Pineapple
Pineapple and its superpowers
Pineapple. Pine.. apple. The name originates from its resemblance to a pinecone. Ananas comosus, the scientific name for pineapple, comes from the Tupi word "nanas," meaning "excellent fruit," while "comosus" is Latin for "tufted," referring to the fruit's stem.
The apple in the name pineapple dates back to the late 14th century, when medieval botanists referred to any unfamiliar fruit on a tree that resembled a firm, round-ish shape would be called an apple.
Pineapple has quite an impressive list of benefits along with its nutrients. It contains Bromelain (which we will talk about shortly), vitamin C, manganese, copper, B6, potassium and folate.
It helps to boost your immune system, strengthen your bones, muscle recovery, aid digestion, protect your heart and reduce inflammation. It’s known for help with indigestion, allergies, helps prevent blood clots, swelling and oedema.
Pineapple is a South American native plant, a part of Hawaiian folk medicine, and is one of the richest sources in the world of the enzyme bromelain.
Bromelain, most concentrated in the pineapple core, is a combination of digestive enzymes. Specifically, endopeptidases and compounds, including phosphatase, peroxidase, glucosidase, escharase, cellulase and protease inhibitors.
It is known for many disease fighting properties, including cancer.
Pineapple is recognized as one of the top cancer fighting foods. Bromelain specifically has shown natural anti-cancer effects; by actions including promoting apoptotic cell death and preventing tumor growth. Animal studies have also shown it can induce the production of distinct cytokines, and inhibit metastasis by reducing platelet aggregation.
Studies have also linked bromelain to protection against lung and breast cancer.
Bromelain has also been used for aiding muscle repair during sports or injuries, for digestive issues such as heartburn and diarrhoea, autoimmune conditions, allergies, cardiovascular disorders, arthritis, joint pain, asthma, allergies and many more.
Bromelain can also enhance absorption of nutrents in the foods that you eat. So, if you happen to be low in iron, pairing it with pineapple is a great idea.
Parasites
Bromelain helps to treat parasitic infections caused by tapeworms, roundworms and flushes parasites from your body.
Bromelain can be utilized as an anthelmintic agent against gastrointestinal nematodes like Heligmosomoides polygyrus, Trichoderma viride, and Trichurismuris.
Helminthiasis is a parasitic worm infection that is increasingly resistant to anthelmintic drugs. In vivo studies are being conducted to try and develop alternative strategies to protect us from resistant infections, including evaluating the potency of bromelain.
The anthelmintic behavior of bromelain has been studied and analysed using various techniqiues, including using larval development assay (LDA) and egg hatch assay (EHA). Bromelain has demonstrated major adulticidal activity on Haemonchus contortus, destroying all worms by disrupting their cuticles after 8 h of incubation and eventually inducing worm disintegration.
Traditionally, fresh pineapple juice was used as a natural remedy for worms and other parasites by cultures that infections are prevalent.
If you have an active, aggressive infection, I would recommened this as a complementary to other treatments. While it is impactful, it may need a bit more help depending on the severity.
Including foods like pineapple is a no brainer, when you look at its amazing actions. Especially if you want to basically host an internal environment to the good bugs - not parasites and worms. Having an anti-parasitic diet with foods like pineapple, is a great way to avoid the negative impacts of having these infections - and having pineapple is a definite go-to in my books.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34681298/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8067380/
https://draxe.com/nutrition/cancer-fighting-foods/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23570457
https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:jvp&volume=30&issue=2&article=003
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37157782/