Nance fruit is an American plant that has a fairly slow growth rate compared to other trees. The nance tree grows in tropical America and is now one of the cultivated plants in Peru, Pacific side of Central America, Southern Mexico, Guadeloupe, Brazil, St. Martin, Isle of Pines, Barbados, Cuba, Trinidad, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Curacao, The Dominican Republic and Dominica. The nance tree is a plant that belongs to the “Malpighiaceae” family.
Nance trees are very suitable to grow in places with tropical and subtropical climates. Nance produces flowers in yellow, dark orange and red in spring and these flowers will bear fruit in August and September. The fruit is yellow and juicy with a distinctive taste. Besides being known as nance fruit, it also has many other names such as: Cao cimun, Craboo, Golden-spoon, Maurissi, Murici, Maricao cimun, Indano, Peraleja, Chaparro, Nance, Yoco, Savanna serrette, Changunga, Nanche, Kraabu , Muruçi, and Chacunga. Its distinctive scented flowers invite lots of butterflies and insects.
Plant Characteristics
The nance tree or Byrsonima crassifolia is a very slow stature and is a large shrub. Usually, the height is around 33 feet. The leaves grow opposite, oval or ovate. Leaf size is 3.2-17 cm long and 4-7 cm wide. While the flowers are 10-20 cm in size, with a width of about 1.25-2 cm, the colors are yellow, orange and red. The fruit is round like a small ball, circular (round), or ovoid. It’s size is 8-12 cm wide by 0.8-1.5 cm. The fruit smells pungent, contains a lot of water, with a thin rind. The bark is brown, cracked and the inner skin is pink. The trunk is high, some are crooked and short.
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Nutritional value of nance fruit
After we understand the characteristics of the nance plant, now we see how the nutritional value of nance fruit is. For a size of 112 grams of nance fruit, it contains 90.32 g of water, 0.74 g of protein, 4.01 g of glucose, 82 calories, 9.31 g of total sugars, 1.3 g of fat, 19.01 g of carbohydrate, 0.64 g of ash, 8.4 g of dietary fiber and contains 5.3 g of fructose.
This amount offers 115.11% of Vitamin C, 12, 11.08% of Vitamin K, 9.33% of Vitamin E, 5.11% of copper, 09% of manganese, 5.81% of potassium, 5.24% of magnesium, 5.38% of iron, and contains calcium as much as 5.20%.
Health Benefits of Nance fruit
The nance fruit has two or three seeds in it. Nance fruit is full of nutrients and it can even be said that this is a storehouse of nutrients. Nance contains minerals and vitamins such as Vitamin K, manganese, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pathogenic acid, folate. Not only that, but Nance fruit is also rich in fiber, iron, fat, protein and carotene and phosphorus. Based on these extraordinary ingredients, we know that nance fruit has pretty good health benefits. Among the health benefits of nance fruit is preventing memory damage, hair loss and can prevent skin wrinkles. The benefits don’t stop here, but the benefits of nance fruit are also great for treating dementia and depression or anxiety.
Consuming nance fruit can form anti-bodies and increase the number of red blood cells and this will certainly provide a lot of good to the health of the body. Apart from the fruit, nance leaves can also be used as an ingredient for making tea. It also contains many antioxidants which are useful for fighting harmful agents or foreign substances in the body that can cause disease. because of the many benefits of nance fruit, we want to explain it in more detail below.
1. Lead toxicity
As a habit, children who live in cities often experience lead poisoning and this causes bad things to their health. Finally, these children experience growth that is not optimal. Finally, there is learning disabilities, and have low thinking power or a bad IQ. Consuming foods rich in lead will be toxic to the kidneys and can lead to high blood pressure. Vitamin C or vitamin C intake can help lower lead levels in the body.
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2. Good for treating cancer
The high willingness to consume fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of cancer, in this case including consuming nance fruit. Research shows that taking vitamin C can reduce the risk of mouth, throat, colon, lung, rectum, stomach cancer, and reduce the risk of esophageal cancer.
