Health Benefits of Chikoo

Chikoo or Sapota is a delicious tropical fruit that is fleshy brown on the outside and sweet grainy inside. Though it is not popular among people, you can gain a lot of nutrition, vitamins, and minerals by eating it. Not only this, but it helps you fight back against diseases and keep your body healthy.

However, since it is high in calories, it falls under the group of orange, mango, jackfruit and other similar fruits. Still, people adapt it to their daily diet because of the many health benefits of Chikoo. To know about these in depth, stick to this piece!

By consuming chikoo, you can gain vitamin C, vitamin A, potassium, calcium and other minerals, resulting in better health conditions and improved functions. Find details of the health benefits of eating chikoo below:

1. Improves Digestive Function

Chikoo act as a rich source of tannin, a natural plant compound that neutralises the acidic secretion in the stomach. In addition, the presence of high dietary fibres in this fruit also adds bulk to the stool, treats constipation, better bowel movement and cures digestive problems. Apart from this, you can also expect to treat your gastric issue with the help of its antiviral, antiparasitic, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties.

2. Strengthens Bones

When the body gets the required amount of phosphorus, calcium and iron, it maintains strong bones and promotes proper growth. One of the best sources to gain these elements is chikoo. So, by consuming it, you are meeting your body’s needs and enriching it with iron, folates, magnesium, potassium, zinc, copper and others.

3. Promotes Eye Health and Vision

One of the biggest benefits of chikoo is that you can avoid developing eye problems by consuming it daily. In addition, since it contains Vitamin A in large quantities, it keeps your eye healthy and even improves the formation process of visual sensory cells. As a result, you can maintain young eyesight for a long time and get a clear vision even in old age.

4. Better Immunity

You can find vitamin C and antioxidants in chikoo in abundance, thus keeping your immune system healthy and promoting a disease-free body. In addition, chikoo also contains polyphenols that flush all the poisonous toxins out of the body and reduces the risk of developing the disease. Moreover, it also has antiviral and antibacterial properties to protect you from germs and viruses.

5. Relieves Congestion

Since chikoo contains antiparasitic and antibacterial properties, it can help prevent congestion and better condition of persistent cough. Moreover, it eliminates mucus and phlegm from the nasal tube and your respiratory tract. As a result, you can prevent cough, cold and congestion.

6. Maintain Blood Pressure

When considering the  health benefits of chikoo fruit, one should be aware of its potassium and magnesium content. This helps to keep blood pressure under control. While potassium helps in proper blood circulation, magnesium keeps your vessels open and ensures blood reaches the heart adequately. As a result, your heart stays in a better condition and maintains a better pressure level. In fact, this characteristic even slows down your ageing process.

7. Prevents Cancer

Chikoo contains antioxidants in a high amount known for reducing cancer risk. In addition, vitamin A and vitamin B content in this fruit further prevent the body from developing mucus lining that reduces the chance of going through oral malignancies and pulmonary diseases. Besides, since chikoo also contains high dietary fibre, it prevents colon cancer by ensuring good bowel movement.

8. Boosts Energy

When your body is low in energy, it generally requires sucrose and fructose content, and since chikoo is a natural source of it, you can eat it to boost your energy level. Moreover, you can also take it as your after-workout snack as it makes up for the energy loss during workouts by providing a rapid blend of organic energy.

9. Promotes Anti-Inflammation

Chikoo can provide anti-inflammatory properties to the body because of its high tannin content. This natural compound maintains a healthy digestive system by preventing disease. This is generally concerning enteritis, esophagitis, gastritis and irritable bowel syndrome. In addition, it also helps you reduce inflammation conditions by lowering swelling and pain.

The following is the nutritional value of chikoo that you can extract by having 100 grams of it in one serving:

• Dietary Fibre: 10.9 grams
• Carbohydrate: 19.9 grams
• Total Fat: 1.10 grams
• Protein: 0.44 grams
• Energy: 83 kcal

There are different ways of adding chikoo to your daily diet. You can either consume it raw by scooping the flesh out or can try the following recipes:

1. Milkshake

You can make yourself a protein boost breakfast by preparing a chikoo and nut milkshake. For this purpose, you need to add cashew nuts, milk, chikoo, and sugar to a blending machine and make a smooth paste of it.

2. Chikoo Kheer

If you have frequent sweet cravings, you can satisfy them with something sweet by making a chikoo kheer. It is prepared the same way; you just need to take an extra step and add chikoo pulp into the dish. Lastly, garnish it with walnuts.

3. Salad

You can also have chikoo salad when you feel like munching in between your meals. To prepare, you need to mix your favourite fruits like strawberries, bananas, chikoo and others in a bowl.

According to people at large, they have not experienced any side effects of chikoo (in general). However, in certain cases, it may result in the following conditions:

• Abdominal Pain: Over consumption of chikoo fruit can result in abdominal pain because of the high concentration of high fibre and tannin. In addition, if you accidentally swallow its seed, it can even induce a vomiting feeling.
• Itching and Inflammation: Irritation, inflammation, and itching are other side effects that you can undergo. However, it will only develop due to overconsumption as the level of tannin in the body has increased.
• Digestion Problem: Taking chikoo in excess can also create a gut problem as it is a rich source of fibre and puts pressure on your digestive system. As a result, it upsets the stomach and disrupts bowel movement.

If you eat chikoo daily, you can gain essential nutrients, vitamins and minerals to keep the body healthy and maintain a higher energy level. However, doctors recommend avoiding consuming it if you are the following:

• A Diabetic patient: The fruit contains sugar and calories in abundance, thus capable of spiking blood sugar levels. So, if you are a diabetic patient, it is better to avoid consuming chikoo or eat it at a control level.
• Allergic to Chikoo: Since chikoo contains latex and tannin, a common allergic substance for people, it is recommended to immediately stop consuming it if you see any signs of rashes or swelling on your skin or throat. This is after you have consumed the fruit.

This is all about the health benefits of chikoo that one can gain by consuming it daily. So, if you wish to enjoy the same, you can adopt any of the ways suggested above. However, watch out for how much of the fruit you are consuming and even try to avoid it if you are a diabetic patient or allergic to chikoo.