How soursop can improve your heart health?

Have you ever wondered why fruits and vegetables reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases? They contain minerals, vitamins, and fibre that have been linked to improve and prevent cardiovascular diseases.¹ If you intend to incorporate fruits into your diet to boost your heart, keep reading. 

Our cardiovascular health is a cornerstone for our overall well-being, so improving and maintaining it contributes to our living standards.  Angina, arrhythmia, heart failure, and hypertensive heart diseases occur due to disruption in the cardiovascular system.

To improve and maintain a healthy heart, you must understand the risk factors that increase your chance of developing a heart-related disease. 

Once you identify risk factors, lifestyle changes are necessary.. It starts with a change in diet, less processed food, and more healthy food choices. Nothing is more nutritious than fruits and vegetables. 

A 2023 review shows that dietary-related risks were responsible for about 7 million cardiovascular-related deaths.²  Soursop increases the options of fruits you could incorporate into your diet for a healthier lifestyle. 

How do tropical fruits boost your heart and what should be done to incorporate it into your diet? 

What Is Soursop?

Soursop, Graviola or Guanabana, scientifically known as Annona muricata, is a tropical fruit native to northern South America and the Caribbean. However, it is now widely distributed across tropical and subtropical areas like India, Nigeria, and Malaysia. It is spherical and has a leathery and spiny bright green peel, with a deliciously sweet, creamy tropical taste.³

Every part of the soursop tree has potential health benefits. Traditional medicine has extensively used various parts of the tree, the seeds, leaves, roots, and bark of the plant to treat a variety of illnesses. Some experiments also report the antiparasitic, antidiabetic, anti diarrhoea, antibacterial, and antifungal properties of different components of this plant. In some places, soursop pulp is juiced and consumed by nursing mothers to increase breastmilk production.⁴

Components of soursop that promote heart health

Prickly on the outside and sweet on the inside, the heart-shaped fruit offers more than just sweet goodness. Soursop has an edible pulp, peel, and seeds. The juicy pulp is 81% water, 1% protein, and 18% carbohydrate sugar, minerals, and vitamins (B1, B2, and C) that comprise the rest of the pulp.⁵ All these benefit our overall health. Soursop also contains minerals and nutrients that have advantages specific to heart health. 

Soluble fibre 

Fibre is a carbohydrate that our body can’t digest or absorb. It’s usually in two forms: soluble or insoluble. The fibre obtained from this fruit is insoluble. Insoluble fibre blends with water in the body to form a gel-like substance and then circulates through the bloodstream. During circulation, it interacts with specific cells to reduce inflammation. It is noteworthy because inflammation releases a protein byproduct related to the risk of a heart attack. Fibre also plays a role in keeping blood sugar and cholesterol levels in check.⁶ A study shows that consuming dietary fibre can reduce the chances of developing coronary heart disease and stroke by about 7%-24%.⁷

Potassium

Potassium manages blood pressure because of its lessening effect on sodium. The more your potassium intake, the more sodium you lose through urination.⁸ Studies have shown that people with high blood pressure can significantly lower their blood pressure by increasing their dietary potassium intake.⁹ How it does this by preventing a build-up of calcium in the blood vessels that leads to the hardening of the blood vessels, a condition called atherosclerosis.¹⁰ Soursop has a large concentration of potassium with about 7-10mg/g in a single mature fruit.¹¹ Increasing dietary potassium intake therefore reduces the risk of high blood pressure, stroke, and other heart diseases.

Antioxidants

Oxidative stress is at the root of most diseases. The damage occurs due to an imbalance between the unstable molecules (free radicals) and the molecules that inhibit oxidation (antioxidants) in the body.¹² Antioxidants serve as a defence against free radicals and play a huge role in cardiovascular health. Antioxidants prevent plaque formation in blood vessels and several cardiovascular diseases. 

Soursop pulp has a high-antioxidant capacity due to the rich concentration of phytochemicals like Vitamin C and flavonoids.¹¹ These antioxidant phytochemicals play a role in preventing the peroxidation of lipids (degradation of lipids) that contribute to the formation of plaques in the blood vessels.

Soursop in your diet

Soursop is a delicious fruit eaten on its own and can also be incorporated into beverages,   such as juices, smoothies, or yoghurt. Here are some common fun ways of including it in your diet;

Soursop juice

Soursop tastes like a perfect combination of pineapple and strawberry with a creaminess similar to a banana that makes it ideal for making juice. After the seed removal, the pulp is juiced alone or mixed with other fruits to obtain a refreshing beverage. Because of its sweetness, the juice doesn’t require extra sugar and is enjoyed alone or with a meal.

Soursop smoothie

It is blended with other tropical fruits to get a creamy, delicious drink packed with antioxidants and many other nutrients, which is a perfectly healthy way to start your day. 

Soursop yoghurt and ice cream

Soursop mixed with dairy is another way to consume it. It’s a dessert that not only aids digestion but also boosts heart health.

Is there a downside to consuming soursop?

Although packed with healthy nutrients, the fruit contains a bioactive phytochemical called Acetogenin. This compound if consumed in large doses, causes neurotoxicity which is responsible for neurodegenerative disorders. Some studies warn that people predisposed to disorders such as Parkinson’s disease should limit their consumption of soursop.⁴

Summary

Soursops, like many other tropical fruits, are often overlooked. Soursop offers a variety of nutrients that not only boost our heart health but also boost our overall health. 

We should take advantage of the therapeutic potential of soursop and incorporate it into our diet. Since cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally, alternate natural medicines should be explored. 

Incorporating fruits into our diets helps us play more on the preventive side of the fight against cardiovascular diseases rather than the management and treatment side. 

As the old saying goes, prevention is better than cure. 

Incorporating a healthy dose of Vitamin C and fibre from a fruit-like soursop is a step in the right direction.