Health benefits of tropical pepper fruit

Pepper fruit, also known as Dennettia tripetala, is a kind of indigenous fruit that belongs to the Annonaceae family. It gets found in the Tropical region and the Savannah areas, located in Ivory Coast, Western Cameroon, and Southern Parts of Nigeria.

The reason why it is called Pepper fruit is because of its sharp and spicy taste. It ripens between April and May. When unripe, it gets characterized by a greenish colour. But when ripe, it tends to be reddish and pinkish.

Pepper fruit has numerous health and nutritional benefits, some of which will get treated in this article.

Health benefits of pepper Fruit

The following are the health benefits of pepper fruit:

1. Pepper fruit possesses anticonvulsant effects, which help to relax the nervous system and relieve anxiety.
2. It helps to lower blood sugar levels which will be beneficial to diabetic patients.
3. It is rich in antioxidants such as ascorbic acid (vitamin c) and flavonoids, which reduce aging.
4. It also helps lower intraocular pressure in healthy persons, a beneficial source for glaucoma patients.
5. Pepper fruit extract helps to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer cells in the body.
6. The essential oil of the fruit helps to reduce inflammation, body aches, and pain. Because it possesses analgesic effects as induced by aspirin.
7. Pepper fruit helps to fight germs.

Nutritional value of Pepper Fruit

The following are the nutritional value of pepper fruit:

1. It contains vitamins, minerals, crude proteins, oils, carbohydrates, Sulphur, ash, fibre, and iron flavours.
2. Study shows that unripe pepper fruit contains higher amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, and minerals more than the ripe ones.
3. Pepper fruit, according to elemental analysis shows that it contains mainly calcium and iron, manganese and copper, zinc.

Where Is Pepper Fruit grown?

Knowing the health and nutritional benefits of pepper fruit would be incomplete without knowing where it is grown. Pepper fruit gets grown in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria.

Medicinal uses of Pepper Fruit

1. The following are the medicinal uses of pepper fruit.
2. The fruits and leaves of pepper fruit get used for enhancing appetite and cough treatment.
3. The roots, leaves, and fruits of pepper fruit can be used as herbal medicine in treating gastrointestinal diseases such as worm infestation, diarrhoea, vomiting, and stomach upset.
4. Research shows that the ethanol extract of pepper fruit has potent anti-ulcer properties, which can help treat an aspirin-induced ulcer.
5. Studies have shown that extracts from pepper fruit are active as antifungal agents against Rhizopus Stonolinfer, Saccharomyces Cervisae Candida Triopicalis, Candida Sp., Crytococeus Sp., Geotrichum Sp., and Aspergillus.
6. The fruits and leaves of pepper fruit can be used as herbal medicine for treating typhoid.

Conclusion

Pepper fruit is not just some regular fruit meant for consumption, but it contains nutritional, medicinal, and health benefits, good for the human body. It also has no side effects.