Summers and lush, juicy fruits go hand in hand! One such favorite summer fruit for many is the exotic litchi. But, while you may love having litchis for their sweet taste and pulpy texture, are you aware of the key health benefits of litchis as well? So much so that in ancient China, gifting litchis to the royal family was considered a sign of great honor.
Yes, this juicy tiny little fruit helps improve your health in more ways than one. It not only helps keep you hydrated and full during the hot, scorching summers but also helps aid weight loss, improve digestion, and improve your skin health as well. Continue reading to know more about litchi benefits and how you can make the most of this tiny health-boosting fruit.
In This Article
Litchi – A Brief
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Scientific Name – Litchi chinensis
Family – Sapindaceae
Native – Kwangtung and Fukien provinces in the Southern China
Other Names – Lichi (Hindi), Vilazi pazham (Tamil), Lichi Pazham (Malayalam)
Litchi or lychee is grown in tropical and subtropical regions and is popular all over the world. This flavorful and juicy fruit grows in clusters on a slow-growing medium-sized evergreen tree that bears this fruit for a limited time only. This tree also bears pretty spring flowers that are really short-lived.
It has a round or oval shape with a pinkish-brown rind, translucent to white flesh, and an inedible seed. It may have a short shelf life, but this juicy summer treat has more than just taste to offer. Is lychee healthy? Yes It is highly rich in nutrients and offers numerous benefits for your skin, hair, and health that make it all the more irresistible.
Stylecraze TriviaHistorically, lychee has been cultivated in southern China since 1059 AD, and unofficial records indicate it was grown as early as 2000 BCE. Fresh lychees were a popular tribute item at the Chinese Imperial Court during the Han dynasty.
Lychee Nutrition Facts
Litchis have a high nutritional value. They are very rich in vitamin C, containing about 71.5 mg per 100 grams. They are also rich in copper and phosphorus. What makes litchis unique is that they contain the polyphenol oligonol that has antioxidant and antiviral properties.
For a more detailed overview of the nutritional value of litchis, refer to the chart below.
| Principle | Nutrient Value | Percentage of RDA |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 66 kcal | 3.3% |
| Carbohydrates | 16.53 g | 12.7% |
| Protein | 0.83 g | 1.5% |
| Total Fat | 0.44 g | 2% |
| Cholesterol | 0 mg | 0% |
| Dietary Fiber | 1.3 g | 3.5% |
| Vitamins | ||
| Folates | 14 µg | 3.5% |
| Niacin | 0.603 mg | 3.5% |
| Choline | 7.1 mg | 1% |
| Pyridoxine | 0.100 mg | 9% |
| Riboflavin | 0.065 mg | 5% |
| Thiamin | 0.011 mg | 1% |
| Vitamin A | 0 mg | 0% |
| Vitamin C | 71.5 mg | 119% |
| Vitamin E | 0.07 mg | 0.5% |
| Vitamin K | 0.4 µg | 0.3% |
| Electrolytes | ||
| Sodium | 1 mg | 0% |
| Potassium | 171 mg | 3.5% |
| Minerals | ||
| Calcium | 5 mg | 0.5% |
| Copper | 0.148 mg | 16% |
| Iron | 0.31 mg | 4% |
| Magnesium | 10 mg | 2.5% |
| Manganese | 0.055 mg | 2.5% |
| Phosphorus | 31 mg | 4.5% |
| Selenium | 0.6 µg | 1% |
| Zinc | 0.07 mg | 0.5% |
| Phyto-nutrients | ||
| Carotene-ß | 0 µg | — |
| Crypto-xanthin-ß | 0 µg | — |
| Lutein-zeaxanthin | 0 µg | — |
Benefits Of Litchis
Skin Benefits
- Prevent Signs Of Aging
- Help Remove Blemishes
- Reduce Sunburns
Hair Benefits
- Promote Hair Growth
- Provide A Distinct Shine To Your Mane
Health Benefits
- Have Anticancer Effect
- Promote Cardiovascular Health
- Improve Digestion
- Prevent Cataract
- Act Against Influenza
- Aid Weight Loss
- Regulate Blood Circulation
- Prevent Blood Vessel Rupture
- Anti-Inflammatory Agents
- Provide Instant Energy
- Protect From Herpes Virus
- Strengthen Immunity
- Regulate Blood Pressure
- Provide Stronger Bones
- Prevent Anemia
- Increase Libido
Litchi Benefits For Skin
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Litchis are simply amazing for our skin. Whether you are suffering from ugly wrinkles or dry skin, these exotic fruits have a solution for everything.
