Health Benefits of Heart of Palm

Coconut tree is a multi-benefit tree for it gives all-year benefits such as coconut milk, fresh coconut water, coconut leaves for making ketupat (rice cake), veins of coconut frond can be used to make broom, coconut husk for firewood, and others. One of the benefits of coconut tree is the heart of palm. Heart of Palm refer to edible soft shoots of palm tree. In Indonesia, Heart of Palm is a must-served-dish in a wedding ceremony, circumcision feast, infant haircuts feast, welcoming Ramadan ceremony, and even to welcome guests and others.

Heart of Palm (Credit: Hintha)

To get the heart of palm, we need to cut down at least one coconut tree. It means that he need to plant a new tree and wait for a long time until he can get the heart of plant. Commonly, heart of palm cooked with coconut milk and many spices like shallot, garlic, galangal, turmeric, chili, shrimp paste, salt, sugar, candlenut, bay leaf, lemon grass, and coriander. To have a more appetizing dish, shrimp and meat can be added to this vegetables. These dishes are not only delicious but also have nutrition as follows. Considering the ingredients, heart of palm dish is a special vegetables. This food that melts in your mouth apart from being delicious, is highly nutritious. Within its nutritional properties include:

Fiber

Due to its high content of fiber, hearts of palms fight constipation by improving your digestive system. Fiber in Hearts of palm are also can helps to balance the levels of cholesterol and glucose in the blood, prevent colon cancer and regulate intestinal transit.
Fiber helps to maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease. At a reasonable 168 calories per cup, hearts of palm are a good snack for people trying to maintain healthy weight. With high levels of both soluble and insoluble fiber, hearts of palm can promote efficient elimination while create a feeling of fullness that may help you avoid overeating.
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Vitamin C

Heart of Palm can help us to improve our body immunity, so it can protect the body from getting diseases. The high content of vitamin C in the palm is favorable to maintain high defenses of the body, as this vitamin is essential for the development of the immune system. One cup of fresh hearts of palm provides 11.7 milligrams of antioxidant vitamin C, almost 10 percent of the daily value required.  It also provides 0.073 milligrams of thiamine — or vitamin B-1 — and 0.263 milligrams of thiamine, or vitamin B-2; both are essential for energy production.
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Vitamin B2

Hearts of palm contains vitamin b2, which is very important for red blood cells perform to the best of its function of carrying oxygen throughout the body. Vitamin B2 also needed to facilitate normal reproduction, cell growth and repair, and development of tissues.
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Vitamin B9

The hearts of palm are not only a delicious food, but will also contribute with folic acid or B9 for pregnant women, this is a vitamin that prevents defects on the baby and after the birth will help increase the breast milk production.

Vitamin A

There are foods on the market whose the compounds help us maintain a healthy vision, and one of the food is the heart of palm. It contains vitamin A which, among other benefits, helps our visual acuity at nights and also prevent dry eyes.

Iron

Anemia is a condition characterized by a lack of healthy red blood cells in the body, causing a long list of possible anemia symptoms like fatigue, light-headedness and brain fog. There are a number of factors that can contribute to anemia, one of the most common causes is a deficiency in certain nutrients like iron. Iron is necessary for the production of hemoglobin (the oxygen-carrying pigment of red blood cells).
One cup of hearts of palm contains 25 percent of the iron you need in a day, which can help you easily meet your needs to prevent conditions like iron-deficiency anemia. Not only that, but it also contains a good chunk of vitamin C, helping enhance iron absorption even more; and Vitamin B6 that is related to the formation of hemoglobin, making it suitable to prevent and treat anemia.
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Manganese

Hearts of palm are loaded with manganese, a mineral that’s key to bone health. A deficiency in this crucial nutrient can lead to alterations in bone metabolism and a decrease in the synthesis of bone tissue. According to an animal study out of Sookmyung Women’s University’s Department of Food and Nutrition in Seoul, South Korea, supplementation with manganese for 12 weeks was even able to increase bone formation and bone mineral density in rats.
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Other chemical compounds of Heart of Palm are:

• Copper: it’s important for the proper functioning of organs and metabolic processes.
• Potassium: manages blood pressure and keeps the heart functioning properly. It also helps the muscles to contract.
• Zinc: vital for skin, that’s why it is effective in treating acne.