Lychee, also known as litchi or lichee is a small round fruit with red scaly skin. It is a tropical fruit that provides many health benefits. If you are looking for vitamin C-rich food, consider lychee as it is rich in antioxidants.
You may find it a small fruit, but it contains many incredible properties, like an anti-inflammatory.
Let’s get into its details.
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What is a Lychee?
Litchi chinensis is a tree that produces lychees. They grow in tropical and subtropical regions. The primary producer of lychees in China. It is covered with tough inedible skin that is red in color. When you rip the lychee, the pink inside you can see. There is an inedible brown seed inside the lychee.
Some people also call this fruit Chinese cherry. It contains many beneficial nutrients.
Nutrition Facts
The main components of lychees include water and carbs. You can eat lychees to fulfill many essential nutrients in your body as 3.5-ounce fresh lychees serving contains:
- 16.5 grams of carbs
- 66 calories
- 15.2 grams of sugar
- 0.4 grams of fat
- 1.3 grams of fiber
- 0.8 grams of proteins
The composition of lychees includes carbs and fiber, as most carbs come from sugar but are low in fiber. They are also rich in vitamin C, potassium, and copper.
You can get antioxidant plant compounds by eating lychees as they contain higher antioxidant polyphenols than other fruits. The antioxidants in lychees include Rutin and Epicatechin.
Let’s explore how lychee nutrients benefit your health.
Benefits of Lychees
Now, we know that lychees contain vitamins and antioxidants that give a boost to your overall health. Lychees contain plant compounds called proanthocyanidins. They provide many health benefits with its following properties, such as:
- Anti-inflammatory
- Cardioprotective
- Anti-angiogenic
- Anti-carcinogenic
You can find these plant compounds in other fruits such as blueberries, grapes, and apples. Lychees benefits your health in the following ways:
1. Lychee Reduces Abdominal Fat
A corporation developed a patented mixture of green tea and litchi skin. The intake of this mixture deals with fatigue, inflammation after exercise, and also reduces abdominal fat. If you want to lose weight, lychees in salads can contribute to achieving your goal.
A dietary supplement called oligonol products is made by green tea and lychee fruit extract. The intake of oligonol leads to lower triglycerides and no obesity as compared to others.
2. Treats Liver Cancer
Cancer is a life-threatening condition, but a healthy diet can prevent cancer risk. According to PubMed, litchi fruit pericarp extract works against cancer cells as it contains anti-cancer properties.
3. Reduces Inflammation
Chronic inflammation can lead to many health conditions. But you can prevent the risk by eating lychees as they contain flavanols that provide anti-inflammatory properties. During the summer month, you may experience the flu and many other potential infections. But this fruit can help deal with these risks.
4. Keeps Your Skin Healthy
Litchi fruit is a great source of vitamin E that benefits your skin by healing sunburn. If you want healthy and glowing skin, add lychee to your diet plan to maintain your skin health. Its intake also helps to get rid of skin irritation and pain that can result due to sunburn. Lychee benefits for skin include clear and glowing skin.
5. Lowers the Risk of Heart Disease
Heart disease risk may be in your genes, or you can develop it by following unhealthy lifestyle choices. But choosing the right diet can affect your overall body and prevent many potential health conditions and diseases. If you are living with heart disease, discuss with the best cardiologist if you can combine treatment with lychee intake for more effective results.
6. Promotes Liver Health
The liver is responsible for many functions. It also converts the nutrients into substances that allow your body to use them and remove the toxins. The use of lychees in daily routine may also lead to the control of liver disease.
7. May Boost Immunity
Your body needs vitamin C and ascorbic acid on a daily basis to perform different tasks. You can get these nutrients in a single serving of lychee. This fruit boosts your immune system as antioxidants stimulate the white blood cells activity that acts as a defensive agent.
8. May Boost Blood Circulation
Lychee contains other essential minerals, copper and iron. Copper and iron both are crucial for red blood cell production. Eating lychees can help to improve blood circulation in the body.
9. May Improve Cognition
Lychee seeds give neuroprotective effects that play an important role in cognitive function. A study on rats proved that this fruit also prevents neuronal injury by Alzheimer’s disease.
Adverse Effects of Lychees
In moderation form, there are no adverse effects of lychees. It contains the toxin hypoglycin A that may be responsible for brain inflammation, but more studies are required to confirm its side effects. But moderation form of lychees benefits your health without causing any harm.
Recently, children experienced brain inflammation by eating lychees as this fruit causes low blood sugar that results in hypoglycemia.
It also contains some proteins that can cause allergic reactions. You may experience some symptoms, such as itchiness, difficulty breathing, hives, and swelling of the tongue and lips.
You can have lychees in different ways.
Uses of Lychees
You can choose fresh lychees as they contain more powerful nutrients. But you can also keep dried lychee for up to 1 year at room temperature. You can have dried lychees as a snack.
Fresh lychees can be used in the following ways:
- Stir-frying this fruit with chicken
- Make a salad by adding different color fruits and veggies along with lychee and can sprinkle lime juice
- Make the salsa by chopping up lychee and mixing it with avocado
- Make a cocktail with lychee juice
But wait!
Are You A Diabetic?
Lychees’ benefits are incredible, but people with diabetes should be careful while having lychees as excessive intake can leave negative effects. They are high in sugar content and can imbalance nutrients in your body. You should discuss with the doctor if you are living with any health condition or have a sensitive stomach.
