Prickly pear cactus: Benefits, uses and side effects

Nopal leaves are widely used as food and supplement due to its various benefits. Another reason for including nopal in your diet can be its significant anti-inflammatory properties.

It helps to keep a balance of inflammatory biomarkers and has thus been suggested as a healthy addition to the diet for the prevention of inflammatory disorders. Studies on healthy adult individuals have also demonstrated the immunomodulatory effects of this plant, which means that it helps to improve your immunity and thus functions to protect you from a wide range of infections and diseases.

(Read more: How to improve immunity)

Obesity is a major public health problem nowadays due to the shift towards an unhealthy diet and lifestyle. It increases the risk of several disorders including cardiovascular disorders, diabetes, and stroke, which is why weight management is important. It can sometimes be unmotivating to lose weight, especially without the knowledge of the correct foods to be included in the diet with diet being an important pillar of weight loss programs.

Studies suggest that the use of nopales helps in weight management due to its low caloric value and low-fat content. Not just this, it helps in the metabolism of carbohydrates in the body and is rich in dietary fibres, so it helps to keep you full for longer. But the weight loss evidence of cactus fruit is not just limited to that.

Clinical studies have demonstrated that the use of cactus fruit aids in the excretion of fats along with the faeces. This study conducted on healthy adult subjects found favourable evidence in the process of weight loss by improving the excretion of fats and reducing its absorption in the body. This was facilitated by the binding of cactus fibre to dietary fat in the body. With the help of this binding, it increased the excretion of fats in the stool, which was otherwise available to the body for absorption and utilization, causing weight gain.

So, you can include this food in your dietary routine in the form of a fresh salad to witness some weight loss.

(Read more: Weight loss diet chart)

Metabolism refers to the mechanism of the body in which food substances are broken down to generate energy. In some diseases like Gaucher’s disease or Tay Sach’s disease, there is a disturbance in the metabolism of fats or lipids in the body, which can lead to lipid accumulation in the body. This has damaging effects on the body cells and tissues especially those of the brain, liver and the bone marrow.

Studies have found that cactus helps in the management of metabolic disorders, especially those related to lipids. Leaves of this plant have hypolipidemic effects and are thus considered to be beneficial for individuals with lipid metabolic disorders and are used a part of substitutes used for its management. You can talk to your doctor about the dosage of these products.

Antioxidants are foods that help to reduce oxidative stress and damage in the body thereby preventing several diseases. This they do by having an action against the activity of free radicals. Studies have listed nopales as an antioxidant food due to its extensive composition of bioactive compounds like flavonoids, polyphenols, carotenes and ascorbic acid isolated from its leaves. Thus, nopal leaves can help to improve the health of your skin and hair preventing or delaying age-related changes, and may also protect you from several diseases and disorders.

Diabetes is not merely an elevation of blood sugar levels but has severe impacts on health and is associated with several complications. These complications can be managed by keeping blood sugar levels in control, which is possible with the use of prickly pear plant.

Studies have confirmed the use of this plant in the management, treatment and prevention of diabetes when used as a dietary supplement. Lowering of blood glucose levels and an improvement in the utilisation of glucose by the body was observed in animal groups who were fed with nopales extracts. It was found that nopal water extract improved carbohydrate metabolism, which was responsible for these benefits. This was enabled by the improvement of the secretion of insulin in the body. Most pronounced benefits of this plant have been on individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Although most studies lack human claims, you can talk with your Ayurvedic doctor regarding the inclusion of cactus fruit in your diet to manage your condition.

Bone mass density is an important factor in determining bone strength. Although major bone formation occurs during the initial years of development, bone remodelling, reshaping and repair go on for a lifetime. In order to fuel these processes, it is important that you ensure sufficient intake of calcium because serum deficiency of this mineral causes leaching out of calcium from the bones. As you may have noted in the nutritional table, nopal is a rich source of calcium and thus may help in taking care of this concern.

It has been known that the risk of osteoporosis is greater in postmenopausal women due to a deficiency of the hormone estrogen, which regulates bone mass. This causes symptoms like bone pain and increased susceptibility to fractures in women after menopause. The high calcium content of this plant may be helpful even for postmenopausal women, as apparent by clinical studies. These studies suggest that the intake of nopal as a vegetable helps in improving bone mass density in women over the age of 50.

In women with a low bone mass around the area of the hips and the lumbar spine, the intake of cactus leaf supplements was immensely helpful in maintaining normal, constant levels of calciuria. This may lead to an improvement in posture and a reduced incidence of falls and fractures among postmenopausal women. Thus, it can be ascertained that the inclusion of cactus leaves in the diet of postmenopausal women can be immensely helpful around menopause.

Cancer refers to the uninhibited growth of cells, which has a tendency to spread to surrounding sites and can even metastasise to the distant areas. Some scientific evidence points in the direction of the anti-cancer effects of cactus leaves. This can be attributed to its high antioxidant content, which helps to ward off cellular growth at an initial stage. Although cactus has been considered as anti-proliferative food, the evidence to support this claim is somewhat insufficient.