1. Prevent Signs Of Aging
As you grow older, your skin starts to show the first signs of aging. Litchis, when used topically, can help delay their appearance.
What You Need
- 4-5 litchis, deseeded and peeled
- ¼ ripe banana
What You Have To Do
1. Mash the banana and litchis. Mix well so that they form a smooth paste.
2. Gently massage the paste on your face and neck using circular motions.
3. Keep the mask on for 15 minutes and rinse with cold water.
Why This Works
As you age, your body produces more and more free radicals. These free radicals damage your skin and cause wrinkles. Litchis are rich in antioxidants that combine with the free radicals and prevent them from damaging your skin (1).
2. Help Remove Blemishes
Blemishes are the bane of anyone who seeks flawless skin. Applying litchi juice can help fade away the blemishes and marks, leaving you with clear skin.
What You Need
- 4-5 litchis, peel and seed removed
- 2-3 cotton balls
What You Have To Do
1. Mash the litchis to make a paste.
2. Soak the cotton balls in the paste, and apply to your face or just the affected areas.
3. Keep for 15 minutes, and wipe off with a clean washcloth soaked in cold water.
Why This Works
Blemishes are basically spots bearing the signs of hyperpigmentation. Litchis are excellent sources of vitamin C (2). This makes them a potent cure for blemishes (3).
3. Reduce Sunburns
Spending too much time in the sun can cause redness and blisters. Sunburns can cause pain and irritation, and applying litchi infused with vitamin E can help soothe your inflamed skin.
What You Need
- 3-4 litchis, peel and seed removed
- 1 vitamin E capsule
What You Have To Do
1. Extract the juice from the litchi pulp. To do this, you need to mash the pulp and pass it through a strainer.
2. Puncture the vitamin E capsule and add it to the juice.
3. Apply to the affected areas and rinse with cold water after 30 minutes.
Why This Works
Litchi is effective for treating sunburns because of its vitamin C content. A combination of vitamins C and E has been proven to treat the effects of the sun on the skin (4).
Related: Can You Use Apple Cider Vinegar For Sunburn?
Litchi Benefits For Hair
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Apart from being a blessing for your skin, litchis also add shine and bounce to your hair.
4. Promote Hair Growth
Be it stress or pollution, a host of factors can wreak havoc on our hair. Litchis, when used topically, can help promote hair growth.
What You Need
- 7-8 litchis, juice extracted
- 2 tablespoons aloe vera gel
What You Have To Do
1. Mix the litchi juice and aloe vera in a bowl.
2. Massage the mixture into your scalp.
3. Keep it on for 60 minutes, and then wash it off with a mild shampoo.
Why This Works
Your hair grows when the hair follicles are properly nourished. Copper peptides enlarge the hair follicles, which drastically reduces the resting phase of hair growth (5). Since litchi is an excellent source of copper, it helps stimulate the hair follicles and makes your hair grow.
Related: 5 Ways To Spot Signs Of New Hair Growth
5. Provide A Distinct Shine To Your Mane
Is your hair losing its natural shine owing to the harsh weather conditions? Start using litchi pulp as a conditioner for your hair.
What You Need
The pulp of 8-10 litchis
What You Have To Do
1. Mash 10 litchis to make a pulp and apply this pulp to your hair.
2. Wash thoroughly after 15 minutes to achieve shiny and beautiful hair.
Why This Works
Litchi is rich in vitamin C that enables it to refurbish the shine in our hair. It is also full of copper and iron that are responsible for maintaining the original hair color.
Health Benefits Of Litchis
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The exotic and the gorgeous litchi is full of health benefits ranging from aiding weight loss to preventing cancer. Let’s take a look.
6. Have Anticancer Effect
One of the most important benefits of litchi is that it has anticancer effects. Having it on a daily basis in any form, including litchi juice, can actually help prevent the occurrence of this fatal disease.
Why This Works
Research using litchi extracts have shown that they contain powerful antioxidants and flavonoids and have anticancer effects, which are especially effective against breast cancer cells (6).
7. Promote Cardiovascular Health
Researches state that the antioxidants present in litchis can help promote cardiovascular health.
Why This Works
Litchis contain a compound named oligonol that promotes the production of nitric oxide (7). Nitric oxide or NO is a vasodilator, which means it helps expand the blood vessels to allow blood to flow through properly. This reduces the pressure on your heart to pump blood, reduces the wear and tear your heart goes through, and improves the overall cardiovascular health.
