THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF LYCHEE

Medically reviewed by Elizabeth Barnes, RDN

Lychee (litchi chinensis) are small, fleshy tropical fruits with tough red or white outer skins and are widely consumed in Southeast Asia. Lychee (also called litchi or lichee) is native to southern China but also cultivated in other tropical or subtropical climates such as India, Mexico, Hawaii, and Florida.

Lychee is typically eaten raw and has a sweet taste, often described as a cross between a strawberry and a pear or a grape. Lychee is rich in vitamin C, which helps boost the immune system, skin health, and more.

This article looks at the nutritional content of lychee, the fruit's potential health benefits, and who should avoid eating it.

Takeaway

While the flesh of the lychee is edible, the rind and seeds are not. The seeds can be toxic if consumed. Though often eaten fresh, lychee can also be consumed as dried, canned, spiced, or pickled.

Lychee Nutrition

Lychee contains many vitamins and minerals and is especially rich in vitamin C, with 119% of the recommended daily allowance, or about 71.5 milligrams (mg), in a raw 100 gram (g) serving. Lychee also is a good source of vitamin B2 (riboflavin), iron, potassium, calcium, and copper.

A 100 g serving of lychee contains:

  • Calories: 66
  • Fat: 0.44 g
  • Protein: 0.83 g
  • Carbohydrates: 16.5 g
  • Fiber: 1.3 g
  • Sugar: 15.2 g
  • Calcium: 5 mg
  • Magnesium: 10 mg
  • Phosphorous: 31 mg
  • Potassium: 171 mg
  • Vitamin C: 71.5 mg
  • Folate: 14 micrograms (mcg)

Other Plant Compounds in Lychee

Lychees are rich in polyphenols, plant compounds known for their antioxidant properties and health benefits, including decreasing inflammation and improving blood pressure, cholesterol, and insulin levels.

The fruit also contains anthocyanin, a polyphenol that gives food color and possesses antioxidant and antimicrobial components that can improve health and protect against diseases.

Oligonol

Oligonol is a polyphenol derived from lychee fruit extract that is valued for its anti-obesity

and antidiabetic properties, including controlling weight gain, lowering triglycerides, and alleviating diabetic muscle loss.

Possible Health Benefits of Lychee

Lychee contains nutrients known to have health-boosting properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory functions.

Antioxidant Properties

Antioxidants help clear free radicals (unstable molecules that can damage cells) from the body. Free radicals are chemicals from bodily processes, such as turning food into energy or exposure to pollution, cigarette smoke, and sunlight.

When free radicals are at high levels, they can cause oxidative stress in the body, damaging cells and leading to diseases. Lychee is also high in vitamin C, a known powerful antioxidant. Lychee contains other antioxidants, including polyphenols, anthocyanins, and selenium.

Immune System Support

Lychee is high in vitamin C, a powerful immune-boosting vitamin that enhances the function of immune system cells, such as white blood cells, that fight infection. Vitamin C is also an antioxidant that clears free radicals, which prevent the immune system from working well.

The fruit also contains B vitamins that support gut microbiome health, an important immune system component, and antibody production. The fruit also contains copper, iron, and selenium minerals, all of which support immune cell barrier function and activity.

Digestive Health

A 100 g serving of raw lychee contains 1.3 g of fiber. Fiber is important because it helps move food through the digestive system, promoting regular bowel movements and preventing constipation. Fiber also regulates hunger and blood sugar.

Heart Health

Lychee is a good source of polyphenols, which benefit heart health by decreasing inflammation and improving blood pressure, cholesterol, and insulin levels.

The fiber in lychee may also help reduce the following heart-health risk factors:

Skin Health

Lychee is rich in vitamin C, an essential nutrient for skin health. Vitamin C increases collagen and elastin production, which reduces signs of aging by improving skin elasticity and firmness. It also works as an antioxidant to prevent damage from ultraviolet (UV) rays and other elements that harm the skin.

Getting adequate vitamin C in the diet has been shown to improve:

Who Should Avoid Lychee

Takeaway

There are 15.2 g of sugar in a 100 g serving of raw lychee. Consult a healthcare provider regarding the safety of eating lychee if you have the following:

Though lychee seed is used in Chinese medicine to relieve pain from various illnesses, the seed is nonedible and can be toxic to humans. The seeds' toxicity is likely due to methylene cyclopropyl-alanine (MCPA) and analogue methylene cyclopropyl-glycine (MCPG). These toxins can cause hypoglycemic encephalopathy (brain swelling caused by deficient blood glucose levels).

Hypoglycemic encephalopathy can come on suddenly and cause mental confusion, coma, and death, even after blood sugar levels have been stabilized.

Eating lychee, especially unripe fruit, has been linked to death from hypoglycemic encephalopathy in children in Southeast Asia, especially those who were undernourished or ate the fruit after fasting.

Summary

Lychee is a tropical fruit popular in Southeast Asia that has various healthy nutrients. Lychee is especially notable for its high vitamin C content. Nutrients in lychee have antioxidant properties and can help protect against heart disease, support the immune system, and promote heart, digestive, and skin health.

However, consuming too much lychee has been linked to hypoglycemic encephalopathy, a potentially fatal condition. Anyone with food allergies or conditions affected by blood sugar, such as diabetes or PCOS, should consult a healthcare provider before consuming the fruit.

Read the original article on Verywell Health.

2024-03-20T21:52:05Z dg43tfdfdgfd