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Thursday, July 21, 2016

SUPER MANGO FRUIT

(Mangifera indica) INDIAN SUBCONTINENT,SOUTHEAST ASIA, MEXICO

"Nutrient Content: high in protein, prebiotic fiber, antioxidant vitamins a A and C, B vitamins, dietary minerals Phyto Phytochemical Content: high in carotenoids (alpha- and beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, violaxanthin), polyphenols (quercetin, gallic acid, gallotannins, rhamnetin, cyanidin and xanthone glycosides, including mangiferin, mainly in skin).

Among the world’s most widely cultivated and most popular fruits, the mango originated in the Indian subcontinent and Asia. Mangoes account for about half of all tropical fruits produced in the world. With United Nations estimates of worldwide production at more than thirty-three million tons annually, mango is one of the most widely consumed among the top twenty superfruits. Delicious in their various tastes, colors, and sizes, mangoes come in some fifty cultivars. Four of the most popular are the Palmer (red, elongated), Tommy Atkins (red-tan or orange-yellow-green, plump), and Alphonso and Ataulfo (both yellow, kidney-shaped); all are rich in flavor. The mango has a firm, fragrant, and visually appealing internal pulp, usually golden and like a cantaloupe in texture, flavor, and color, although with a denser fruit body and less moisture.



Why Mangoes Are Super

The mango is particularly high in superfruit signatures—prebiotic dietary fiber, vitamin C, carotenoids and polyphenols. The mango also contains a broad range of essential nutrients at good to excellent levels for dietary reference intake, especially the dietary antioxidants vitamin A (from carotenoids) and vitamin C. Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), other B vitamins, essential minerals, amino acids, and omega fats are at good levels. As discussed in Part I, many of these essential nutrients are required for health because they are involved in diverse biological processes in the body. Among all superfruits, mango provides the most comprehensive nutrition, popularity of taste, and versatility of uses across many world regions. The mango’s edible peel and pulp contain both types of pigments—carotenoids and polyphenols. As many as twenty-five different carotenoids have been isolated from mango pulp, the densest content of which was beta-carotene (a provitamin A compound), accounting for the yellow-orange flesh of most mango species. As health-promoting prebiotic fiber, polysaccharides (long-chain sugar molecules natural to plants) are also a major mango constituent of value for your diet. The peel and pulp include carotenoids (provitamin A beta-carotene, lutein, and alpha-carotene as possible antioxidants) and polyphenols, lupeol and a unique phytochemical called mangiferin, a specific mango extract under study for its antidisease properties. Although mango skin offers extra nutritional benefit of dietary fiber, carotenoids, and polyphenols, not everyone enjoys its more fibrous texture, and the majority of users would likely exclude it. However, if steamed or in a stir fry, the skin will soften and become less chewy. Also, rarely, some people may be sensitive to a natural chemical in mango skin called urushiol that can cause skin blisters.

The range of research on mangoes covers nearly every area of nutrition and common human diseases. Over the past decade, Cuban and Spanish scientists have examined several disease models using Vimang, a blend of extracts from different parts of the mango fruit and tree. Vimang is a concoction rich in mangiferin and has experimental effects against certain types of allergens, inflammatory substances, and pain. In one 2008 experiment, Vimang improved memory and other signs of neurological function in rats. In addition, a mangiferin-enriched compound made in India from mango tree leaves showed antibiotic activity against specific dental bacteria in human subjects, indicating that toothbrushing with mango extracts could benefit oral hygiene. Also of research interest is mango lupeol, a natural terpene demonstrating an array of biological activities against inflammation, arthritis, DNA damage, and malaria in both test-tube and animal experiments. Interest in developing lupeol-based anticancer agents has led to discovery of numerous highly active derivatives exhibiting significant potencies and therapeutic indications across different types of cancer. Although more research is needed to clarify cancer-preventive compounds, extracts of mango and its juice were shown to inhibit cancer cells in laboratory experiments.

One practical outcome of research on a fruit is its widespread application as a food for alleviating diseases associated with malnutrition. Particularly in impoverished western Africa, mango is a practical food source of nutrients, especially provitamin A carotenoids, dietary fiber,and vitamin C—each essential for relief from childhood malnutrition and recognized by international organizations assisting famine regions of Africa. Greenhouse solar dryers, for example, are being constructed to prolong mango storage and recover edible by-products from processing to treat the widespread malnutrition. Among all superfruits, mango has the most extensive global infrastructure as a comprehensive source for combating such nutritional deficiencies."1

"Mango not only is the ultimate indulgence, but also has anti-obesity, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory and intestinal health-boosting properties, according to a recent research.

Four new studies surrounding the effects of mango consumption suggest this superfruit has the potential to help combat adverse effects associated with high fat diets and obesity (animal study), as well inhibit growth of fat cells (anti-lipogenic properties in an in-vivo study), slow advancement of breast cancer tumors (animal study), as well as improve regularity and decrease inflammation associated with constipation (human subject study).

"While more research is needed, especially in humans, there is a growing body of studies that suggest mango consumption may contribute to some protective effects in relation to obesity, certain cancers, gut health, and inflammation," said Leonardo Ortega, Director of Research at the National Mango Board.

