Mango fruit

Mango fruit

“The king of the fruits”, mango fruit is one of the most popular, nutritionally rich fruit with unique flavor, fragrance, taste, and heath promoting qualities making it a common ingredient in new functional foods often called “super fruits”. Mango is one of the delicious tropical seasonal fruit and believed to be originated in the sub-Himalayan plains of Indian subcontinent. Botanically, this exotic fruit belongs to the family of Anacardiaceae, a family that also includes numerous species of tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plants such as cashew,  pistachio...etc.

Mango is a tropical tree cultivated in many regions of India and now distributed wide across the world in many continents. Usually, fruits grow at the end of a long, string like stem, with sometimes more than one fruit to a stem.

Each fruit measures 5 to 15 cm in length and about 4 to 10 cm in width, and has typical “mango” shape, or sometimes oval or round. Its weight ranges from 150 gm to around 750 gm. Outer skin is smooth and is green in un-ripe mangoes but turns into golden yellow, bright yellow or orange-red when ripen depending on the cultivar.

Internally, juicy flesh has orange-yellow in color with numerous soft fibrils radiating from the husk (enveloping a single large kidney-shaped seed). Flavor is pleasant and rich, and tastes sweet with mild tartness. A high quality mango fruit should feature no or very less fiber content and minimal sour taste. Mango seed may either has a single embryo, or sometimes polyembryonic.

Health benefits of Mangoes

§         Mango fruit is rich in pre-biotic dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, and poly-phenolic flavonoid antioxidant compounds.

§         According to new research study, mango fruit has been found to protect against colon, breast, leukemia and prostate cancers. Several trial studies suggest that polyphenolic anti-oxidant compounds in mango are known to offer protection against breast and colon cancers.

§         Mango fruit is an excellent source of Vitamin-A and flavonoids like beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, and beta-cryptoxanthin. 100 g of fresh fruit provides 765 mg or 25% of recommended daily levels of vitamin A. Together; these compounds are known to have antioxidant properties and are essential for vision. Vitamin A is also required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin. Consumption of natural fruits rich in carotenes is known to protect body from lung and oral cavity cancers.

§         Fresh mango is a very rich source of potassium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure.

§         It is also a very good source of vitamin-B6 (pyridoxine), vitamin-C and vitamin-E. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful oxygen free radicals. Vitamin B-6 or pyridoxine is required for GABA hormone production in the brain. It also controls homocystiene levels in the blood, which may otherwise be harmful to blood vessels resulting in CAD and stroke.

§         Copper is a co-factor for many vital enzymes, including cytochrome c-oxidase and superoxide dismutase (other minerals function as co-factors for this enzyme are manganese and zinc). Copper is also required for the production of red blood cells.

§         Mango peels are also rich in phytonutrients, such as the pigment antioxidants like carotenoids and polyphenols.

Mango latex allergy especially with raw, unripe mangoes is common in some sensitized individuals. Immediate reactions may include itchiness at the angle of the mouth, lips, and tip of the tongue. In some people, the reactions can be severe, with manifestations like swelling of the lips, ulceration at the mouth angles, respiratory difficulty, vomiting, and diarrhea.

This reaction develops because of anacardic acid present in raw, unripe mangoes. Cross-allergic reactions with other anacardiaceae family fruits like "cashew apples" are quite common. It is quite rare with fully ripen fruits; however, people with known case of mango fruit allergy may have to avoid them.