Do you know about Maja fruit? It may still sound familiar to you. However, this fruit is often found in India and Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. So, are there any health benefits?

Maja fruit’s nutritional content

Maja fruit ( Aegle Marmelos ) is a green fruit, round, and measuring 5 – 20 cm.

When raw, this fruit tastes sour, bitter, and hot. Ripe fruit will be yellowish and sweet.

This fruit is a wild plant in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, but can also grow on the island of Java, especially in dry areas.

Before knowing the benefits of Maja fruit, you must know its contents. The following nutrients are in 100 grams of fruit.

Air: 61,5 grams (g).
Protein: 2,62 g.
Fat: 0.39 g.
Carbohydrates: 31.8 g.
Ash: 1.7 g.
Carotenoid: 55 g.
Vitamin B1: 0.13 milligrams (mg).
Vitamin B2: 1,19 mg.
Vitamin B3: 1.1 g.
Vitamin C: 60 mg.
Tartaric acid: 2.11 mg.
This fruit also contains vitamin A, calcium, and phosphorus.

Maja also contains phytonutrients or plant-specific compounds, such as furocoumarins, Marmelosin, tannins, cineol, citronellal, and limonene.

The benefits of Maja fruit

Based on the nutrients above, the following are the potential benefits that can be obtained

1. Overcoming dysentery

This fruit extract helps fight the bacteria that cause dysentery, namely Shigella dysenteriae. These bacteria cause you to have diarrhea, fever, and stomach pain.

The lectin content in this extract can coat the intestines and protect it from bacterial infections. So, the risk of diarrhea due to infection is reduced.

2. Against skin infections

A study published by the Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Disease (2014) found that fruit, leaf and root extracts have the potential to fight fungi and bacteria that can infect the skin, such as Staphylococcus aureus.

The benefits of this maja fruit come from its various phytonutrient content.

Even so, this efficacy still needs to be studied further. The reason is, new experts tested it in the laboratory, not on humans.

3. Reducing the risk of digestive ulcers

Ulcers are conditions of injury to the walls of the digestive tract, usually found in the stomach.

Well, the seed extract in this fruit also helps reduce gastric juices and acidity. It is known, both can irritate the stomach and form ulcers.

The content of quercetin in this fruit accelerates the healing of wounds in the stomach. Quercetin is also an antioxidant so it can protect the digestive tract from exposure to free radicals.

Keep in mind, this research has only been tested on animals, not humans.

4. Reducing the risk of cancer

Maja fruit contains compounds that are antioxidants, including Marmelosin, nitric oxide, and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH).

Antioxidants help ward off free radicals that can damage body cells and cause cancer.

The content of Marmelosin also reduces the risk of cell damage that lasts over time and is a risk factor for cancer.

Keep in mind, this fruit is not a cure for cancer and new research was conducted in the laboratory, not on patients who consumed Maja fruit.

5. Control blood sugar

This fruit contains quercetin which inhibits the formation of sugar in the body. So, blood sugar does not spike up.

In addition, this fruit also contains various types of antioxidants, such as marmalade, tannins, riboflavin, Angeline, beta-carotene, lupeol, and eugenol.

These various ingredients prevent free radicals that can interfere with pancreatic cells. So, these cells can produce insulin properly.

Again, the existing studies have only looked at potential benefits in the laboratory, not in humans.