Mango ‘King of the Fruits’ is a famous and delicious fruit, equally loved by everyone all over Pakistan.
For over 4000 years, mango has been cultivated in South Asia.
Mango is an amazing summer’s delicacy that is much more than a delicious and sweet fruit.
With more than 100 types, each type of mango has a unique taste, size, shape and color.
Not only is mango a delicious fruit, but there are also numerous mango health benefits. Mango also boasts about its extraordinary nutritional profile. Interestingly, various research studies have linked the nutrients of mango with various health benefits. Mango health benefits include improved heart health, eyesight, digestive and gut health, lower risk of various cancers, infections etc.
So, if you want to know about the mango benefits, nutritional profile of mango and how you can enjoy mango in various ways, this blog is for you.
Table of Contents
Healthy Nutrients in Mango
How many of you have the idea that it is actually the nutrients in mango that are beneficial for your health. Interestingly, it is even good for you if you are on a diet.
Rich in healthy nutrients and low in calories, mango is your ultimate snack to munch on.
1 cup of sliced mangoes (165g) contains:
- Vitamin C (67% of the recommended daily dose)
- Dietary fiber (2.6 grams)
- Proteins (1.4 grams)
- Carbs (24.7 grams)
- Calories (99)
- Fats (0.6 grams)
- Copper (20% of RDI)
- Vitamin B6 (11.6% of RDI)
- Vitamin B5 (6.5% of RDI)
- Vitamin K (6% of RDI)
- Vitamin A (10% of RDI)
- Vitamin E (9.7% of RDI)
- Potassium (6% of RDI)
- Niacin (6% of RDI)
Mango Benefits to Improve Your Lifestyle
Mango health benefits are due to the antioxidants, minerals and vitamins in it. For example, Vitamin C in mango is good for healing wounds, forming healthy collagen and even blood vessels.
Mangoes are also rich in Vitamin K that helps in strengthening your bones, prevents anemia and helps in clotting blood efficiently.
Apart from this, mango health benefits are:
1. Mango for Weight Loss
Want to lose extra body weight? Mango has a solution for you.
Eating mangoes will make you feel fuller because it is rich in essential nutrients and vitamins. Not only this, it is loaded with fiber which burns the extra calories in our body. It also improves the digestive function of the body. And eventually, mango is good for weight loss.
2. Mango Benefits for Immunity
Have you been feeling like your immunity is getting weaker day by day? Munch on some mangoes this summer.
Mango health benefits include improving the immunity of the body.
Mangoes have immune boosting nutrients in them. Vitamin A is one such essential nutrient for the body. Vitamin A helps the immune system by fighting off infections. Vitamin C on the other hand increases the production of white blood cells, essential for protecting our body from various diseases.
Folate, Vitamin E, Vitamin K and various other B Vitamins improve the immunity of our body.
3. Mango Benefits for Skin and Hair
Everyone wants to have healthy skin and luscious hair. Right?
I am sure that in order to improve the texture of your skin and hair health, you all have home remedies. If not home remedies, then you must be using expensive skincare and haircare products and still not getting the results you want.
Well, NO WORRIES! Mangoes are here for you.
Benefits of mangoes for hair and skin can’t be denied.
Vitamin C in mango promotes healthy skin and hair. Vitamin C is extremely important for the production of the main component of hair and skin i.e. collagen.
Collagen reduces wrinkles, saggy skin and gives you a healthy and glowing skin.
Vitamin A in mangoes produces sebum and improves hair growth. Hair scalp is moisturized by the sebum and is thus essential for healthy hair.
Now if we particularly talk about skin, retinoids and vitamin A in the mango protect skin from harmful rays of the sun. Not only vitamin A and vitamin C, but polyphenols in mangoes are also good for skin and hair. These polyphenols act as antioxidants that help our skin and hair from the damage due to oxidative stress.
4. Mango Benefits for Heart Health
One of the key advantages of the mango health benefit is that it helps your heart health. Nutrients in mangoes, especially potassium, magnesium and mangiferin (antioxidants) are good for your heart.
Magnesium, for example, relaxes your blood vessels, promotes low BP, and maintains a healthy pulse.
Mangiferin, on the other hand, is a unique antioxidant in mango that protects the cells of the heart against oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis. It also lowers cholesterol, free fatty acids and triglycerides levels in the blood.