8. Improve Digestion
If you frequently suffer from constipation or other disorders related to the GI tract, try consuming litchis to ease your digestion.
Why This Works
As a fruit native to the region, litchis were
consumed by the Chinese to help with digestion and relieve stomach ailments (8). Litchis have a lot of water content, which has a soothing effect on the stomach. They also have a considerable amount of fiber, which helps in digestion (9).
9. Prevent Cataract
Cataract is a visual impairment that is caused due to the clouding of the lens in the eyes. Since cataract affects millions, there have been numerous studies conducted regarding it. One study concluded that litchis might help inhibit cataract.
Why This Works
Litchis contain phytochemicals that exhibit antioxidant and antineoplastic properties. This means that they help prevent abnormal growth of cells, which helps prevent cataract (10).
10. Act Against Influenza
Influenza is caused by viruses and is an extremely communicable disease. Due to certain strains of these viruses showing resistance to traditional antiviral drugs, there is a need to develop new medications. Litchi fruit extracts have shown to be effective against these viruses.
Why This Works
Litchis exhibit antiviral properties due to the presence of oligonol that stops the virus from multiplying (11).
11. Aid Weight Loss
Being a low-calorie fruit, litchi is ideal for those who are looking to lose weight.
Why This Works
Litchis don’t have too many calories, with 100 grams containing only 66 calories (12). They also contain a lot of water, a significant amount of fiber, and have negligible fat content. This makes them ideal for those looking to lose weight.
12. Regulate Blood Circulation
Litchis have been found to help in proper blood circulation throughout our body, thus ensuring smooth functioning of organs and organ systems.
Why This Works
The presence of a variety of nutrients, including magnesium, iron, copper, manganese, folate, and vitamin C, plays an important role in making litchis a blessing for our circulatory system (13).
13. Prevent Blood Vessel Rupture
Consuming litchis or litchi juice can help in controlling abnormal bruising owing to blood vessel rupture.
Why This Works
Litchi is rich in abundant polyphenols like the bioflavonoid called rutin. This makes it a necessity when it comes to the strengthening of the blood vessels (14). This property also makes it useful in treating conditions like varicose veins and hemorrhoids.
14. Anti-Inflammatory Agents
Including delicious litchis in your diet can help treat inflammation and tissue damage that can happen due to various factors, including vigorous exercise.
Why This Works
It has been found out that flavanol-rich litchi fruit extracts (FRLFE) possess anti-inflammatory properties (15).
15. Provide Instant Energy
Having litchis in the morning can provide the much-needed kick start to your day.
Why This Works
Litchi is rich in vitamin C, which serves a number of important functions in the body including being an important co-factor in all enzymatic reactions. It plays an essential role in the production of collagen and carnitine that are required to break down fat, providing us with instant energy (16).
16. Protect From Herpes Virus
Litchis can also protect us from the deadly herpes virus.
Why This Works
This wonderful fruit has proanthocyanidins that carry very powerful antiviral properties. These properties make it effective against rare and troublesome viruses like herpes or coxsackie (17).
Related: 15 Effective Home Remedies For Herpes & How To Use Them
17. Strengthen Immunity
Does a slight weather change make you prone to cold and cough? It’s quite possible that you have a weak immunity. Have litchis to strengthen your immunity.
Why This Works
The presence of vitamin C in litchi makes it very effective in strengthening our immunity (18). This water-soluble vitamin is full of antioxidants that protect our body from foreign germ invasion. Hence, it is a highly recommended fruit for young kids.
18. Regulate Blood Pressure
We generally avoid pulpy fruit to maintain blood pressure. However, litchi is amazing if you want to get your blood pressure under control.
Why This Works
Litchis carry balanced potassium and sodium levels, which is absolutely necessary for maintaining proper blood pressure. Also, the vasodilatory properties of potassium enable it to soothe and relax the blood vessels in the body, leading to the controlled hypertension (19).
19. Provide Stronger Bones
Consuming litchis regularly can make your bones stronger.
Why This Works
Litchis are full of essential compounds required for healthy bones, such as magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, copper, iron and many others. These minerals actually increase the calcium absorption in the bones, thus making them healthy.
20. Prevent Anemia
Litchis play an important part when it comes to the prevention of anemia.
Why This Works
This fruit contains an essential amount of copper, which increases the RBC count in the blood. We all know that anemia occurs due to decrease in the hemoglobin levels. This can be avoided by consuming litchis (20).
