About Guava Leaf: We know that the fruit guava is amongst the most nutritious and healthy fruits one can have. It boosts digestive health like no other fruit and is loaded with high levels of vitamin C, making it a potent source of antioxidants. But did you know that guava leaves can be nearly as beneficial as the fruit itself? Leaves of one of the most common guavas is psidium guajava. The leaves of the guava plants are usually about the size of our palm, and their fibrous nature, along with their antioxidant quality, cannot be ignored. There is no doubt that guava leaves have been used in various medicinal practices throughout history. Let’s take a look at some of these health and beauty benefits of guava leaves in the article, before you decide to make it a part of your diet. Also, before we tell you about the benefits in this article, we would like to tell you that we do not endorse consumption of guava leaves in excess. In fact, they should not be consumed without an expert supervision.
Table of Contents
Benefits Of Guava Leaves
1. Powerful Anti-Oxidants
One of the benefits of guava leaves is that they have high amounts of vitamin C. The high vitamin C content in guava leaves can prove to be an excellent free-radical scavenger for you. Free-radicals are free-roaming oxygen atoms that often combine with healthy cells and cause oxidative stress over the walls, thus damaging them. Consumption of antioxidant-rich foods can prove to have a completely different outcome altogether. Since antioxidants combine with these free-radicals, they reduce the concentration of oxygen atoms in the bloodstream, further lowering the risk of contracting any free-radical damage.
Also Read: A To Z Of Antioxidant-Rich Food | Complete List Of Food Items To Fight Free-Radicals
2. Guava Leaves Are High On Fiber
The dietary fiber content of guava leaves too, just like its antioxidant content, can be helpful, but in a different sense. Fibers are the non-digestible part of food; hence a fiber-filled food requires a long time for digestion. In other words, guava leaves or guava leaves extract, thanks to their fibrous nature are able to lower your cravings and prevent you from over-eating thus aiding in weight loss. So if you want to reduce your weight, make sure you indulge in some guava leaf tea that is said to have positive effects on your body fat.
3. Beneficial For Healthy Digestion
The fibrous nature of guava leaves has other benefits apart from being helpful for weight-loss. Dietary fiber is responsible for adding bulk to your stool and facilitating proper bowel movements, which ultimately leads to great digestive health. Furthermore, since fiber loaded food items like guava leaves take longer to digest, consuming such types of foods might make your stomach work extra for their complete digestion, thus burning some calories along the way while also boosting your metabolism.
So if you are looking for weight loss, then the fruit guava and its leaves is the right pick. All you need to do is to consume it in the right way.
Also Read: Best And Worst Foods For Digestion
4. Guava Leaves Contain Adequate Dosage Of Iron
Iron, which is present in guava leaves, is one of the most essential minerals that may have been linked with multiple benefits resulting in maintained blood pressure and proper hemoglobin production in the bloodstream. Hemoglobin is a cell present in the blood that is also referred to as an oxygen carrier, thus consuming more iron means that your body will end up producing more hemoglobin cells, further increasing the amount of oxygen that is transported to every other organ. This helps in the prevention of oxygen-deficient diseases such as anemia.
5. Manages Blood Pressure
Not only iron, but potassium is also one of the main minerals residing in these leaves, and potassium, as everyone knows, is quite beneficial for maintaining a proper blood pressure level too. The reason behind this fact is that a mineral such as potassium exerts a dilating effect on the inner blood vessel walls, which prevents the vessels from getting constricted and further resulting in a maintained blood pressure level.
6. Promotes Cardiovascular Health
The combination of essential minerals such as potassium and dietary fiber are quite beneficial for the efficient working of the heart and may have a good effect on it in the long run. The plant-based phytochemicals found in the leaves is quite beneficial when it comes to the lowering of concentration of bad cholesterol along with lowering blood pressure, hence it is a common food item prescribed to people who are chronic heart patients.
Did you know both cholesterol and high blood pressure are linked to each other. When your arteries harden due to cholesterol plaque, it become tough for the heart to pump blood through the arteries, which in turn ups the blood pressure, further causing high BP. So, in order to keep your blood pressure in check, you should first take care of the your cholesterol levels.
7. Guava Leaves Are Beneficial For Liver Health
An enzyme known as aspartate aminotransferase may help with the prevention of the damage of liver cells, and as the extracts of guava leaves and their properties are associated with the curbing of the production of this enzyme, the addition of these leaves into your daily diet may help keep your liver healthy and functioning well for a long time. In addition to that, guava leaves extract also helps improve the secretion of insulin, which brings us to our next advantage.
