When I think of pineapples, I think of pizza – with pineapple topping. If I think again about pineapples, I think about pineapple upside down cake, then about a nice trip to the beach with pineapple slices tucked in the side of my bag.
If I keep thinking, I will continue to see it as a topping or a side or a cooking ingredient. But what are they good for? I have never really thought about that.
Well based on historical records, Christopher Columbus has been one of the first men to have pineapples.
He started bringing the fruit on his voyages to prevent scurvy. After that, because of its rich taste, the pineapple became an elite fruit available mainly to the rich.
That has changed in contemporary society, it is an affordable fruit. In some parts of the Caribbean, there is so much of the fruit on the market that the prices are priced for the layman’s pocket.
Pineapples contain a nutrient bromelain that has tremendous advantages. It is used in supplements given to athletes for the treatment of physical pain and aches.
The same mineral is listed by the 2007 medical journal Planta Medica as being more effective in treating cancer than the popularly used chemo-agent 5-fluorauracil.
This is because the latter also damages healthy cells while the pineapple extract focuses on just removing the bad cancer cells from the body.
Other benefits of pineapple are being researched and have included preventing and curing Asthma, breastfeeding Problems: Poor Milk Production/Quality, constipation, influenza (the flu) and sinusitis.
The fruit even encourages healthy living. If the full benefit is to be derived from consuming pineapples, it cannot be had on an empty stomach. If, this happens, the enzymes will merely go to the blood and therefore loses most of their value.
Another fun fact is that pineapples are so magnificent that each plant only produces one plant for the entire year. Also, unlike many other fruits, the pineapple does not continue to ripen once picked.
Jamaicans love to wrap their fruits in newspaper and place them in a warm place when the fruit is not yet ripe, or ready to be eaten. If this is done with the pineapple, it will remain in the same condition prior to the wrapping.
It just means that it leaves room for us to make use of the leaves, which science has proven to provide relief from diabetes.
So having heard all this, I think I need to start having pizza more, or go to the beach more often to increase my intake of this healthy fruit. Who would have guessed something so tasty would actually provide these benefits?
