Lychee, also called litchi or lichi is a luscious fruit that is a popular summer bounty in the warmer regions of Asia and Africa. Having a delicious, succulent taste, this sweet fruit is enjoyed as such, as well as incorporated in juices, smoothies, ice creams, cakes and numerous other yummy pastries. In addition, lychee fruits offer a plethora of health merits, including remedying hypertension, enhancing immunity, beautifying skin, uplifting metabolism and nourishing hair.
The lychee fruit is clad by the scientific name Litchi chinensis and belongs to the Sapindaceae family of flora. This small and tantalizing product is commonly known as litchi, lychee or lichi in English and referred to by the same names in many regional Indian languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Telugu and Kannada. In Tamil, it is termed as “Vilazhi Pazham” and in Malayalam, it is called “Lichi Pazham”.
The lychee tree, native to the warm locales of China, also grows widely in the hot tropical belts of Thailand, South Africa, India, Madagascar and Indonesia. These evergreen trees bear lychee fruits, that have a green outer covering when raw which turns bright red on ripening and houses a fleshy inner segment that encloses a single big dark brown seed. The interior pulp encircling the seed is the edible portion with a very appetizing flavour, as well as marvellous nutritional value and excellent health incentives.
Lychee Nutrition Content:
Apart from its mouth-watering taste, lychee is also renowned for its remarkable array of beneficial constituents. Being high in calorie content, carbohydrates it contributes towards the system’s energy needs, besides possessing ample water content for maintaining healthy body weight. It is low in fats, with no sodium or cholesterol, to promote heart health, while comprising some dietary fibers and proteins too.
Lychee is packed with vitamin C, for immune-boosting and antioxidant activity, in addition to vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6 and B9 or folate, that support metabolism and stimulate blood circulation. Housing vast reserves of phytonutrients including polyphenols – catechins, rutin and anthocyanins – oligonol, lychee preserves the smooth texture of the skin and significantly improves the growth, thickness of hair.
Lychee Health Benefits:
Strengthens Disease Resistance
Lychee provides profuse quantities of vitamin C, that elevates the activity of the immune system in the body. This helps to shield the body from chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiac ailments, cancer, besides preventing cough, cold, fever, infections and seasonal illnesses.
Arrests Hair Fall
Drinking a glass of lychee juice or applying a paste of the fruit extracts and almond oil to the hair works wonders in ceasing hair fall. The wealth of polyphenols and B vitamins in lychee reinforces hair roots and the strands, to mend instances of excessive hair loss.
Supplies Instant Energy
Lychee is a storehouse of calories and carbohydrates in the form of simple sugars. Eating a small portion of lychee fruits as part of the regular diet provides copious volumes of energy for executing physical tasks and also beats fatigue, eliminates lethargy, improves metabolism, digestion.
Augments Cardiac Wellness
A treasure trove of a unique phytonutrient, an anthocyanin compound known as oligonol is found in lychee fruits. This averts clogging of blood vessels in the heart, preventing cardiac complications. Being low in sodium, cholesterol, lychee also aids in rectifying hypertension.
Softens Skin Texture
Lychee is loaded with vitamin C, as well as rutin, catechins, all of which bestow brilliant antioxidant traits to the body. Eating the fruit as such or dabbing on a face pack of lychee residues and banana supplies soft, flawless, youthful skin, sans acne, wrinkles and dark spots.