Related: 12 Home Remedies To Cure Anemia – Symptoms, Causes, And Diet Tips
21. Increase Libido
Many studies have concluded that litchi can enhance sexual desires in humans.
Why This Works
Litchi is known to stimulate the libido because of the abundance of important components like potassium, copper, and vitamin C (21).
Litchi Fruit Side Effects
- Litchis have high sugar content, which is why people suffering from diabetes should have them in moderation.
- They might cause allergic reactions in some people. So, if you have had some history with it, you should totally avoid consuming litchis.
- Litchi is also known to disturb the hormonal balance in the body. So, consume it in moderation as it can cause internal bleeding, fever or many other troubles.
- Pregnant ladies should avoid having litchis until they are in the breastfeeding stage as they can cause hemorrhage and infections and harm your baby.
Litchi seeds contain the compound methylene cyclopropyl glycine, which has been linked to outbreaks of encephalopathy. It drastically lowers blood sugar levels in malnourished children (22).
How To Store Lychee?
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Litchis are mostly grown in tropical and sub-tropical regions. They are seasonal fruits, and are usually available from June through October. They are highly perishable, and once plucked from the tree, do not ripen any further.
A pinkish-brown shell indicates that the fruit is fresh. Select litchis that are firm, feel heavy, and have a dry shell. Avoid the ones that feel soft, or have cracked shell or black spots.
Litchis don’t have a long shelf life. When stored in the refrigerator in a plastic bag, they can last about 10 days. Refrigeration usually turns the shell of the litchi darker without affecting the fruit.
Recipes Using Litchis
These flavorful fruits can be used to whip up many scrumptious concoctions. Take a look:
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1. Litchi Lemonade
Make a refreshing summer drink by adding litchi to the classic lemonade.
What You Need
- 12 litchis, peeled and pitted
- 3 cups water
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons sugar
What You Have To Do
1. Blend the litchis till a puree is formed.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend or use a shaker to combine.
3. Serve in a tall glass with ice cubes.
2. Litchi Pudding
Who doesn’t love pudding? Here’s a quick recipe to make yummy litchi pudding.
What You Need
- 50 g pomegranate
- 1 ½ cups chopped litchis
- 200 ml fresh cream
- 1 tbsp
- gelatin
- 3 tbsp
- custard powder
- 3 cups
- milk
- 1 tin
- Milkmaid sweetened condensed milk
What You Have To Do
1. Mix the custard powder in a little milk. Now, add this thick paste to rest of the milk and let it boil. Make sure the consistency is thick.
2. Soak gelatin in a dash of water and add this to the custard. Mix well. Now, add milkmaid and stir properly. Let the mix cool for some time.
3. Take another bowl and whisk the cream in it and pour it in the custard. Add pomegranate and litchi and refrigerate it for two to three hours.
Your custard is ready!
3. Litchi Iced Tea
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Here’s a recipe for litchi iced tea to quench your thirst.
What You Need
- 2 cups water
- 1 tsp black tea
- 5 tbsp powdered sugar
- 8 tbsp litchi crush/ litchi puree
- Ice cubes
What You Have To Do
1. Boil water in a pan.
2. Add tea leaves and cover it for 20 minutes. You can add more tea if you like your tea strong.
3. Let the mix cool for half an hour and then strain it. Add litchi crush and sugar to it. You can increase or decrease the quantities of sugar and crush according to your taste.
4. Take a glass and fill it with ice cubes. Now, pour the litchi tea over it and serve chilled.
4. Other Uses
Usually, litchis are eaten with their shell and seed removed. Their sweet taste makes them a great addition to smoothies, salads, and desserts.
1. Peeled and chopped litchis can be served on a cheese platter.
2. Litchis can be added to ice cream, custard, and yogurt and served as dessert.
3. They can be dried with the rind intact so that the pulp shrinks. Dried litchis are also known as litchi nuts.
Infographic: Important Health Benefits Of Litchis
Litchi is one popular summer fruit that keeps you hydrated. Litchis are rich in vitamin C, and their antiviral and antioxidant properties offer many health, skin, and hair benefits.
Here, we have listed down the most important benefits of this fruit that you may want to know. Check out the infographic below.
The benefits of litchis are numerous, and their delicious taste makes them a favorite for many. Litchis are rich in vitamin C, copper, and phosphorous. They promote cardiovascular health, aid weight loss, and strengthen immunity. Lychees can also remove blemishes, reduce sunburns, and boost hair growth. However, a few individuals could be allergic to lychees. Hence, caution is advised. Try any of the above-mentioned recipes and enjoy the benefits of litchis.
