Sugar palm fruit or roof fruit are the seeds of the palm tree (Arenga pinnata). The seeds are processed by boiling them and soaking them in lime water for several days to produce sugar palm fruit products.
Sugar palm fruit is also often used as a mixture of various desserts or made into sweets with a mixture of syrup. Even today's modern food has penetrated with sugar palm fruit-based foods.
Nutritional Content of Sugar palm fruit
The results of the study show that sugar palm fruit is rich in fiber, calcium, vitamin C, and antioxidants which are quite high. Samples were taken from the Sugar palm fruit-producing area in East Angkola, South Tapanuli Regency.
The sugar palm fruit samples taken represent each level of maturity, namely soft, rather soft, and hard. The soft sugar palm fruit comes from young palm fruit while the hard one comes from old palm fruit.
The aim of the research besides wanting to obtain the nutritional content of sugar palm fruit is also possible to make it a new food source.
The results of the study found that the levels of vitamin C, calcium, and iron in sugar palm fruit increased with increasing maturity. So that the highest nutrient content is found in old sugar palm fruit where the palm fruit is hard.
In contrast, young palm fruit, or soft palm fruit, contains the highest levels of fiber and starch.
Sugar palm fruit contains vitamins B7 (biotin), B9 (folate), and K, as well as soluble and insoluble fiber. It has a very high water content, reaching 93.6 percent. This water content can help prevent dehydration.
Benefits of sugar palm fruit for Health
Based on the nutrition contained in sugar palm fruit, some of the health benefits include:
- Improve the digestive system
The highest content of fiber in soft sugar palm fruit as much as 14.03%, is best used as a food source of fiber.
High fiber will improve the digestive system. One of the benefits of sugar palm fruit is reducing the risk of colon cancer, helping to lower cholesterol levels, and preventing obesity.
Young sugar palm fruit also contains 74.58%. starch. This makes young sugar palm fruit suitable as an alternative diet food because the starch will provide a feeling of satiety and reduce appetite.
- Boost immune cells
The older the sugar palm fruit, the more vitamin C it contains. In 100 grams of hard sugar palm fruit, the vitamin C content reaches up to 162 mg.
The important role of vitamin C is as an antioxidant and helps improve the ability of cells of the body's immune system. Antioxidants are compounds that bind free radicals so they don't attach to cells and body tissues, which then cause damage.
- Good for bones
The calcium content in sugar palm fruit is almost equivalent to cow's milk. From the research results, every 100 grams of sugar palm fruit contains 91 mg of calcium, whereas cow's milk which is around 125 mg per 100 grams.
Calcium plays an important role in maintaining bone density and joint health, especially a source of calcium for people who suffer from lactose intolerance, which is unable to break down the sugar found in milk and its processed products.
- Reducing rheumatic pain
The results of research in Indonesia prove that there is a significant relationship between the level of pain in rheumatoid arthritis sufferers (especially the type of osteoarthritis) and the consumption of sugar palm fruit.
Research in the Kumun area, Jambi, strengthens the results that giving sugar palm fruit to elderly patients with osteoarthritis has an impact on reducing the perceived rheumatic pain scale.
The content of galactomannan compounds in s sugar palm fruit is able to provide analgesic (anti-pain) effects, anti-inflammation, and reduce stiffness (spasm) in the joints so that complaints of pain in patients with osteoarthritis can also be reduced.
- Maintain heart health
The content of galactomannan polysaccharide compounds in sugar palm fruit is able to lower blood pressure and reduce bad cholesterol in the body.
So, sugar palm fruit helps maintain heart health, preventing cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes.
The many benefits of sugar palm fruit, cause these white seeds to be popular with the public.