About Health Benefits and Nutritional Value of Yellow Monkey Kola

Yellow Monkey Kola is the most common type of African indigenous wild fruit called monkey cola that can be found around homes and villages, mainly found in the southern parts of Nigeria.

It is called Ochiricha or Achicha in Igbo, Ndiyah in Ibibio, and Efik, with lots of potential contents such as beta-carotene, vitamin C, riboflavin, niacin, thiamine, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, tannins, fibre, other nutrients, and phytochemical properties that are nutritious to health.

Nutrients in these fruits are vitamins, carbohydrates, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium. It contains vitamins, mineral elements, and others that are beneficial to human health in many ways, as follows:

 

1.  Maintains Healthy Gastrointestinal Tract

Like some other fruits, yellow monkey kola, in other words, called cola parchycarpa, contains soluble fibre, which contributes to the health of the gastrointestinal tract.

The soluble fibre contained in yellow monkey kola protects the hollow organs that connect the mouth, intestine (large and small), esophagus, and anus. This implies that the effect starts from the ingestion process down to egestion.

 

2.  Helps in Weight Management

Monkey kola is one of the local fruits containing important nutrition that is best recommended for weight loss and weight management.

It has fibre content plays an essential role in controlling body weight by balancing the calorie intake with the amount lost.

Their low caloric effect has made it an excellent weight-loss diet. Nutrition experts have discovered that fruits and vegetables high in fibre and low in calories serve best for weight loss.

According to their research, consuming just 30 grams of fibre daily can help one lose weight.

 

3.  Boosts Skin Health

The beta-carotene content in this yellow monkey cola contributes to healthy skin by creating an appealing glow.

This beta-carotene is a provitamin A carotenoid and a potent antioxidant that helps to enrich the skin by repairing and maintaining damaged skin cells.

It offers antioxidant skin protection by preventing aging effects such as wrinkles.

 

4.  Improves Eye Health

The body converts the beta-carotene in the fruit into vitamin A, which helps keep the eye healthy for better sight.

Vitamin A in yellow monkey kola is a naturally occurring vitamin crucial for improving good vision and preventing defects that may affect the eye due to lack of the vitamin.

 

5.  Helps in Body Metabolism

Riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, is present in the fruit and helps metabolize fat and proteins in the body system.

Vitamin B-2 is a water-soluble vitamin that performs an essential function in common metabolic reactions, especially breaking down carbohydrates into sugar to produce energy.

 

6.  Moderates Body Cholesterol

This fruit helps to lower the level of lower bad cholesterol, also known as low-density lipoprotein and improves high-density lipoprotein, which is the good cholesterol due to the presence of niacin (vitamin B3) known as nicotinic acid.

Science-based researchers experimented with niacin and satin (cholesterol control) to compare their effects on cholesterol.

Science has analyzed the experiment's result with niacin's effect on body cholesterol. It shows that niacin lowered the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level and improved the high-density lipoprotein, HDL, in the blood more than satin.

 

7.  Improves Heart Health

Intake of cola parchycarpa moderately can help reduce the risk of heart diseases because it is rich in flavonoids, metabolites that provide essential benefits to heart health.

Flavonoids have shown some positive effects on the heart through some clinical researches. They have demonstrated protective effects against coronary artery diseases that cause damage to the heart and cardiac injuries.

 

8.  Maintains Healthy Bones

Essential mineral elements are proven present in yellow monkey kola that is important in maintaining healthy bones, protein synthesis, and the proper functioning of the body’s vital cells, organs, tissues, and overall body functions and development.

Adequate intake of minerals, especially those naturally occurring in fruits such as yellow monkey kola, helps protect the risk of bone loss.

Some of the minerals such as calcium and potassium in this fruit work with other nutrients: protein and vitamin D, to protect the risk of fractured bones caused by osteoporosis.

 

Nutritional Contents in Yellow Monkey Kola

Yellow monkey kola contains some essential compounds, which are the nutrients that help to regulate several body chemical processes. Another testimony about this fruit is that it has some vital nutrients that the body cannot make sufficiently.

Some of the nutrients in this fruit are vitamins such as vitamin B and C; minerals: potassium, calcium, beta-carotene, and amino acids. It also contains potent antioxidants, low calories, and zero fats.

 

Monkey Kola and Types

The yellow variety of monkey kola is called Kola lepidota as the botanical name, while the white monkey kola fruit is botanically known as Kola parchycarpa. 

But the yellow types of monkey kola fruit have surplus nutritional and medicinal values than other types such as the red and white monkey kola.

White Monkey kola, botanically called tachycardia, has a waxy mesocarp formed in the follicle's edible portion. This type of monkey kola fruit has a relatively pronounced fruit sweetness taste.

Red Monkey Kola, botanically known as cola lateritia, has a reddish exocarp and white seed inside. There are also a range of medicinal properties and health benefits attached to it, just like other types.

 

Yellow Monkey Seed

The seed of this fruit is slightly flattened, obliquely ovoid, and enclosed by two flattened surfaces called the mesocarp.

Monkey kola fruit has exhibited a range of therapeutic effects and benefits to human health and lifestyle, but the seeds are not as edible as the fruit.

 

Use as a Natural Remedy

It has been used over the centuries as a natural remedy to certain diseases that may counter healthy living. Other potentials realized from it tend to improve general human health and lifestyle.

Cola parchycarpa has some micro-nutrients, low caloric, protective, and nutritional effects in a high quantity.

 

Side Effect

This yellow monkey kola's yellow aril and fruit pericarp is quite nutritious and should be taken for health improvement but not in excess to avoid micronutrient deficiencies.

 

Summary

Yellow monkey kola is an adorable fruit considering its nutritional profile. It has a sweet, crunchy taste with zero records of fat, essential nutrients, and other phytochemical compositions that make it perfect for health.

The fruit has been associated with several health benefits starting from the body's metabolism in the internal organs to the body's outermost part, the skin.