8. Great For Diabetes Treatment
As mentioned in the previous point, the consumption of guava leaves may lead to a healthier liver, as it ensures the proper secretion of Insulin. This hormone is also responsible for breaking down the sugar molecules into small packets of energy, which are later used by the body for other purposes; hence it can also be a great addition to your pre-workout regime. These important properties and effects of guava leaves on diabetes cannot be missed out. Did you know, guava leaf tea is said to help improve insulin resistance and further reduce blood sugar levels in diabetics. So, one of the best ways to consume guava leaf is to drink guava leaf tea. (1)
Also Read: Diabetes Diet: What To Eat To Manage Blood Sugar And Keep Diabetes In Control
9. Great For Sleep
Apart from all the health benefits associated with their consumption and the health properties they possess, guava leaves may have also been directly linked with a better quality of sleep. Frequent urination can be a major disturbing situation during sleep time. However, consumption of guava leaf tea, made by infusing guava leaf in hot boiling water, can reduce your urge to urinate and ensure that you have a fatigue-free nap time. Guava leaf tea is simple to make and has many positive effects on your body. You should not steep the guava leaf for too long, otherwise the tea wouldn’t taste good.
10. Guava Leaves Have Anti-Ageing Effect On Skin
Apart from the above health benefits of guava leaf, this is yet another benefit of guava leaves. Without a doubt, some of the skin damage that occurs as you get older is due to the attack of free-radicals, or free oxygen atoms, on your skin cells. The addition of guava leaves into your daily diet could help in the delivery of an adequate amount of antioxidants in your system, and thus it’ll make sure that the concentration of free-radicals is reduced and the risk of free-radical damage is lowered.
11. Guava Leaf Is A Great Remedy For Hair Loss
Hair loss condition is amongst the most concerning issues when it comes to the aging process. The vitamin and mineral content in guava leaf can be a solution for your hair loss problems. All you have to do is boil some guava leaves in water, strain them, and after cooling the guava leaves-infused water, apply it over your scalp, massage and keep this for at least 20 minutes. The nutrients present in the leaves will be absorbed evenly by the scalp, which would keep the hair follicles nourished and healthy.
12. Guava Leaves Help In Treating Acne
Acne is caused by bacteria that damage healthy skin cells and then cause conditions like inflammation. The occurrence of acne and other spots is usually the sign of an unhealthy diet, However, mashing guava leaves and then applying them over your skin may be quite helpful, as they can easily fight off the bacteria that cause acne. Moreover, the application of guava leaf extracts over your skin may form a thin protective layer that further prevents the attack of any external pathogen. You could make guava leaf paste by grinding the leaves in a grinder and add a few lemon juice drops to the paste. Now apply this paste on your face and see the magic.
Related Reading:
Anti-Inflammatory Foods: List Of Foods That’ll Help You Fight Inflammation
13. Promotes Oral Health
Even chewing on fruitless guava leaves can be quite useful, for this can help in reducing the formation of dental plaque. As a good source of vitamin C and flavonoids, guava leaves are also recommended for treating issues such as bleeding gums, toothache, and bad breath.
14. Guava Leaves May Prevent Cancer
As per a study and according to the NCBI, guava leaf extracts are said to have shown anticancer effects that may prevent growth of cancer cells. (2) More researches need to be conducted to ensure if guava leave extracts are helpful in preventing the growth of cancer cells in the body.
Did you know?
People suffering from diarrhea must drink guava leaf tea in order to recover quickly, and reduce the abdominal pain caused by diarrhea. While this may be a great remedy for diarrhea, make sure you consult an expert. All you need to do is to steep the guava leaves in hot water and boil it for sometime. Now remove the leaf and drink the guava leaf tea. The best way to consume guava leaf tea is to drink it on an empty stomach for quick relief. Also do not brew the tea for more than 5 minutes.
Keeping all of this information in mind, it is also important for you to know that the consumption of any food item, no matter how many nutrients it has, must always be done in a regulated fashion, as it may have its own side effects that you may be unaware of. For example, too much fiber, a macro-nutrient present in guava leaves, can lead to severe weight gain instead of weight loss. And though all the minerals present in the guava leaves can significantly help in maintaining your blood pressure by lowering it, too much of these minerals can further lower your blood pressure below its normal level. Eat in a balanced way and stay healthy. Also, do not forget to follow a strict diet and also include physical exercises in your regime.