What is a mangosteen? Is there any benefits of mangosteen juice?
The mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana L., family: Guttiferae ) is a tropical evergreen tree, believed to have originated in Southeast Asia, the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas. WordNet (r) 2.0 defines mangosteen as "East Indian tree with thick leathery leaves and edible fruit [syn: mangosteen tree, Garcinia mangostana], 2-3 inch tropical fruit with juicy flesh suggestive of both peaches and pineapples."
Spanish speaking people call it as mangostan; French as mangostanier, mangoustanier, mangouste or mangostier; Portuguese as mangostao, mangosta or mangusta; Dutch as manggis or manggistan; Vietnamese as mang cut; Malaya as mesetor, semetah or sementah or as in any of the above languages; in Myanmar (Burma) as men-gu and in the Philippines as mangis or mangostan.
Mangosteen is a slow growing tree that grows from 7 to 25 meters tall. It requires a wet lowland tropical climate. The plant does not survive temperatures below 410 F (50 C). The mangosteen trees can yield more than 1000 fruits in a season.
Picture of Mangosteen Fruit
The mangosteen fruit, known as the queen of fruits is 2-3 inch diameter. The outer purple-black skinned shell (1/4 to 3/8 inch thick rind) of the mangosteen fruit is hard. The snow-white, juicy, soft flesh pulp is segmented like an orange with 4 to 8 triangular segments, if ripe enough. The taste of the mangosteen fruit is mild acidic, like that of an underripe strawberry or like that of a prune. The mangosteen fruit is usually eaten fresh. It is also canned or frozen. The mangosteen juice is now commercially available.
The mangosteen is one of the popular tropical fruits that contain essential nutrients required for normal growth and development of body. The fruit is high in carbohydrates, sugar, dietary fibers and iron but low in vitamins and minerals.
Food Value Per 100 g of Edible Portion of Mangosteen*
| Calories | 60-63 |
| Water | 80.2-84.9 g |
| Protein | 0.50-0.60 g |
| Fat | 0.1-0.6 g |
| Carbohydrates | 14.3-15.6 g |
| Sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose) | 16.42-16.82 g |
| Fiber | 5.0-5.1 g |
| Ascorbic Acid | 1.0-2.0 mg |
| Calcium | 0.01-8.0 mg |
| Phosphorus | 0.02-12.0 mg |
| Iron | 0.20-0.80 mg |
| Thiamine | 0.03 mg |
*Minimum-maximum values from analyses made in the Philippines and Washington, D.C.
Vitamins in Mangosteen
Folates = 31 microg
Niacin =0.286 mg
Pantothenic acid = 0.032 mg
Pyridoxine = 0.041 mg
Riboflavin = 0.054 mg
Thiamin = 0.054 mg
Vitamin C = 7.2 mg
Vitamin A = 35 IU
The mangosteen fruit contains no saturated fats or cholesterol, and is very low in calories, and rich in dietary fiber and vitamin C. This fruit also contains a very good amount of minerals like potassium, manganese and magnesium.
Mangosteen has been a subject of research for a long time.
- The mangosteen fruit and juice have been propagated to be helpful in preventing and stopping diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's disease.
- Mangosteen has been fiund to beneficial in chronic conditions such as fever, body pain, inflammation, diarrhea, cystitis, dysentery, eczema and a variety of other health problems.
- The mangosteen contains potent, natural healing compounds called Xanthones, which possibly represent powerful antioxidant.
In recent years it has become popular to drink MonaVie or Xango and similar acai berry based juices that are filled with antioxidants.
However, the claims lack a serious research. In the absense of any serious research, many see such products as a scam.
