WONDERFUL BENEFITS OF ICE APPLE FOR SKIN & HAIR

For many, this juicy fruit is known as Palm Fruit, Thaati Nungu in Kannada, Nungu in Tamil and Thaati Munjalu in Telugu.

In India, one of the fruits you will find on every street corner during summer is the ice apple.
This delicious fruit is a translucent jelly and due to its cooling effect, it is known as ice apple.

The Health benefits of Ice apple are many. The translucent jelly in the fruit has excellent cooling effect along with a perfect balance of vitamins, iron, minerals, calcium and sugar content. There are lots of benefits in consuming Ice apple, that too, during the hot summer weather.

Benefits for Best Skin:

• Ice apple acts as an excellent coolant.
• It naturally cools the body and regulates the body temperature in summer.
• It contains with good amount of minerals sodium and potassium which works best in preventing dehydration and fatigue in summer.
• There are several phytochemical present in ice apple:

  • There are several phytochemical present in ice apple:
  • Antioxidant 
  • Anti-inflammatory
  • Phosphorus and calcium.
  • Contains B complex vitamins like thiamine and riboflavin
  • And also no fat carbohydrates. 

• It acts as an anti agent.
• It also helps in reducing common summer skin problems such as heat (rashes & prickly heat).
• A low-calorie watery fruit ice apple is an ideal deal to obesity.

Some of the Useful benefits of Ice Apple for Hair:

  • It prevents hair loss in summer.
  • It prevents dull and dryness of hair
  • It acts as a natural conditioner.
  • It is used to strengthen your hair.
  • It also helps to reduce the frizz and calm the split ends.
  • It improves the hair texture and hydration.
  • It helps in stimulating the hair growth.
  • It Prevent early graying of hair (White hair).
  • It helps in preventing androgenic alopecia.
  • It fights the sun damage by protecting the cuticles.
  • Prevent Oxidativestress in aging hair.
  • It helps in preventing early baldness.

Eating Ice Apple Fresh is always best:

  • Ice apple (Nongu) is best eaten fresh but it can also be soaked in coconut water and chilled for some time to enhance its natural coolness. 

Best Ways of Consume Palm Fruit:

  • You can consume Ice Apple in different ways. The sweet and gelatin textured Ice Apple can be used to make milkshake by blending it with nut milk along with vanilla or rose flavors. It is best when served chill.
  • Cut the fruit and garnish it with some spices or flavours, such as cardamom or cinnamon, enhancing its taste.
  • Palm fruit can also be blended with coconut water, and then refrigerated.
  • A delicious cooking preparation popular in the native areas is a dessert, called as nungu kheer. 

If plucked when tender, the thick fibrous outer covering has three translucent white kernels inside, covered with a thin creamish membrane. This when peeled off, reveals the soft jelly like flesh underneath which holds a small quantity of sweet water inside.

The flesh itself is almost bland and somewhat similar to the litchi in texture without the sweetness and is refreshing to eat. It is best eaten tender and fresh as soon as it is cut since it tends to become rubbery when stored and the sugar inside ferments changing its taste. 

Dr.Rajeshwari 

 MD DVL

Consultant Dermatologist,

Cosmo Aesthetic Surgeon,

Specialist in Cosmetic Lasers & Hair Transplantation,

Senior Research Fellow, AIIMS, Delhi,

Fellow in Cosmetic Surgery, Fortis

Hospitals, Delhi, India,

Fellow in Dermato Surgery, Safdar Jung Hospital, Delhi, India.