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Pineapple plant
Identification of Pineapple plant
Scientific name: Ananas comosus
The pineapple is a plant of the family of Bromeleaceas. It has long leaves up to a meter, spiny and fleshy.
The fruit is divided into sections with a crown that characterizes it.
The fruit is usually parthenocarpic. The cultivated fruits are seedless. The fruit pulp is white to yellow with a sourish-sweet, aromatic smell
and taste.
Pineapple content and active ingredients
The active ingredients of pineapple are:
- Proteolytic enzymes (bromelain or bromelain).
- Citric and malic acids.
- Vitamins A, B and C.
- Sugars: glucose, sucrose.
- Fats.
- Mineral salts: iodine, magnesium, manganese, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, sulfur.
- High fiber (cellulose), in the core of the fruit.
Enzymes can be deactivated with oxidizing substances or activated with thiols such as cysteine, as well as small amounts of a phosphatase, a peroxidase
or protease inhibitors.
>> continue reading about the Pineapple health
benefits...
references
- Harrach T, Eckert K. Schulze-Forster K. Nuck R. Grunow D, Maurer HR, Isolation and partial characterization of basic proteinases from stem bromelain. J Protein Chem. 57:41-52, 1995 Jan.
- Holtum JA, Summons R. Roeske CA, Comins HN, O'Leary MH, Allergic reactions, including asthma, to the pineapple protease bromelain following occupational exposure. Clin Allergy, 57:443-50, 1979 Sep.
- Hotz G. Frank T, Zoller J, Wiebelt H, Antiphlogistic effect of bromelaine following third molar removal. Dtsch Zahnarztl Z, 57:830-2, 1989 Nov.
- Taussig SS, Batkin S, Abortifacient effect of steroids from Ananas comosus and their analogues on mice. J Reprod Fertil, 22:461-2, 1976 Mar.
- Taussig SJ. Batkin S, Bromelain, the enzyme complex of pineapple (Ananas comosus) and its clinical application. An update. J Ethnopharmacol, 22:191-203, 1988 Feb-Mar.
- Taussig SJ. Batkin S, Modulation of pulmonary metastasis (Lewis lung carcinoma) by bromelain, an extract of the pineapple stem (Ananas comosus). Letter Cancer Invest, 22:241- 2, 1988.
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