The Dragon Fruit, which is native to tropical regions, is grown on a climbing cactus known as Hylocereus. On the outside, it has a yellow or pink bulb-like structure with green leaves that shoot up like flames. Inside, the fleshy white portion is filled with black seeds. This fruit has various health benefits It has a lot of antioxidants, such as flavonoids, phenolic acid, and betacyanin. These organic substances act as a barrier between your cells and the damaging effects of free radicals, which are chemicals that can result in diseases like cancer and premature aging. It's naturally low in fat and high in fiber. Prebiotics, which are nutrients that provide your probiotics—healthy bacteria—food to consume, are present in it. Increasing your consumption of prebiotics can help your body's balance of good to bad bacteria in the intestines. The growth of the probiotic bacteria lactobacilli and bifidobacteria is specifically encouraged by this fruit. Dragon fruit contains iron, which is necessary for your body to transport oxygen and provide you with energy. Dragon fruit also contains vitamin C, which aids in the absorption and utilization of iron by your body.

There are several ways to consume dragon fruit. You can combine it with other tropical fruits like pineapple and mango in a fruit salad, fruit salad is the easiest summer dessert you can make. You may use dragon fruit to give a gorgeous poppy seed fruit salad even more visual flair. You can chop it up into salsa, dragon fruit can also be used to liven up your main course in addition to using it as a side dish. You can also create ice cream out of it, to give your ice cream a tropical twist, try adding dragon fruit. Or you could freeze it and make a smoothie with it, to increase the natural sweetness of a breakfast smoothie. And also your leafy greens will taste amazing when you add dragon fruit to them. Use dragon fruit to give a spinach salad a gentle sweetness boost because it pairs nicely with softer greens due to its mild flavor.

Despite occasional allergic reactions being observed in research, eating dragon fruit is generally safe. Red dragon fruit has the potential to make your urination pink or red if you consume enough of it.

PDO I Ayesa Gay A. Bejerano, RND

References:

Dragon Fruit

https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/benefits-dragon-fruit

HOW TO EAT DRAGON FRUIT: 7 WAYS

https://www.mccormick.com/articles/mccormick/how-to-eat-dragon-fruit-7-ways