by Frida Runghen

Created on: August 19, 2009   Last Updated: August 20, 2009

Orange in colour, sweet and delicious, papaya grows well in hot tropical countries. It is believed to originate from Mexico and it's neighbouring Central American countries and can grow up to 12 feet in height. In my country of origin (Mauritius) papaya is very famous for its curative effect on the digestive system.

It can be eaten either ripe or unripe green. The green unripe papaya is used in salad or can be cooked in curry and stew. Its high content in papain which is an enzyme, is very useful in breaking down tough meat fibres. Papain is also used in pharmaceutical products to treat patients suffering from ulcer or gastric.

Papaya has also curative the following are:

Papaya prevents cancer:

Papaya is a rich source of antioxidant which help to fight cells causing cancer. What is oxidation in the first place. I want to stress on that because we read or write articles on fruits and nutrition and we learn that such and such fruit is a good source of antioxidant without really understanding the term and function of oxidation and why its bad:

According to Wikipedia an antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and inhibit other oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves. As a result, antioxidants are often reducing agents such as thiols, ascorbic acid or polyphenols.

Therefore papaya contains a high percentage of antioxidant agents which "terminate the chain reaction of oxidation" which damages cell.

Very useful to treat digestive disorders:

The proteolytic enzymes called papain found in papaya is very useful to breakdown meat fibres and protein and allow food to digest easily. As mentioned above papain is highly used in pharmaceutical products to treat patient with ulcer and gastric or patients who suffer from cystic fibrosis and pancreatic conditions. Eating papaya as often as possible is good for the whole body. It has also been proved that papaya is capable of controlling premature ageing as well.

Papaya can be used as a cleanser:

Having half pint of papaya juice mixed with apple and carrot juice is a well combined detoxifier which cleanses the whole body especially the colon from impurities or simply having a big

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