Top 10 Health Benefits of Sayote/Chayote That Many People Do Not Know About

Originating from Mexico and Central America, sayote or generally accepted as chayote is a good storehouse of important nutrients that your body needs. Chayote is a gourd plant, eaten similarly to the summer squash, cucumbers, and melons.

You can add raw chayote to salads or cook them in meat or vegetarian dishes. No matter what you call it, you’ll certainly agree that this vegetable isn’t just delicious, but nutritious as well.

For starters, chayote contains no cholesterol and unhealthy fats and is usually recommended for controlling bad cholesterol levels and promoting healthy weight. Furthermore, chayote is a rich source of dietary fiber, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, vitamin C and choline. Here are the Top 10 among the many health benefits of chayote:

1. Helps Lose Weight

The chayote contains a very low amount of calories – about 16 calories in 100 grams. This means that it can be seen in the nutritional content table at a very high number because the chayote also contains no cholesterol and no saturated fats at all.

Also, the chayote contains a lot of fiber. This is why it is such a recommended food for those people who are eagerly trying to lose some weight.

2. Helps Prevent Birth Infant Defects

The chayote contains B complex vitamins as well as folate. The folate is so high that in only 100 grams of chayote, you can get 23% of your daily recommended folate intake.

The folate is necessary for the process of division of the cells so that the pregnant women while consuming it help their infant grow and develop properly and prevent it from suffering from any neurological defects.

3. Lowers Cholesterol Levels

When it comes to the nutrient content table of the chayote, this does not contain any saturated fats whatsoever even for the caloric content alone in very small amounts.

Based on these factors, the chayote is definitely used to control your overall cholesterol levels. This is why it is quite good to be used by people who are dealing with high levels of cholesterol.

4. Great Source of Stamina

The chayote has also been very well known for the excellent source of potassium which is a kind of electrolyte that is found very useful as a source of stamina in the body. The content of potassium is found in abundance – about 125 milligrams in only 100 grams of the chayote.

5. Prevents Premature Aging

The chayote has a pretty high amount of flavonoid which can help the body fight off any harmful substances such as the ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species), a substance that has derived from the oxygen but is reactive that can be harmful to the body and the free radicals can cause premature aging as well as other dangerous diseases.

6. Treats Kidney Stones

The chayote especially its leaves can definitely be used in treating kidney stones. This has been revealed in a study which was conducted at the University of North Florida. In addition to all of this, the chayote leaves can also be found useful when it comes to lowering the overall high blood pressure levels.

7. Prevents Constipation

If you decide to add the chayote on your food menu, you will add the necessary amount of fiber intake that your body needs. The fiber will help you maintain a proper digestive process within the body to prevent constipation from ever happening.

8. Lowers High Blood Pressure

The regular consumption of chayote is believed to help you lower your overall blood pressure levels in the body. A study conducted at Purdue University has even proved all of this. In this particular study, the chayote has been used as a tea and consumed in the form of a beverage, and all of the results showed that it can lower the overall blood pressure levels in the body.

9. Prevents Heart Disease

The chayote contains plenty of essential vitamins which are all useful for the overall health of the body. One of these compounds is the Vitamin C which can be found in abundance in the chayote. As an antioxidant, Vitamin C can prevent the development of many diseases caused by the damage that the free radicals can do, and one of them is preventing any heart disease from happening.

10. Prevents Anemia

When a person has a deficiency in the red blood cells or anemia, it means that there is a deficiency of iron and Vitamin B2 in the body. The chayote contains these two compounds which can stimulate the overall production of the red blood cells and hemoglobin within the body, so this will lead to preventing the anemia from ever occurring in the body.

source: readanddigesthealth