Miracle fruit or the magic fruit is being popularly talked about by many people. This is because miracle fruit has a unique ability, which can change the taste of any food to be sweet. Why is that so? Check out the full explanation here.
Miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) is a plant native to West Africa which is still in the same family as the sapodilla fruit. Miracle fruit has an oval shape with a length of 2-3 cm resembling a melinjo fruit or coffee fruit. When ripe, miracle fruit will be red.
Uniqueness Miracle Fruit that can change the taste
Miracle fruit actually has a bland taste. So how can this fruit turn any taste sweet? After being investigated, this sweet taste change comes from a protein molecule called miraculin.
Miraculin is a type of protein that can bind to the cells of the tongue and change their structure. These changes cause the tongue to create a sweet taste sensation, even when it sticks to sour or bitter foods.
The protein binding process that changes the taste to sweetness will take about 15-60 minutes until the miraculin finally disappears by itself.
Variety of Benefits Miracle Fruit for health
Thanks to its unique ability to change flavours, miracle fruit It is often used as a natural, low-calorie sweetener. However, it doesn't stop there, there are also several benefits miracle fruit other things we can get, namely:
1. Lowers the risk of diabetes
Miracle fruit very good consumed by diabetics because it does not cause an increase in blood sugar levels. On the other hand, miracle fruit can also help diabetics satisfy their cravings for sweet foods without having to eat high-sugar foods that are not good for them.
Not only that, a study shows that miracle fruit can prevent insulin resistance on a diet high in sugar so that it can help reduce the risk of diabetes. However, this research has only been done on animals, so its effectiveness in humans still needs to be investigated.
2. Recover changes in taste on the tongue after chemotherapy
Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy usually experience a number of side effects, including taste changes that make the tongue taste bitter. This condition can certainly make the patient lose his appetite, so the risk of causing drastic weight loss.
A trial in chemotherapy patients showed that miracle fruit can change the taste of food that was bitter for them to be sweet. These changes can increase their desire to eat, while increasing the intake of the nutrients they need.
3. Lose weight
Foods high in sugar are known to play a major role in weight gain. For those of you who are undergoing a weight loss program but have trouble avoiding sweet foods, try eating miracle fruit along with healthy, low-sugar foods.
Besides that, miracle fruit Very low in calories and contains no fat. With its delicious taste and unique properties, miracle fruit very suitable for to help lose weight.\
4. Increase children's appetite to eat vegetables
Some parents complain that their children do not like to eat vegetables. On average, children reasoned that vegetables tasted bitter.
Instead of forcing, let alone scolding the child, try to give miracle fruit him before he eats the vegetables. This may help increase the child's appetite for vegetables.
However, try to get your child used to eating vegetables without help miracle fruit, so that he can get used to a healthy diet until adulthood.
Seeing its unique abilities and health benefits, you may be interested in including miracle fruit into a healthy daily diet, for example to improve the taste of healthy food but it doesn't taste good.
However, keep in mind that long-term research into the benefits and safety miracle fruit still limited. So, try to build and maintain a healthy diet without the help of this fruit.
If you want to take advantage of miracle fruit for certain conditions, consult the doctor who treats you first. Use miracle fruit as therapy to replace the medication recommended by your doctor can pose a risk to your health.