Lychee is one of the most popular fruits consumed during the summer. This tropical fruit is not only rich in nutritional value but also brings many impressive health benefits, such as healing injuries, preventing cancer, and good for the skin and digestive system.
1. Overview of Lychee
Lychee is a tropical fruit, related to rambutan and longan. Lychee trees are grown mainly in subtropical regions around the world and are especially popular in China and Southeast Asia.
Lychee is known for its sweet taste, can be eaten directly or used to make wine, juice and jelly. Lychee contains many essential nutrients, most notably vitamins, antioxidants and minerals. Generally, lychee has a pinkish-red skin but is not edible. Behind this skin is the white flesh, surrounding a dark seed located in the center of the fruit.
Lychee comes in many different shapes, including round, heart-shaped or oval. When young, this fruit has a slightly hard green outer skin that turns pinkish-red when ripe. Thanks to its attractive flavor and pleasant aroma, lychee is widely used in many beverage recipes, such as iced tea, juice or cocktails. In addition, ripe lychees are also processed into ice cream for cakes and puddings.
The culinary uses of lychee are really diverse, not only that, it also contains many rich nutrients, helping to bring many wonderful health benefits.
2. Nutritional value of lychee
Lychee consists mainly of water (82%) and carbs (16.5%). According to research, 100 grams of fresh lychee will provide the following main nutrients:
Calories: 66
Carbs: 16.5 grams
Protein: 0.8 grams
Sugar: 15.2 grams
Fat: 0.4 grams
Fiber: 1.3 grams
Lychee is a tropical fruit rich in nutritional value.
Most of the carbs in lychees come from sugar, which is what gives them their sweetness. Although they are relatively low in fiber, they are rich in vitamins and minerals, including:
Vitamin C: This is considered the most abundant vitamin in lychees. It is estimated that one lychee will provide about 9% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for vitamin C.
Potassium: The abundant potassium in lychees will help you improve your cardiovascular health very effectively.
Copper: Lychees are an excellent source of copper. A copper deficiency can have negative effects on your cardiovascular health.
In addition, lychees also contain many different antioxidant plant compounds. In fact, the antioxidant polyphenol content of lychees is higher than that of some other common fruits. Here are some of the notable antioxidants found in lychees, including:
Rutin: Acts as a flavonoid, helping to protect the body from chronic diseases, such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease.
Epicatechin: This is also a flavonoid, helping to improve cardiovascular health, while reducing the risk of cancer and diabetes.
3. Health benefits of lychee
When you eat lychee in moderation, it can bring many notable health benefits as follows:
3.1. Prevent cancer
Lychee is rich in vitamin C and phenolic compounds, which help prevent the destruction of cells by pollutants, toxic chemicals and free radicals that lead to a number of health problems such as cancer, arthritis and heart disease. Free radicals will develop when your body is exposed to tobacco, radiation or smoke. The antioxidant properties of lychee will help you fight toxins in the body effectively.
The flesh of lychee also provides a large amount of flavonoid compounds and other antioxidants. These substances have excellent anti-cancer properties. Therefore, people with cancer who are undergoing treatment should eat lychee to prevent side effects caused by chemotherapy. Many animal studies have also shown that the lychee peel has the ability to inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells.
3.2. Enhance immune function
With its rich vitamin C content, lychee can help you strengthen your immune system to fight seasonal infections and other chronic diseases. In addition, vitamin C also helps stimulate the body to produce more white blood cells, acting as an antioxidant, helping to eliminate the harmful effects of oxidation. Studies have also shown that eating lychee can help you fight colds very effectively.
Vitamin C in lychee helps boost the body’s immunity
3.3. Reduce the risk of stroke
The negligible cholesterol and sodium content in lychee helps reduce the risk of stroke and other health conditions such as oxidative damage, inflammation, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease, blood pressure and endothelial problems. The development of plaque in the body will lead to stroke or heart attack. With the high vitamin C content in lychee, you will prevent these risks.
3.4. Increase good cholesterol HDL
Lychee is a good source of niacin (vitamin B3), which helps regulate the body’s cholesterol synthesis. Niacin has the effect of increasing good cholesterol HDL and reducing harmful triglycerides as well as bad cholesterol LDL in the blood.
3.5. Improve metabolism
Eating lychee in your daily diet can help speed up the assimilation of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in food. This is because lychee, when consumed, acts as a catalyst for enzymes in many biochemical processes in the body. Lychee also helps promote appetite, increase metabolism and maintain optimal body weight.
3.6. Prevent constipation
The fiber in lychee helps support a healthier digestive system, which is very helpful for people with poor bowel function or frequent constipation. In addition, eating lychee is also a way to help you maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
3.7. Reduce muscle cramps
Lychee contains a lot of potassium and water, which helps increase muscle strength and significantly reduces muscle cramps that often occur due to dehydration.
3.8. Hydrate Your Body
The high water content in lychees makes them a perfect way to quench your thirst and cool down during the hottest summer days. You can hydrate and replenish your body with electrolytes by eating lychees directly or by juicing them.
Eating lychee helps replenish water effectively on hot days.
3.9. Heal Liver Damage
Liver damage caused by excessive alcohol consumption, malnutrition, anemia, infections, and the use of drugs that are toxic to the liver can lead to various diseases. Lychee contains liver-protecting substances that effectively treat liver diseases.
4. Is lychee good for diabetes?
Lychee has strong hypoglycemic properties in diabetic patients. With a low glycemic index, consuming lychee helps to gradually process sugar in food entering the body and prevents blood sugar from rising to alarming levels.
Some powerful bioactivities such as alkaloids in lychee actually help to suspend the conversion of starch into sugar, thereby regulating your blood sugar levels.
Nutritionists recommend that diabetic patients should eat lychee in moderation. However, to avoid possible unwanted side effects, you should consult experts before using lychee regularly in your daily diet.
Once you have analyzed and understood the nutritional value of lychee for health, you can consider and add a sufficient amount to your daily diet to ensure good health.
