What is a Mangosteen Good for?

There is a tropical evergreen tree that grows throughout southeast Asia commonly now, but is believed to have originated in the Sundra Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. This tree grows as tall as 80 feet and produces a purple fruit that is famously edible. Some compare the taste that of a sweet peach mixed with apricot. Depending on the crop and the area it is found in it can have a tangy or a very sweet taste. This purple fruit, called a mangosteen, is supposed to have some of the world’s most impressive healing properties.

There are many ’superfruits’ being talked about today. Mangosteen is at the top of the list, however the nutritional value of this fruit doesn’t at first appear to match up to what some health officials determine to be a superfruit. It contains 18 grams of carbohydrates, 1.8 grams of diet fiber, .6 grams of fat, .4 grams of protein and 81 grams of water.

So if nothing else, it is very low in calories and would be perfect for those on a diet or trying to just control their weight. However research does show that it might have some of the world’s best antioxidant properties for any fruit. It is supposed to contain at least 40 different Xanthones, which are a powerful form of antioxidants. There are currently 200 Xanthones identified, all beneficial to humans.

Xanthones travel through our system and mop up free radicals that can cause disease and malfunctions in many of our organs. Mangosteen contains the Xanthones alpha-mangostin, gama-mangostin garcinone, beta-mangostin, garcinone-a, garcinone-d, garcinone-c, gartanin and mangostanol. All of these Xanthones and the all the other antioxidants contained in this fruit have anti-inflammatory, anti-convulsive, anti-tumor, anti-allergic, and platelet-aiding properties.

However, take care when drinking the Mangosteen juice. There have been a few cases of acidosis reported by individuals who consumed too much of it. Drinking smaller quantities should solve this issue entirely though, since the acidosis only appeared when people drank rather large quantities of its juice.

Mangosteen is available in western countries in juice, frozen, and sometimes canned varieties. There has been a long-standing ban on importation of this fruit in it’s whole form to the United States, but Canada has been importing mangosteen since 2007. Although the fruit is not easy to find here, farmers in Puerto Rico have started to send us a few mangosteen, especially to the more wealthy hotels and restaurants on the east coast.