Passion Fruit

Passion fruit is a tropical fruit grown all over the world. It has a hard, colorful rind and juicy, seed-filled center. Purple and yellow varieties are the most common. One study found that passion fruit was richer in polyphenols than many other tropical fruits, including banana, lychee, mango, papaya, and pineapple. (1) Passion fruit offers a small amount of iron. Your body doesn’t usually absorb iron from plants very well. However, the iron in passion fruit comes with a lot of vitamin C, which is known to enhance iron absorption. (2)(3)

Piceatannol is a polyphenolic stilbene phytochemical and is known to be a hydroxylated analog of resveratrol. Piceatannol shows activity similar to resveratrol; however, because its levels in plants such as grapes, and wines, are significantly lower than those of resveratrol, it has received far less research attention. Matsui et al. previously found that passion fruit seeds have a high piceatannol content, and several reports have shown that piceatannol has various properties, such as Sirt1 induction activity, a vasorelaxant effect, upregulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression, promotion of collagen synthesis, inhibition of melanogenesis, and protection of the skin from ultraviolet B irradiation. Piceatannol shows much higher activity than resveratrol in some cases. (4)

I found an article, and the objective of this study was to investigate the effects of piceatannol on metabolic health in humans. This randomized, placebo-controlled study was conducted on 39 subjects, including 10 overweight men and 9 overweight women (BMI ≥ 25), as well as 10 non-overweight men and 10 non-overweight women (BMI < 25). Subjects received piceatannol (20 mg/day) or placebo capsules for eight weeks in random order. The primary outcome was the effect of piceatannol on glucose-metabolism, including insulin sensitivity. Insulin resistance is closely related to aging. Therefore, piceatannol may have an anti-aging effect. However, the sample size for this study was very small and further studies should be conducted to determine the mechanism by which piceatannol improves insulin sensitivity, as well as reduces BP and HR, and to investigate the dose of piceatannol that is most useful to exert its benefit. (4)

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References:

1. Septembre-Malaterre A, Stanislas G, Douraguia E, Gonthier MP. Evaluation of nutritional and antioxidant properties of the tropical fruits banana, litchi, mango, papaya, passion fruit and pineapple cultivated in Réunion French Island. Food Chem. 2016;212:225-233. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.05.147

2. Hallberg L, Brune M, Rossander L. The role of vitamin C in iron absorption. Int J Vitam Nutr Res Suppl. 1989;30:103-108.

3. West H. Passion Fruit 101 — Everything You Need to Know. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/passion-fruit. Published 2018. Accessed 2021.

4. Kitada M, Ogura Y, Maruki-Uchida H, et al. The Effect of Piceatannol from Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis) Seeds on Metabolic Health in Humans. Nutrients. 2017;9(10):1142. Published 2017 Oct 18. doi:10.3390/nu9101142. PMID: 29057795