‘I’ll have some more Papaya!’
That’s not what you’re likely to hear your child say, on the dining table. Did you know, the exotic ‘papaya’ was actually a fruit native to the Caribbean, before it was brought by colonizers to Asia?
This article from the EuroKids stable is aimed towards getting your kids to eat more Papaya. It might not be as delicious as the more preferable ‘Mango’, but it’s indeed a fruit your kids should be eating plenty of. Indeed, those papaya benefits are vast and varied, apart from the common knowledge that ‘papaya is good for digestive health’, of course.
Ready to learn more about the exotic fruit that is the Papaya? Join us, as we take a deep dive into things like the uses of papaya, papaya nutrition and even possible papaya side effects!
Table of Contents
- Papaya Nutrition: Papaya Calories and More
- The Uses of Papaya: Papaya Benefits for your little one
- Papaya Side Effects: What you need to know
Papaya Nutrition: Papaya Calories and More
If papaya calories are the first thing on your mind here, you can rest assured that a papaya is not all that calorie-dense as you might have envisioned it to be. A medium-sized papaya (275 g) for instance, contains only 119 calories. And we’re talking about the ‘entire fruit’, mind you!
When talking about papaya nutrition, however, let us consider all the goodness that’s packed into a mere 100 grams of the papaya fruit!
- Fiber – 1.7 g
- Calcium – 20 mg
- Magnesium – 21 mg
- Water – 88.06 g
- Sodium – 8 mg
- Folate – 37 ug
- Phosphorus – 10 mg
- Vitamin A – 950 IU
- Vitamin K – 2.6 ug
- Vitamin C – 60.9 mg
Talking about ‘packing a punch’, papaya nutrition certainly does it in style, with the vast array of nutrients the papaya is composed of!
The Uses of Papaya: Papaya Benefits for your little one
Perhaps the most common bit of Papaya-related advice you have heard is something to the tune of ‘Eat papaya if you want your bowels to function better.’
Presenting this, and other pertinent papaya benefits for kids, that show just why there’s far more to the papaya than meets the eye!
- A Boost to Digestion
- Enhances Immunity
- Aids Metabolism
- Better Bone Health
- Helps support Vision
- Getting Rid of Intestinal Worms
- Great for Skin Health, too!
- Maintaining a healthy Hemoglobin Count
Yes we all know that papaya is great for digestion, but do we even know ‘why’?
Cool Fact: It’s the enzyme ‘papain’ present in papaya, that is responsible for its enhanced digestive powers!
All kids are prone to illnesses like coughs and colds, therefore strengthening their immunity from a tender age becomes key.
Cool Fact: It’s the high amount of vitamin C in papaya that goes a long way in strengthening their immunity.
It’s the high content of folic acid and other B vitamins in papaya that are responsible for increasing metabolism.
Want your child to be less susceptible to those unwanted bone fractures? Get them to eat plenty of papaya!
Cool Fact: It’s the vitamin K content in the papaya, that ironically helps in the retention of ‘calcium’, that is essential for building those strong bones and teeth!
Yet another one of the uses of papaya, is its capability to aid in a child’s vision.
Cool Fact: Like carrots, papayas too have a good amount of vitamin A, that is crucial for the development of your child’s vision.
This is surely one of the uses of papaya that is lesser known to most people.
Cool Fact: It’s actually the ‘papaya seeds’ that are to be credited with this superpower. They contain an enzyme called ‘cysteine proteinases’, that helps get rid of the worms.
Tip: Wondering how your baby can have those seeds? Simply add some honey to 2 spoons of powdered papaya seeds,and feed them to your child.
That Vitamin A in the papaya we talked about earlier? It’s not only great for your child’s vision, but for their skin health, too!
It’s the presence of a good amount of iron in the papaya that is instrumental in maintaining a healthy red blood cell count, ensuring that their hemoglobin levels are up to the mark.
Papaya Side Effects: What you need to Know
Papaya can be given to your child when they are babies as old as 6 months of age! That being said, while those papaya benefits are indeed noteworthy, you want to keep any eye out for the possible papaya side effects.
- An Allergic Reaction
- Stomach ache or cramps
Your child might develop an allergic reaction after eating papaya. This might manifest in the form of itching, rashes or even headaches.
Fact: This allergic reaction is because of the ‘latex’ present in the papaya fruit.
Yet another of those papaya side effects, is stomach aches caused by the upsetting of the stomach when your child eats papaya.
Fact: Once again, it is the latex found in the papaya, that is the culprit.
Tip: You want to serve only ‘ripe’ papaya to your child. This is because the latex content in papaya reduces considerably as the fruit ripens.
At EuroKids we believe that getting kids to eat fruits and vegetables from a young age is essential when it comes to forming healthy eating habits. Get your child to eat some Papaya today, and help them make it a habit that will persist over time!
