Is guava a superfruit? The health benefits may have you searching high and low for it

9 years ago | Nutrition

Photo credit: Sakurai Midori - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=706549

By pH health care professionals

Guava is a tropical fruit with light green or yellow skin, and a tasty inside that ranges in color from white or yellow to its infamous bright coral pink. If you’re wondering what guava tastes like, it’s been described as a mix of pear and strawberry – but nothing quite compares to trying this fruit for yourself! If its vibrant color and unique taste don’t have you convinced, then read on to learn a little bit more about the many health benefits of guava.

Nutrients in guava

Guava is a good source of the following nutrients:

Vitamin C: With over 600 percent of your daily value of vitamin C in just one cup, guavas just might be your immune system’s best friend. Vitamin C also acts as an antioxidant in your body, helping to protect cells from free radical damage (which can lead to disease).
Vitamin A: Vitamin A is also good for your immune system, as well as vision and reproduction.
Folate: Folate, one of the B vitamins, is needed to make DNA and genetic material, and is especially important for pregnant women and the developing fetus. However, it also may help with cancer prevention and mood. People who don’t have enough folate in their body may be more likely to suffer from depression.
Potassium: Potassium is a mineral that helps keep your blood pressure under control and helps to balance the fluid and electrolytes in your body. It also may help reduce kidney stones, bone loss as you age, and stroke risk, according to our brand-new book, “Minerals: The Forgotten Nutrient.”
Copper: Copper is involved in energy production, acts as an antioxidant and even helps transport iron in the body. Despite the negative connotation of being a metal, our bodies need this mineral (though like anything, you don’t want too much of a good thing).
Manganese: This trace mineral helps form connective tissue, bones, blood clotting factors and sex hormones. It is necessary for brain and nerve function, and also assists with fat and carbohydrate metabolism.
Dietary fiber: Fiber is important for digestion and can help to keep you regular if you suffer from constipation. But it also helps to stabilize your blood sugar and lower cholesterol!

Guava has also been studied for its effects on some common health issues such as:

Cholesterol: Guava leaf tea may help lower triglycerides and cholesterol, a study suggests, finding beneficial improvements in subjects’ levels after just 12 weeks of drinking the tea with every meal.
Diarrhea: Guava leaves have been used traditionally in African folk medicine for a variety of ailments, including diarrhea. Researchers sought to test the theory in rats and found positive results. Guava leaf extract was able to delay castor oil-induced diarrhea, reduce its severity, and decrease how often they went.
Diabetes: Guava may help improve or prevent Type 2 diabetes, an older study suggests, confirming what practitioners of Chinese medicine already knew. That’s because of the fruit’s blood sugar-lowering effects. In fact, one way to reap this benefit is through tea, more recent research shows. Guava leaf tea may be a good post-meal drink for avoiding a post-meal blood sugar spike, and it’s unlikely to interfere with other diabetes drugs such as warfarin, a recent study on rats suggests. A study on human subjects confirmed the benefits, seeing improvements in blood test markers for pre-diabetic and Type 2 diabetic patients who drank guava leaf tea with every meal, and no side effects or drug interactions were observed. In Japan, guava leaf tea has been approved as one of the “Foods for Specified Health Uses” for preventing and treating diabetes.

Talk to your doctor about your specific health situation and whether eating guava is a good option for you!

Enjoy Your Healthy Life!

The pH professional health care team includes recognized experts from a variety of health care and related disciplines, including physicians, health care attorneys, nutritionists, nurses and certified fitness instructors. To learn more about the pH Health Care Team, click here.