Bet You Didn’t Know: 10 surprising health benefits of Jamaica Otaheiti Apple

The fruits, which are generally in season between February and June, are a local and Caribbean favourite – but how much do you really know about them?

Used in juices, sweets or as flavourings in meats, desserts and preserves (jams, jellies and in pickling), the Otaheiti Apple has proved to be a most versatile fruit.

In this edition of Bet You Didn’t Know, Loop Lifestyle presents 10 amazing health benefits the Otaheiti Apple can provide to you:

1. Otaheiti Apples are high in moisture. The fruits are up to 90 per cent water, which contributes to its balanced sweetness and refreshing and delicious attributes.
2. The apples have substantial amounts of Vitamin C content, a nutrient that promotes collagen production that provides elasticity to skin. The fruits, through Vitamin C also inhibits the activity of pro-inflammatory enzymes and prevents overproduction of nitric oxides, thus preventing skin inflammation.
3. A great constituent in the diets of bodybuilders and athletes in Central America, Otaheiti Apple is prized for having impressive reserves of dietary fibre. Dietary fibre can be consumed in larger amounts than regular starches as it leaves the body satiated for longer, which in turn helps to take the edge off hunger. Added with fibre, the apple’s high water content makes it a great companion as it helps one to stay hydrated after exercising.
4. In some sections of East Asia, the rose apple (as the Otaheiti is called) is believed to prevent the development of cancer of the prostate. In many cases, doctors there have suggested that a diet rich in the fruit is integral in prostate cancer avoidance.
5. The apples have admirable amounts of vitamin A – beneficial to the promotion of good optic health.
6. Worried about all that sugar? Well, the fibre in Otaheiti inhibits the absorption of glucose from the food we eat, thus controlling diabetes. In some parts of Central America, the fruits are a constant part of the diet in diabetics.
7. As a stand-alone source, Otaheitis have a good quantities of calcium and magnesium, necessary minerals for the skeletomuscular system.
8. A sweetened preparation, similar to tea, of apple flowers helps to reduce fever. Added with its high water content, the fruits are a preferred line of defence and hydration against diarrhoea, dysentery and catarrh.
9. A decoction of the fruit’s leaves serves as a diuretic, expectorant and treatment for rheumatism. The extract from the soaked leaves is taken as a febrifuge.
10. Powdered leaves, when rubbed on the bodies of smallpox patients, are known in Asia to deliver a temporary cooling effect when applied.

Have you had your daily fill of Otaheiti today? How many of these health benefits did you know?