Facts You Should Know about Dragon Fruit Health Benefits

Plant | Nutrition | Antioxidants | Dragon Fruit Benefits | Side Effects | Taste | Uses | Price in India | How to Eat

Dragon fruit is a popular tropical fruit with many nutritional benefits. Learn how to add dragon fruit to your diet with this article!

Here we have tried to list out all the detailed information on dragon fruit that includes information about dragon fruit health benefits, dragon fruit plant, dragon fruit nutrition data, dragon fruit antioxidants, dragon fruit side effects, dragon fruit taste, dragon fruit uses, dragon fruit price in India & how to eat Dragon Fruit?

What is Dragon Fruit?

Due to many dragon fruit benefits, it is now considered as the super fruit in India.

You know, dragon fruit is an exotic tropical fruit with enriched micronutrients and antioxidants properties, gaining more popularity in the Indian market. (1)

 

You might be wondered but earlier dragon fruit was used as an ornament but after discovering its numerous health benefits & being very juicy fruit with unique taste and attractive colour, it is now routinely consumed worldwide. (2)

 

Is Dragon Fruit good?

Now, you might be wondering that is dragon fruit good for you?

Buckle up your self, and read our article that specifically about various dragon fruit health benefits. We think after reading this article, you will definitely get the answer for your question “Is dragon fruit good for you?”

Along with mouth-melting healthy core pulp, dragon fruit has black colour edible seeds in its pulp. It’s a complete package of nutrients.

We have listed all information about dragon fruit nutrition data on further read. You might be amazed by seeing dragon fruit nutrition data because it’s full of vitamins and other nutrients.

 

Dragon fruit is oval or pear-shaped having a flavour of sweet taste or somewhat sourish taste. (3)

Dragon fruit was originated from Mexico, Central America & Northern South America in the 19^th Century.

But due to tremendous dragon fruit benefits, it’s started growing worldwide.

Dragon fruit is now grown in the United States, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, India, China, Vietnam and many more countries. In India, dragon fruit is grown in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and many other states. (2)

 

There are various names of dragon fruit.

Dragon fruit is known as “Strawberry Pear”, “Pithaya”, “Pitaya”, “Pitahaya”, “Night Blooming Cereus”, “Belle of the Night”, “Honolulu Queen”.

 

In Vietnam, the dragon fruit is called “Thanh Long” which means Green Dragon. (3)

Because of its health benefits, dragon fruit can be used as medicine to some extent.

Dragon Fruit Plant

Dragon fruit belongs to the family Cactaceae.

So, the dragon fruit plant is a cactus plant, known as “Hylocereus” cactus.

The flower of the dragon plant is so beautiful and only blooms at night hence named “Noble Women” or “Queen of the Night”.

 

Dragon Fruit Varieties

Fruits on dragon fruit plant comes in three varieties:

• • First one is Hylocereus undatus – Dragon fruit with white pulp & pink outer skin.

• • Second one is Hylocereus polyrhizus – Dragon fruit with red pulp & pink outer skin known as “Red Dragon Fruit”.

• • Third one is Hylocereus megalanthus – Dragon fruit with white pulp & yellow outer skin known as “Yellow Dragon Fruit”.

 

Dragon Fruit Nutrition Data

The rich nutrient contents and antioxidant properties have made it very popular as healthy fruit across the globe.

Dragon fruit is the source of protein, carbohydrates, fibres, vitamins & minerals.

 

Dragon fruit is the source of various vitamins such as Vitamin C, Vitamin B1 (Thiamine), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B3 (Niacin) and various minerals such as Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorous, Sodium, Zinc and Calcium.

According to publication on Quality Assurance in Agricultural Produce in “Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research”, nutritional values of dragon fruit for a serving of 100 grams or 3.5 ounces of the edible portion of red dragon fruit weighing 394 grams are:

 

Showing a dense amount of nutrition including protein, fibres, carbohydrates, minimal fat, vitamin C, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, high amount of minerals such as magnesium and phosphorous, you must include dragon fruit in your diet.

