eat moderate amounts of lychee and longan to avoid increasing blood sugar.
Fresh lychees contain several essential vitamins such as folate, vitamin b6 and niacin.
3. How to use longan and lychee
Longan and lychee are both known to be very good for health as mentioned above, however, there are not many studies proving the true benefits of these two fruits.
However, longan is still widely used because of its outstanding uses, comparable to a multivitamin such as providing energy and helping to strengthen the immune system, reduce fatigue, stress, depression, and at the same time enhance and improve memory.
Lychee is used as a natural remedy that improves blood circulation and the immune system, lowers blood pressure, reduces blood sugar and treats asthma.
Both longan and lychee bring some health benefits. However, it is important to note that these two fruits should only be eaten in moderation and in moderation to avoid sudden increases in blood sugar.
