What is Ash Gourd?

Ash gourd is an ancient fruit that used to be common only in Southern Asia and was used mostly for medicinal purposes. It is a fruit that grows on a tree known as the ash tree. Recent research has introduced ash gourd more into the limelight. It has made it a popular fruit among South Asians and other people on other continents.

Today, the ash gourd has been discovered to cure much more than the ancient South Asian people thought it could cure. It is one of the adequate natural remedies for treating health conditions associated with the liver, skin, and stomach.

According to research, about 96% of the fruit is edible. It has an oblong shape or sometimes looks like a watermelon. The fruit appears greenish but turns ash upon maturity. Although, no specific taste has been concluded to be the actual taste of this fruit.

However, a group of people has confirmed that it has a taste close to that of a cucumber. In other words, having the looks of watermelon and tasting like a cucumber only point your attention to one thing. This fruit has high water content and can help you stay hydrated.

Ash gourd is packed with vitamins and minerals known to improve health conditions, thereby increasing people’s quality of life. It also has low-calorie content, making it a great fruit added to your weight loss diet.

Nutritional Content of Ash Gourd

Are you thinking about how to add this amazing fruit to your diet? Well, you have the answer here. Depending on how you prefer it, Ash gourd can be blended and added to smoothies, salads, and even yogurts.

All of the health benefits attached to this fruit are courtesy of its nutritional content. The following nutritional components of the ash gourd;

• Fiber: 3 g
• Protein: 1 g
• Riboflavin: 8% of the required daily intake value
• Zinc: 6% of the required daily intake value
• Fiber: 3 g
• Carbohydrate: 3 g
• Vitamin C: 14% of the required daily intake value
• Fat: 0.5 g
• Potassium: 350 mg
• Calories: 13
• Vitamin A: 10% of the required daily value intake
• Vitamin E: 2% of the required daily intake value
• Vitamin C: 31% of the required daily intake value
• Vitamin B6: 12% of the required daily intake value

Coupled with these, ash gourd is also packed with helpful antioxidants like flavonoids and carotene, both effective in protecting the body cells from damage while reducing oxidative stress in the process. In addition, some minerals which happen to be in small but significant amounts in ash gourd include;

• Phosphorus: 5% of the required daily intake value
• Iron: 6% of the required daily intake value
• Copper: 3.1% of the required daily intake value
• Magnesium: 7% of the required daily intake value
• Manganese: 12% of the required daily intake value
• Iodine: 6% of the required daily intake value
• Calcium: 5% of the required daily intake value

All of these combined play important roles in the health-benefiting effects and ability of ash gourd.

Health Benefits of Ash Gourd

Helps in Weight Management

Ash gourd is packed with a considerably high dietary fiber and higher water content. These properties are enough to help in the management of weight. In addition, studies have shown that ash gourd has small amounts of calories.

This is a plus for people who wish to eat this fruit while maintaining a healthy weight. In addition to these, eating ash gourd regularly can help reduce your cravings for excess food and the consumption of processed foods.

In other words, it regulates how you eat and what you eat and also makes you feel full while at that. What is more? It has compounds that can help you shed some weight and censor what you eat and how you eat.

Helps Improve Digestion

Indigestion and other gut conditions come with severe discomfort. Sometimes you feel the urge to throw up to empty your stomach; other times, you feel like pooing them out. However, you feel neither the urge to pop or puke but just a stomach ache that has refused to go.

Research has shown that the high water content and dietary fiber content of the ash gourd can be useful in the treatment and prevention of indigestion. It frees up the gut and helps in the easy movement of bowels.

In addition, it helps in the elimination of other gut conditions like constipation, flatulence, and bloating. You can either eat ash gourd to prevent indigestion and other gut conditions or eat the fruit to treat them if you already have them.

Improves Liver Conditions

The liver is one of the most vital organs in the body. Without the liver in the body, some metabolic processes may not occur, and this could be harmful to anyone. Another fact about the human liver is the fact that it is the only organ in the human body that can regenerate when a part of it is cut off.

Being a delicate organ, the liver has to be properly taken care of. This can be done by eating foods that are rich in liver-helping contents. Ash gourd has hosts of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties that help in the protection and the detoxification of the liver, thereby treating liver-related conditions.

Prevents Type 2 Diabetes

Since overweight and obesity are two prominent factors that can cause type 2 diabetes, researchers have proven that ash gourd can help in the management of weight. It automatically means that consuming this fruit regularly in your diet can help you prevent type 2 diabetes.

In other words, as much as you try to prevent this kind of diabetes, you should also look at maintaining a healthy weight.

When this is achieved, you have drastically reduced your chances of developing type 2 diabetes, and one of your surest bets for weight management is ash gourd. You can blend it and add the paste to your smoothies, salads, or low-fat yogurts.

Protects the Heart Health

Protecting the organs in the body is one of the most important things you should do for your body. The heart is a significant organ that should not be toyed with for any reason whatsoever.

Thus, eating foods that are rich in properties that can help the heart is essential. According to research, ash gourd had no single trace of cholesterol. In other words, it is one of the best foods you should add to your diet to keep your health healthy and alive.

Coupled with its 0% of cholesterol, it also helps strengthen the cardiac muscles and ensures the freeing up of the arteries to promote the free flow of blood into and outside the heart. Due to its heart helping abilities, Indians and Chinese add it to many of their food recipes.

Supports the Immune System

According to research, ash gourd is packed with antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties, all of which play noteworthy roles in the protection of the body against infections.

In other words, as much as they prevent foreign bodies from gaining access to the body, they also support the immune system by making it stronger to carry out its functions properly. If you desire to boost your immune system, and you seem not to have any food or fruit on your mind to help you achieve this, you should try ash gourd.

You can slice and add ash gourd to your vegetable salad or make it into a paste and add to yogurts and smoothies.

Detoxifies the Kidneys

The kidneys are those smallish beans-like organs in the body that ensures the detoxification of the body. Thus, as much as the kidneys detoxify the body, you also want to keep the kidneys healthy and rid them of every toxin that may be lurking inside them and is capable of causing damage to the kidneys.

Due to the high water content in ash gourd, it can help supply enough water to the kidneys and other important organs in the body and also stimulates the kidneys to produce more fluids to enhance the detoxification process.

In other words, consuming ash gourd regularly can help support or improve the excretory system of the body. This is not all, as its hydration ability also extends to the bladder and keeps its process running smoothly.

Conclusion

Ash gourd is a fruit or a vegetable, as most people prefer to call it. Its nutritional content is enough to make it one of the best natural vegetables that can be used for medicinal purposes.

It used to be popular among the ancients and had almost gotten erased from history until new researchers found it out and made more of its health benefits known to people in this time and age.