Message #111707

[Bianca]

                                        THE MEDICINAL USES OF THE PINEAPPLE






In 1493, Columbus came across the pineapple (Ananas comosos) on the island of Guadeloupe.

The natives who cultivated these fruits called them ananas and believed that they had been brought from the Amazon many generations earlier by the warlike Caribs. (This oral history may be true, as pineapple-shaped jars have been found in pre-Incan burial sites in Brazil.)

A few explorers had observed that Indians used pineapple poultices to reduce inflammation in wounds and other skin injuries. Native people also drank the juice to aid digestion and to cure stomach ache.

In 1891 an enzyme that broke down proteins (bromelain) was isolated from the flesh of the pineapple, accounting for many of the pineapple's healing properties.

It has been found that bromelain can also break down blood clots, which consist mainly of protein.

Research continues.

This enzyme may well play a major part in heart attack treatment in the near future, as well as in the treatment of burned tissue, abscesses, and ulcers.