You need to treat your heart right. A healthy heart for a healthy life is a must. So, what are you waiting for? Start eating some mangoes.
5. Mango Benefits for Eyes
With the advent of digitalization trends and unhealthy screen habits, our eyes suffer the most. From work on screen to the other digital distractions, our eyes are constantly strained.
Blue light from the screens of smartphones, laptops, televisions etc is extremely harmful to the eyes.
Health benefits of mangoes have no limits. In the case of eyes, the use of mangoes in your diet improves your eyesight.
Two antioxidants in mango namely zeaxanthin and lutein protect the eyes. These two components act as a natural barrier inside the retina and absorb excess light from damaging our eyes.
Vitamin A, good for the eyes, is rich in mangoes as well.
People suffer from nighttime blindness and dry eyes due to the deficiency of Vitamin A. Severe deficiency of vitamin A can even lead to serious eye illness such as corneal scarring.
6. Mango Improves Gut and Digestive Health
People with weak immunity always have one thing in common and it’s the weak gut health they have.
Little did people know that the gut microbiome is extremely important for your overall health and helps in fighting off infections and diseases.
Mango is excellent for your gut health.
Amylases are enzymes that are good for your digestive system. These enzymes are responsible for breaking down large food particles into smaller ones so that they get absorbed easily. Ripe mangoes have a higher amount of these enzymes as compared to unripe ones.
The use of mangoes also helps in treating diarrhea and constipation as it contains a rich amount of fibers and water in it. So, here is another reason why not to skip mangoes.
7. Mango for Cancer
Mango benefits are numerous and hence it gives countless reasons to add mango to your life.
One such reason is that as per studies, mangoes have antioxidants such as fisetin, quercetin, astragalin, isoquercitrin, methyl gallate and gallic acid. These nutrients protect our body from breast cancer, leukemia, prostate cancer and colon cancer.
8. Mango Health Benefit by Maintaining Cholesterol Level
Fiber, pectin and a high level of vitamin C in mango benefit our body. This combination makes it a perfect fruit for controlling and maintaining normal cholesterol levels in our bodies.
The fiber in mango is also helpful in maintaining the blood glucose level of the body.
9. Mango Health Benefits in Diabetes
The glycemic index of the mango is low and is from 41 to 60. So, it can affect the blood sugar level in our body.
Along with the concentration of fiber, mangiferin and glycemic index, studies show that mango can lower and maintain blood glucose levels.
That’s why mango is such a delicacy that even a diabetic person can enjoy.
Leaves of the mangoes are helpful in normalizing the insulin level in the blood.
All you do is boil the leaves of mango, soak it overnight. Filter the decoction the next day in the morning and drink. It is an ancient home remedy for diabetes.
10. Mango for Body Alkalising
Here is another mango benefit.
Mango is enriched with malic acid and tartaric acid. It also contains traces of citric acid.
These acids in mango are helpful in maintaining the alkali reserve within our body.
11. Mango For Anemia and Pregnancy
As for anemic people, mango is a natural remedy.
Women, in particular, need to add calcium and iron to their diet to improve and increase the calcium content and iron level in their bodies.
After menopause, the body of women becomes weak. So, they need to eat foods rich in iron and mango is such a nutrient-rich food for them.
Mango nutritional benefits include that mango is even good for pregnancy.
Folate in mango is an important prenatal vitamin. Women who do not get to have enough intake of folate are at risk of giving birth to babies with neural tube defects.
How to Easily Add Mangoes to Your Diet
Mango is such a versatile fruit. You can easily add it to your diet in various ways. Following are some of the ways, you can enjoy mango:
- Cut it and eat it in slices or cubes
- Make a mango shake
- Add it in smoothies
- Add it to your summer salad
- Dice it and then add it to quinoa salad
- Slice it and you can enjoy it with other tropical fruits
- Make mango jam and pickles
However, you need to make sure that mango should be moderately added to your diet as it contains more sugar than any other fruit.
TakeAway Note
Mango is a delicious fruit rich in minerals, vitamins and antioxidants due to which it has immense health benefits. These health benefits include improved digestive system, heart health, eye care, immunity, anticancer properties, hair and skin health etc.
Most of all, mango is a delicious and healthy fruit that you can easily add to your various dishes and smoothies.
If you are still not sure how you can add mango in your diet, you can easily reach out to the best nutritionists/dietitian near you via healthwire.