Types of Antioxidants in Dragon Fruit

Along with multiple vitamins and minerals, dragon fruit contains various antioxidants.

Antioxidants mainly help in removing free radicals from the body.

Free radicals are responsible for chronic health problems along with ageing-related diseases such as diabetes, cancer, atherosclerosis, hypertension, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, inflammation and other heart diseases when available in higher values.

 

Following antioxidants are present in dragon fruit (4):

• • Phenolics

• • Flavonoids

• • Betalain, and

• • Vitamin C or Ascorbic acid

These contents of dragon fruit are responsible for antioxidant activities which prevent damage to the cells of the body.

Dragon fruit has the potential to produce betalains.

 

Betalains are present in the dragon fruit peel which gives red pigmentation to the skin of the fruit as well as in the pulp of the red dragon fruit which produces the highest amount of antioxidants activity. (5)

 

Pitaya peels have a higher number of antioxidants properties to fight against cancer compared to the pulps.

So, you should not throw the peels of dragon fruit but should consume it by adding peels to salad to increase the amount of nutrition along with the pulp that you are going to eat.

 

Studies done for evaluating the antioxidants properties of dragon fruit revealed that the antioxidant activity of the dragon fruit was higher compared to several other fruits analysed. (3)

Dragon Fruit Health Benefits

We know your reading this article to know about dragon fruit health benefits. You have already read our dragon fruit nutrition data.

So, now let’s get started with its benefits.

Hence for you we have listed all the various dragon fruit benefits related to your health.

Here is the list of all dragon fruit health benefits that are documented to date. (1)(2)

Cough and Asthma

Regular consumption of dragon fruit or pitaya can help fight against cough & asthma.

Wound Healing, Boost Immunity & Coronavirus

Due to its high Vitamin C contents, dragon fruit is beneficial for wound healing and also responsible for boosting immunity.

Hence, you can consume this dragon fruit during this Covid-19 pandemic situation where natural Vitamin C in dragon fruit can help you in boosting your immunity and fighting against various Covid-19 viruses’ variants such as Delta variant, Omicron variant.

Reduce your Thirst

You might be wondering but Dragon fruit can reduce your thirst as it contains the highest amount of water content. It contains 85.30% of moisture in it.

Dragon Fruit helps in reducing Heart Problems

Mark that Dragon fruit is rich in flavonoids which can help reduce heart problems and vitamin B3 in dragon fruit lowers the bad cholesterol level in the body.

Bleeding Problems

Eating dragon fruit can also be beneficial in bleeding problems of vaginal discharge.

Digestion of Food & Energy

The high fiber content in dragon fruit helps in the proper digestion of the food.

Vitamin B1 in dragon fruit increases your body energy whereas Vitamin B2 helps in digestion.

Eyesight

Dragon fruit helps in improving eyesight.

Dragon Fruit Health Benefits for Diabetes

Some studies documented about dragon fruit benefits for diabetes that include eating dragon fruit can reduce high blood sugar levels in people suffering from Type 2 Diabetes. (6)

Growth of Bones and Teeth

High levels of Calcium and Phosphorous minerals helps in the growth of bones and teeth.

Memory Power

Daily consumption of dragon fruit can improve your memory power.

We tried to document all the possible health benefits of eating dragon fruit, but studies performed for these above-mentioned health benefits are less. So, further research for the evaluation of various health benefits of dragon fruit is a must.

Dragon Fruit Side Effects

Consumption of Dragon fruit is safer. No such dragon fruit side effects are reported to date, but patients allergic to Dragon fruit may produce some adverse side effects of eating dragon fruit. (7)

Dragon Fruit Taste

According to, facts sheet published on Dragon fruit by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, US, Dragon fruit has a crunchy texture and sweet flavour just like a kiwi or a pear.

Dragon Fruit Uses

Some of the innumerable uses of Dragon fruit are:

• • You can consume dragon fruit directly as fruit or by adding it to the salad.

• • Commercially, dragon fruit is used as a natural colouring agent.