3. Prevent damage to the heart
The research conducted shows there is a relationship between consuming fruits such as nance fruit and others with diastolic and systolic blood pressure, and it is related to triglycerides and the amount of cholesterol.
The properties of the soluble fiber present in nance fruit are very good for heart health. Soluble fiber is beneficial for reducing cholesterol because it blocks the absorption of dietary cholesterol. Eating a diet high in fiber can help reduce heart disease, metabolic syndrome and hypertension.
4. Treating diabetes
Diabetes is a disease characterized by the increase blood sugar levels. Soluble fiber in nance fruit is able to stabilize blood sugar and some bad behavior. It can also increase insulin sensitivity so it is very good for its benefits for health, also for prevent diabetes rapidly.
5. Reduces inflammation and sprains
Furthermore, the benefits of nance fruit are good for reducing inflammation and sprains. Consuming nance fruit can increase the superoxide dismutase level which is caused by the antioxidant properties in it. Low dismutase levels are commonly experienced by arthritis patients. Adding manganese to their daily diet can increase the synthesis and SOD function which in turn reduces the symptoms it causes.
6. Stabilizes blood sugar levels
High blood sugar levels in the human body can be controlled by consuming foods rich in manganese. So, it can prevent diabetes or stabilize blood sugar levels in patients. Manganese maintains normal secretion and insulin synthesis and can lower blood sugar levels. This is certainly very good for those who experience blood sugar spikes.
7. Clot blood
Nance fruit also contains vitamin K which is important in helping blood clot so that blood stops quickly and causes wounds to heal quickly. This is because vitamin K has a role in the amalgamation of prothrombium.
Protein Z increases thrombin, this in turn increases the relationship with phospholipids in the cell membrane. So, consuming foods rich in vitamin K can treat myelodyplastic syndromes.
8. Reduce bleeding
This is also still related to the content of vitamin K in nance fruit. Vitamin K helps reduce bleeding in the liver, relieves jaundice and the problem of poor absorption of nutrients. Several health problems that often occur due to low vitamin K include obstructions, sprue, colitis and Crohn’s disease.
9. Repair skin
Nance fruit is also rich in vitamin E, this vitamin has the performance of improving capillary walls, increasing skin elasticity, and maintaining moisture in the skin. Vitamin E is an important vitamin for the skin and can even prevent premature aging, reduce inflammation, maintain skin youthfulness, protect skin from ultraviolet rays, from cigarette smoke and prevent cancer, and consuming vitamin E and vitamin C is very good for healing and rejuvenating body cells.
10. Improve vision health
The abundance of vitamin E in the diet provides a lot of potential for maintaining healthy eyes and vision. This is likely to keep an eye on getting older. The intake of vitamin C, beta-carotene, zinc, which meets daily needs is very important. Likewise with the intake of vitamin E and vitamin A, this is very helpful in improving healing, and vision in people who choose laser eye surgery.
Traditional uses of Nance Fruit
The nance plant helps in healing ailments such as rashes, lungs, diarrhea and wounds
Consuming one cup of nance tea every day can cure bone disease, anemia, fatigue and rheumatism.
The skin of the plant is used to treat diarrhea
The fruit is good for treating cholesterol, preventing constipation, and fat.
Nance is good for skin remedies such as wrinkles, hair loss and memory loss.
The Indians in Mexico use the bark to treat diarrhea and gastrointestinal disorders and skin infections.
Effective for treating pulmonary complaints, and indigestion, gum disease and vaginal discharge.
The infusion made from nance bark is said to be good for lung, vaginal discharge and gum disease and indigestion.
Also used as a medicine for snake bites
The bark is used in Guyana as a poultice on wounds
The bark is used as fish poison, gastrointestinal medicine, lung disease and skin infections.
Dasun nance infusion is useful for treating high blood pressure
The sap of the leaves and stems can be used to treat gonorrhea
In America, tea made from nance leaves is used for the treatment of stress, anemia, rheumatism, fatigue and bone aches.
Note: Avoid consuming excessive amounts of nance fruit, leaves, or other parts because you are worried about causing dangerous side effects.