Ash Gourd Juice: Uses, Benefits, Side Effects, and More!

The Ash gourd is a plant of the annual trailing vine and this plant's scientific name is Benincasa hispida (Thunb) and the family of this plant is Cucurbitaceae. This has a very unique taste of melon like and this is usually eaten for the various functional and medicinal properties that it possesses. 

This plant of ash gourd grows in places which are warm, tropical and humid climatic conditions and this plant is cultivated in areas or countries like the South East Asian countries such as Taiwan, India, Indonesia, China, Japan, Malaysia and Myanmar.

This fruit of ash gourd has got its name because of the color of the skin which is very similar to the color of ash and a waxy shine can be observed on the skin of the fruit that is why this fruit is also called as wax gourd. 

People also refer this fruit as winter melon as this fruit is usually grown in the rainy season and in the ancient times this fruit was fruit was prepared using ayurvedic means for the medical systems and the preparation was called kushmanda (in Sanskrit) as it was thought to have various medicinal values. 

At present, there is a very famous sweet that is made from this fruit called 'Agra Ka Petha' and it is made by soaking the ripened as gourd fruit into a sugar syrup. 

There are several other names given to this fruit and you might have heard about them and they are mentioned below:

• Ash pumpkin or white pumpkin
• Donggua (in Chinese)
• White gourd
• Beligo (in Indonesian)

This fruit of ash gourd is very beneficial medically and there are various ayurvedic applications of the Ash gourd juice as this fruit has so much nutritional value. This fruit's juice is full of nutrients in fact it has the majority of the essential nutrients like vitamins, minerals, volatile oils, carotene, proteins, flavonoids, etc and this fruit's major composition is water and makes up around 96% of the fruit.

Benefits of ash gourd juice

There are various medicinal and nutritional properties of ash gourd juice and this is a very common vegetable and the bioactive nutrients present in the fruit helps you to get relieved from various chronic diseases and some of its beneficial properties are listed below: 

• It helps you to reduce fever
• It can prove to be very helpful in dealing with depression
• It is very effective as a prebiotic
• It can act as bronchodilator
• It can act well as a antacid
• It has very effective action as a antiparasitic and antimicrobial substance
• It may be a very useful detoxifacient
• It has very effective anti-inflammatory action
• It has anxiolytic effect which helps in relieving anxiety
• It has very effective antioxidative properties
• It has great effect as an anticonvulsant which is useful seizures
• It helps in lowering the blood lipid and blood glucose level

Use of ash gourd juice

This fruit of ash gourd can be used as a functional food and all the parts of this fruit are very beneficial and have so many health benefits. There can be various use of this ash gourd juice and some of them are listed below: 

• Application for the treatment of diabetes: The juice which is prepared by ash gourd fruit has very low amount of calories and carbohydrates and has no trace of fat in it and it is very helpful for patients who have diabetes because of the nutritional value it possesses. The various nutrients which are present in the pulp of the fruit have some anti diabetic properties. The dried powder of the peel of the fruit mixed along with honey has found to be very helpful lowering the blood sugar levels.
• Ash gourd juice is helpful in the treatment of ulcer: It is found that people affected with this problem of peptic ulcer have shown great recovery from the ash gourd juice and that is how it has various health benefits in the human body. The juice is prepared by taking water and the ash gourd fruit is shredded into it and mixed properly and you should consume the prepared juice on an empty stomach (it will be most effective in such situations for the treatment of peptic ulcers) and you should avoid eating any kind of food for almost 3 hours. In the old times when ayurvedic medicine was prominent the juice of ash gourd was considered as a valuable medicine for the treatment of peptic ulcers.
• Ash gourd juice's effect on the skin: The juice prepared by ash gourd has certain skin benefitting properties and the extract remaining after the juice has been taken out can be used or applied on the face as a cream which will help you to delay the deterioration of the cells of the skin with increase in the age. Various compounds formed using this fruit (pulp, seeds, peel) have been found to have antioxidative properties or actions that are known to fight free radicals which are responsible for the induction of aging to the skin. You may notice that there has been a significant decrease in the oxidative damage and it also manages the effect of the degradation of the skin cells.
• It's application for the purpose of weight loss: There are certain properties of ash gourd juice that will help you to lose weight quickly or help you to manage your weight loss process, we all know that the juice prepared by the fruit of ash gourd has very less calories and fats which will be very beneficial for people when they are looking forward to lose weight. The ash gourd fruit has high content of dietary fibers and has lipid lowering properties and this will help you to decrease the serum cholesterol and lipid levels in the body, thus, reducing the level of body fat. You can consume ground peeled raw ash gourd fruit or the seed along with the equal amount of water and salt added into it and this will help you to reduce weight quickly.

Side effects of ash gourd juice

Apart from its medical benefits it has certain downside associated with itself as well which are given below

• The fruit of the ash gourd contains various anti nutritional factors for instance oxalate, phylates, etc which decreases your body's ability to absorb any kind of nutrient and thus, making your body weak.
• A diet which is found to have ash gourd juice in it, can lead a person to the risk of calcium deposition and may lead you to have medical problems like kidney stones.

Precautions before you consume Ash gourd juice

When this fruit's juice is consumed in a minimal quantity or doses it does not harm you at all, but there are certain precautionary steps that you should follow before consuming it. The precautions are listed below: 

• When you are giving the ash gourd fruit juice to a small child or older adults, then, you should take many precautions.
• People who are suffering from kidney problems should consume the ash gourd juice in a very limited quantity.
• Before you start giving this to a pregnant or a breastfeeding woman you should consult with your ayurvedic doctor as there is no sufficient information present in support of it.

Conclusion

Ash gourd fruit juice is found to have so many health benefits and it will help you to stay away from various kinds of medical problems or conditions, as long as you consume it. You will stay away from medical problems as it helps you to monitor your weight and reduce it as well. 

Before you start taking this fruit in any form you should consult with your doctor and talk about the benefits and drawbacks of the fruit on the human body.