Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: enlist89 on 10/03/2008 17:55:19
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What kind of minerals or substances that are present in guava seeds can be beneficial to our health? [???] [???]
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I would expect that most fruit seeds are fairly low nutritional value. The reason I say this is not because there is nothing in the seeds that could be nutritional, but most fruit seeds are designed to pass through an animals gut without being digested. In fact, many fruit seeds, if they are attacked by an animals gut (or in fact through mastication) can very possibly create toxins (cyanide is a very common one, but it can get even worse than that, such as ricin for castor seeds - although we are in that case not talking about a fruit).
I don't know if guava seeds can be digested, although I suspect not; although ofcourse the pulp in which they are embedded can be digested, and is nutritious.
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If the seeds had no nutritional value the plant wouldn't need to protect them with poison.
However, I doubt that there's anything "magic" about guavas.
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If the seeds had no nutritional value the plant wouldn't need to protect them with poison.
If you read what I had said above, I said in most cases the seed would pass through the gut without being digested at all, and in that case, it would neither release its poisons, nor any nutritional component within it - so in that case, it does not need the poison.
The problem arises with animals that either chew the seeds, or whose stomach enzymes are capable of attacking the seeds. It is only in those cases that the poison is likely to be released.
The purpose of most fruits is to entice an animal to eat the fruit (which is full of nutrition for that purpose), to swallow the seeds whole, and then allow the seeds to pass through the digestive tract unharmed, and be deposited some distance away with the faeces of the animal. Clearly, if this goes according to plan, the last thing the plant wants is to poison the animal. On the other hand, if the wrong animal comes along, one that might cause harm to the seed as it eats the fruit, then there is good reason to use an effective deterrent to ensure that animal does not eat the seed.
Ofcourse, humans totally mess up the whole plan, because rather than depositing their faeces upon some fertile soil, they flush it down the toilette, and with it go the seeds.
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However grape seeds are packed with high level of antioxidants, or OPC (Oligomeric proanthocyanidins ), which can bring down the level of blood pressure, protecting cell from free radicals and many more.
But I just couldn't find information on guava seeds which can be comparable to grape seeds. [:(]
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However grape seeds are packed with high level of antioxidants, or OPC (Oligomeric proanthocyanidins ), which can bring down the level of blood pressure, protecting cell from free radicals and many more.
But I just couldn't find information on guava seeds which can be comparable to grape seeds. [:(]
From what I can see (and I may be wrong), the issues around grape seeds relate to grape seed extracts (i.e. it is not the eating of whole seeds, and the seeds are still likely to be fairly indigestible, but that processed extracts from those seeds make the contents available in a form that can be digested).
Are you thinking of processing guava seeds, or eating them raw?
The issue with grape seeds (or grape seed extract anyway) and blood pressure also seem somewhat complex:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape_seed_extract#Interactions
In one small study, individuals taking both vitamin C and grape seed extract experienced increased blood pressure. While the increases were not dramatic, individuals with high blood pressure may want to check blood pressure more often if both grape seed extract and vitamin C are taken together. If blood pressure rises, either vitamin C or grape seed extract or both may need to be stopped.
It does seem to me to be paradoxical if grape seed extract does cause an increase in blood pressure, since:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape_seed_extract#Interactions
Grape seed extract may possibly increase the time blood needs to clot.
and one would normally expect a reduction of blood clotting to cause a reduction in blood pressure; but it may be that both issues are contextual. It seems there are still more questions than answers as to the circumstances in which the extract is beneficial and when it may even be dangerous.