The research was presented at the 2016 Experimental Biology conference in San Diego."2





11 superb health benefits of mango

"1. As an antioxidant
Mango fruit has a high content of vitamin C as an antioxidant, so it can counteract free radicals. In addition, mangoes also contain beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is a substance that is later converted into vitamin A in the body. This vitamin is good for eye health. With vitamins that are antioxidants, the mango can protect the body from cancer.

2. As an energy source
Mangoes contain sugar sucrose which makes mango is sweet. With the sugar content, mango fruit is a source of energy for the body. Although the sugar content in mango is not much, mango can be consumed as an energy boost. Ripe mangoes has more sucrose than raw mangoes, so it has a higher energy when compared to the raw mango.

3. Maintaining healthy teeth and gums
In addition to functioning as an antioxidant, vitamin C in the mango also maintaining healthy blood capillaries, teeth and gums. It helps the absorption of iron and can inhibit the production of natrosamin or cancer-triggering substances. Vitamin C is also able to help the healing of wounds.

4. Assist the process of digestion
Benefits of mango fruit in helping the process of digestion due to high fiber content. This fiber can prevent constipation. In addition, the mango fruit also contains digestive enzymes that help process protein breakdown and can also soothe the stomach by preventing acidity excess.

5. Prevent Cancer
Research has shown antioxidant compounds in mango fruit has the ability to protect against cancer of the colon, breast, leukemia and prostate. These compounds include quercetin, isoquercitrin, astragalin, fisetin, gallic acid and methylgallat, as well as the abundant enzymes.

6. Lowers the risk of stroke
Mango contains potassium which can reduce the risk of stroke. Potassium is a substance that serves to activate muscle contractions, increased heart rate regularity and helps blood pressure. Consume enough potassium can help reduce the effects of sodium in raising blood pressure and may reduce the risk of stroke.

7. Preventing Heart Disease
Mango is an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin E, and selenium which help protect against heart disease. Mango fruit is also rich in vitamin B6, which plays a role in preventing heart disease by lowering homocysteine ​​levels (Homocysteine ​​is an amino acid in the blood that damages the lining of blood vessels).

8. Lowering Blood Pressure
Due to the mango potassium content, may assist in regulating blood pressure levels. Therefore, eating a mango on a regular basis can help lower blood pressure.

9. Improve memory
In mangoes contain sufficient acid glutamine. This compound is able to assist you in improving memory.

10. Making better quality of the marital relationship
Vitamin E is contained in mango fruit can improve the quality of the marital relationship and also increase the fertility of the reproductive organs.

11. Healthy eyes
Vitamin A contained in mango, 255 meet the daily needs of our bodies and according to some research by consuming mango fruit regularly can reduce the risk of night blindness.


Above are just few of mangoes health benefits, because there are also benefits for beauty. There is also a hidden reason why do pregnant women like to eat young / raw mangoes. Because young mango can help reduce the intensity and frequency to minimize nausea. If you regularly consume raw mango, nausea can be lost in total."3





Footnotees:
1 - http://fruitfacts-sastha.blogspot.com/2011/12/no-1-super-fruit-mango-mangifera-indica.html
2 - http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/diet/Mango-an-undeniable-superfruit/articleshow/52145454.cms

3 - http://www.healthfame.com/2013/06/benefits-of-mango-nutrition.html



Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Chosen in Love


In any discussion of the biblical doctrine of election, we must remember that God’s choice of His people was not a passionless selection made in an arbitrary manner with no goal in view. Those who misunderstand the Bible’s teaching on predestination as summarized in Reformed theology often portray our understanding of the Father’s election as a cold, even spiteful choice to include people in the kingdom who do not want to be there and bar the door to those eager to follow Jesus.

There are many reasons for this misunderstanding, but one of them may lie in how some Reformed folk present the doctrine of election to their non-Reformed brothers and sisters. If we are careful to hear the words of the apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:5–6, however, we can avoid this problem. As the apostle tells us, God the Father predestined His people “in love” (v. 5; see actually the end of verse 4). It was our Creator’s great love for His people that moved Him to call us out of the passion we had for Satan and the kingdom of darkness. With great affection He “predestined us for adoption as sons,” taking us, who had no legal claim to being a part of God’s family, as His very children, with all the privileges that status entails. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1).

It is all too easy for us to forget this remarkable truth — that the One who is too holy to look upon sin (Hab. 1:13) set His loving gaze upon us in the misery of our impurity and willful profaning of all that is good and right in order to make us new. He adopted us unto holiness even though we were unholy, for as many commentators note, the fact that God chose us to be holy and blameless presupposes that we are, in and of ourselves, no different from the rest of the fallen human race (Eph. 1:4). What motivated Him to love only some in this way and not every man, woman, and child who will ever live? This is a great mystery indeed, but we know that it is certainly not because we are inherently better than those who have not been chosen in love for holiness and adoption. Scripture says only that His choice to love His people is according to the purpose of His will (v. 5). John Calvin comments that in adoption “God does not inquire what we are, and is not reconciled to us by any personal worth. His single motive is the eternal good pleasure, by which he predestinated us.”

Coram Deo

The wonder of divine election is not that God loves us because we are lovely but that He loves us even though there is nothing lovely in us. But in choosing us, He loves us in order to make us holy in His sight. Those whom He chooses will certainly become more lovely over the course of their walk with Christ, and will be completely pure in glory. May we humbly remember that there is nothing in us to make God love us.

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