Life Desk :
From Piña colada to the delectable yoghurts and fruit punches, pineapple adds a zest of flavour to food. While it is among one of the most famous tropical fruits, recent research has shown that this juicy delight is extremely useful to accelarate wound healing process.
Being carried out by Brazilian scientists, the study indicates bromelain – an active constituent of pineapples and a natural anti-inflammatory – can be used to speed up the healing process and even aid post-surgery recovery.
For the study, experts infused bromelain from pineapples into mamocellulose that is produced by using bacteria in fruit waste and made an experimental bandage from it. As per observations, the wounds were healed much faster due to the proteolytic action of bromelain that removes the dead layer of the wound and thus, permits the oxygenation of the surface.
What is Bromelain?
Bromelain is an enzyme found in pineapple juice and pineapple stem. Besides having many medicinal properties, it helps the body produce substances that aid in fighting pain and swelling (inflammation). It also contains chemicals that interfere with the growth of tumour cells and slow blood clotting.
How does it work?
Bromelain has eight different chemicals that help to digest proteins, making it a proteolytic enzyme. Native Americans, reportedly, used parts of pineapple to dress and treat wounds, as it is believed that its enzymatic activity thins the blood, prevents the buildup of plaque in the arteries and slows down the clumping of blood platelets.
Bromelain reduces inflammation by slowing down the accumulation of kinins, another byproduct of inflammation. However, it’s too soon to say ‘Voila!’, as the innovation is still in the early stages of development.