• • A value-added product such as packed juices, fruit jam, fruit jelly, candy, fruit syrup and wine can be made from the pulp of the dragon fruit.

• • Ice cream and fruit smoothies can be made out of dragon fruit.

Dragon Fruit Price in India per kg

Dragon fruit price in India varies from Rs. 70 to Rs. 150 per piece weighing about 220 to 550 grams. Hence, you can say that dragon fruit price in India per kg varies from about Rs. 250 to Rs. 320 per kg. But, mostly dragon fruit price in India per kg isn’t considered but the per piece is considered. If you are living in India, you can buy it online anywhere in India through bigbasket,  Amazon Fresh, and Flipkart.

How to eat dragon fruit?

Now you know that Dragon fruit Nutrition values with no side effects or less dragon fruit side effects, let’s eat dragon fruit.

According to wikiHow, you can eat Dragon fruit in four different ways.

Directly consume the Dragon fruit

Fine well ripped dragon fruit has bright pink or red peels and gives bounce back effect on pressing over fruit.

Too soft dragon fruit means it is over ripped and too hard means it is under ripped.

Cut the dragon fruit in two slices using a sharp knife and you can enjoy the fruit directly eating the pulp of dragon fruit with a spoon or you can remove the peel of dragon fruit and slice it and enjoy it with Greek yoghurt or add it to your healthy salad.

Make Kebabs of Dragon Fruit

You can cut the Dragon Fruit pulp into small square pieces and pierce them and thread the dragon fruits using wooden skewers after soaking skewers for 10 mins in water.

Cook it over the grill for 2 mins followed by placing it in the oven for 2 more mins. Then, enjoy eating it.

Dragon Fruit Smoothie Recipe

Here we will brief you about dragon fruit smoothie recipe.

First of all, slice dragon fruit pulp, bananas and berries. Take either Greek yoghurt or milk or soy milk or nut milk.

Based on your taste you may add apple or grape juice, sugar or honey. Blend all the ingredients into the blender.

Blend it on your choice based on whether you want it very thick or slightly thick. Pour it in glass. Ta-da, you made your Dragon fruit smoothie using our Dragon fruit smoothie recipe.

Make Dragon Fruit Sorbet

Cut the dragon fruit pulp into small pieces. Mix them with sorbet ingredients. Blend them and then freeze them for 8 hours. Then enjoy your sorbet serving it on the left dragon fruit peel while slicing it or into the glass.

These dragon fruit recipes are sourced from wikiHow. For detailed recipes along with videos and photos, please visit wikiHow article on How to Eat Dragon Fruit?

We assume that we have tried to solve your query on “How to eat Dragon Fruit?”

Conclusion

Dragon fruit is an exotic tropical fruit available in three varieties, White dragon fruit, yellow dragon fruit & red dragon fruit.

As you see our dragon fruit nutrition data, dragon fruit contains rich nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, fibers, vitamin C, B1, B2 & B3, minerals like magnesium, phosphorus & calcium along with antioxidant properties, it is now one of the popular exotic fruits bought in India.

Enriched nutrients of dragon fruit make it healthy. Health benefits of dragon fruit include improvement in chronic health problems such as diabetes, cancer, hypertension, etc.

Various commercial uses of dragon fruit are for making packed juices, jam, jelly, candy, syrup or wine. Dragon fruit adds value to these products.

Dragon fruit price in India ranges from Rs. 70 to Rs. 150 per piece and you can either consume it directly as a fruit or add it to a salad or make some delicious and healthy recipes out of it.

And lastly addressing, the most searched question on Google, “How to eat Dragon Fruit?”, we have listed briefly 4 ways to eat dragon fruit, that must solve your query.

We hope that we have documented all the information on information about dragon fruit health benefits, dragon fruit plant, dragon fruit nutrition, dragon fruit antioxidants, dragon fruit side effects, dragon fruit taste, dragon fruit uses, dragon fruit price in India & how to eat Dragon Fruit that you need.

Thank you.