We like to eat them when the weather is warm and the summer days are back, and for good reason: their taste and smell remind us of the sun and the vacations. Pineapple is a refreshing exotic fruit, full of water and essential nutrients. But did you know that it also has many health benefits? Like many other fruits, it has a unique composition that makes it particularly interesting. So what are the health benefits of pineapple? What roles does bromelain play in the body? Answers!

The pineapple: its composition

The pineapple is the tropical fruit par excellence and represents everything we love about summer. Native to Latin America, it can be cooked in many ways: sweet and sour dishes, desserts… Coming from a herbaceous plant, the pineapple belongs to the bromeliad family. It is not one, but a multitude of fruits gathered together (between sixty and hundred). Each scale of the pineapple skin is actually a fruit.

This tropical fruit contains multiple vitamins such as ascorbic acid, better known as vitamin C (18 mg per 100 g of pineapple on average). We also note the presence of provitamin A, vitamin E and several vitamins of the B complex (all are present in pineapple except vitamin B12).

 In its composition also enter minerals and trace elements (phosphorus, manganese, potassium, zinc, fluorine…). It owes its beautiful yellow color to the pigments that inhabit it: carotenoids and xanthophylls. Finally, pineapple, which contains dietary fiber, is also one of the richest fruits in carbohydrates. But what makes it really interesting is its bromelain content. This is a very rare enzyme, which has the particularity to transform proteins, but also to boost digestive secretions.