Power food: Papaya

I am a Chinese and my husband is a Mexican. Often people say it is a rather unusual combination. More interesting is that even though my mom and my mother-in-law have never met in person, they share extremely similar healthy conscience. Both moms like a lot fruit and veggies and not too much meats.

When we visit Mexico, my Mexican mom often gives us a fruit shake, orangish, and with, from my opinion, a little bit funny smell. I grew up in central China and had never eaten papaya before I went to Mexico. I have to admit that I didn't really like too much of its taste and had to drink it totally for politeness. But I was told it is a really healthy fruit so I did some research on it and it turns out to be true: papaya is a power food and you should eat it. I have been getting more used to the flavor: sweet, juicy and it is not all that bad.

Here is what I learned from the book: "Power foods from the editors of the whole living magazine" and USDA's National Nutrient Database.

• Ripe papayas is an excellent source of vitamin C, with one medium papaya containing 303% of daily value, i.e. a three-day supply of vitamin C.   
• Papaya has significant amounts of vitamins A (67%) and E (11%), powerful antioxidants. 
• Papaya may also help improve skin and strengthen nails and hair. 
• Ripe papaya is best known as a potent digestive aid, due to its high fiber content (5g). 
• The fruit also contains a high amount of folate (29%), which aids in cell production and helps prevent anemia.
• Unripe, green papaya contains high levels of the digestive enzyme papain, which behaves much like those enzymes produced by the stocmach's gastric juices.

I also found a tons of similar information on the internet stating the benefit of papaya. However, sometimes it is probably more important to understand under what condition you shouldn't eat something.

Papaya and Pregnancy

During my search, there is in fact a situation that you should avoid eat papaya: If you are pregnant or trying to become pregnant, avoid eating UNRIPE papaya. An unripe or semi-ripe papaya is rich in a substance called latex. Research shows that this concentrated form of latex may trigger uterine contractions. Contractions of the uterus could lead to a miscarriage. Also, papaya skin and seeds shouldn't be eaten. You can read more on this topic at this site from university of Michigan health system. http://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/tn9779#tn9779-Bib. This is the reference of this research:

Papaya (2004). In A DerMarderosian, J Beutler, eds., Review of Natural Products. St. Louis: Wolters Kluwer Health.

Digging a little more, I found another scientific research also confirmed this results, which is conducted by three researchers in Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, National University of Singapore and is published on British Journal of Nutrition, Vol 88, Issue 2, pp199-203, 2002. http://www.nutritionsociety.org.uk/bjn/088/bjn0880199.htm.

Papaya and Diabetes

Another topic shows up sometimes on internet is whether papaya is good or bad for diabetes. I have read totally contradictory suggestions. Since these days the internet is flooded with the information you don't really know where it comes from and/or by whom it is provided, I tend not to believe anything that easily. I tried to look for information from more of an official sources.

Papaya is listed among the common fruits to be consumed in the website of American Diabetes Association. So I think it should be ok to eat, as long as within certain limit. http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitness/food/what-can-i-eat/fruits.html

I have come cross this site having the list of GI and GL values for more 2000 kinds of food.
http://www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm

The glycemic index (GI) is a numerical system of measuring how much of a rise in circulating blood sugar a carbohydrate triggers–the higher the number, the greater the blood sugar response. So a low GI food will cause a small rise, while a high GI food will trigger a dramatic spike. A GI is 70 or more is high, a GI of 56 to 69 inclusive is medium, and a GI of 55 or less is low.

The glycemic load (GL) is a relatively new way to assess the impact of carbohydrate consumption that takes the glycemic index into account, but gives a fuller picture than does glycemic index alone. A GI value tells you only how rapidly a particular carbohydrate turns into sugar. It doesn't tell you how much of that carbohydrate is in a serving of a particular food. You need to know both things to understand a food's effect on blood sugar. That is where glycemic load comes in. A GL of 20 or more is high, a GL of 11 to 19 inclusive is medium, and a GL of 10 or less is low.

I am an engineer. I always like more quantitative numbers than just the text. Based on the table, papaya has GI of 56 and LG of 6. It is just at the lower limit of medium range of GI and definitely has low GL value. It seems to have little risk to eat some papaya.