Nutritional and Medicinal Value of Papaya (Carica Papaya Linn.)

Abstract

The different parts of the Papaya (Carica papaya Linn.) belonging to the family Caricaceae such as leaves, seeds, latex and fruit possess excellent medicinal properties for treatment of different ailments. The stem, leaf and fruit of papaya contain plenty of latex. The latex from unripe fruit contains enzyme papain, other components include a mixture of cysteine end peptidases, chitinases and an inhibitor of serine protease, alkaloids, glycosides, flavanoids, saponins, tannins, phenols and steroids. This review focuses on the nutritional value, phytochemical constituents, antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity, treatment for dengue fever and anticancer activity of papaya.Papaya acts as a multi-faceted plant. It is also essential to identify the mechanism of the plant compounds and studying the active principle of the extract. It is recommended to include the papaya in our diet as fruit salads, fruit juice, leaf extract, decoction prepared through papaya leaves, etc.

Antidiabetic Effect of Ethanolic Extract of Carica papaya Leaves in Alloxan-Induced Diabetic Rats

“…Copy@ Augustine I Airaodion phenolic compounds as well as possesses remarkable antioxidant activity [27]. These substances may be responsible for the hypoglycemic effect of C. papaya leaves observed in this study.…”

“…in the present study. Moreover, it can be conjectured that the lipid lowering effects of C. papaya leaves could be due to the inhibition of hepatic cholesterol, triglyceride and possibly fatty acid synthesis by the phenolic constituents of C. papaya leaves [27].…”

Cytotoxic Activity of Combining Molecular Iodine and Dihydroartemisinin with Methanol Extracts of Carica papaya Linn and Vernonia amygdalina Delile Leaves against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cell Lines

“…The MCF-7 cell line has been documented to be the most common form of breast cancer that is responsible for about 83% of the cases, 29 while the MDA-MB-231 cell line is not as common but is much harder to treat 29 . Unlike other studies on the use of CP 9,30 , artemisinin 14,16 , VA, 12,13 and iodine 21,22 to treat cancer, this study sheds light on the cytotoxic effect of combining the methanolic extracts of CP and VA with DHA and iodine against breast cancer cells. Some of the previously reported IC50 values of single-plant extracts and compounds include CP petroleum ether and aqueous methanolic extracts on MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines that were 100 μg/mL 31 and 130 μg/mL, 32 respectively.…”

“…These compounds include phenolics, carotenoids, and glucosinolates. 9 The plant is rich in the enzyme papain that is effective against cancer cells. 10 Papain breaks down the fibrin of the cancer cell wall and protein into an amino acid.…”

Influence of cashew steaming on the quality attributes of cashew-pawpaw mixed fruit juice

“…It is cultivated in America and African countries. Pawpaw fruit is rich in sugar, vitamin C, β-carotene (vitamin A precursor), thiamin, riboflavin and Niacin (Pinnamaneni, 2017). Pawpaw fruits are also good sources of minerals (calcium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium) which are beneficial to man (Chukwuka et al, 2013).…”