Figs — The Worlds Healthiest Food | 13 Health Benefits Of Figs

7 min readAug 31, 2020

Fig is a dry fruit with a sweet taste with a chewy and soft texture which can be considered as one of the world’s healthiest fruits due to so many health benefits of figs.

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Figs — The Worlds healthiest food

What are Figs and what the health benefits of Figs?

Figs are unique fruits filled with hundreds of seeds and have pink flesh which tastes really good. We will discuss everything about figs from the health benefits of figs to the side effects of figs.

The Peel of a Fig can be purple or green. Figs are one of the first plants cultivated by humans.

It is really easy to include this fruit in your diet you might eat it in a salad or you can eat it directly however you want to eat it.

Including Figs in your diet on a regular basis can provide you with so many health benefits of figs or health benefits of anjeer.

So let’s discuss why to eat figs and how it will help you

Health benefits of figs

Fig is such a healthy food that even the leaves of Fig are full of nutrients. Even in some ancient texts, it is considered as a superfood.

Here are some of the health benefits of figs.

The best thing about the health benefits of figs is that despite being so rich in nutrition they are low in calories.

A fresh fig has fewer calories but a dried fig has some high amount of sugar so it has more calories than a fresh fig.

Here are nutrients which you can get from a fresh fig (40 grams )

A fig has no amount of Fat and n protein in it.

Copper present in Fig is really good for our health for our metabolism and cell formation and even for the health of connective tissues.

2. Help you with Erectile dysfunction

A fig is a magical food when it comes to helping you with Erectile dysfunction.

Figs can help you with different types of issues related to sexual life like sterility, erectile dysfunction, and sexual appetite too.

Figs are high in calcium, zinc, iron, and potassium. Figs also contain magnesium the mineral which is responsible for producing the sex hormones known as androgen and estrogen.

A study conducted on rats in which they were fed Chinese cinnamon, earth smoke, and figs in which result showed an increase in sexual performance.

They are rich in Amino acids they help increase the libido.

Ancient Ayurveda texts also support the use of figs for sexual problems and other health benefits.

Another health benefit or figs is that the antioxidant profile of figs is also high.

Especially dried figs are high in antioxidants, they have a high amount of polyphenol. The polyphenol content of figs is higher than red wine and green tea.

The polyphenol antioxidants in figs help us by enriching the lipoproteins in plasma and avoid further oxidation.

4.Helps us with digestion

Figs have high fiber content so they are really good to help you with digestion issues. Figs have been used for a long time for digestion issues in home remedies.

Gigs promote healthy bacteria in your gut which is responsible for better digestion.

There was a study done with 150 people having several digestion problems. They were fed 4 dried figs twice daily and they resulted in reduced bloating and constipation problems.

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Figs can help with blood pressure and that can help you with vascular problems which directly helps for better heart health.

There are studies which show that Figs reduce triglycerides levels in our body, these triglycerides are fat particle which flows in our bloodstream are the main cause of heart disease.

Studies have also shown that supplementing with fig supplements helps lower triglyceride levels and HDL or good cholesterol level profiles.

Figs also contain phenols and omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids that decrease the risk of heart diseases.

6. Strengthen your bones

Another wonderful health benefit of figs is that Eating figs can be good for your bones too.

As we have read above figs contain potassium, magnesium, and calcium which all help our bones health.

1 cup of dried figs contains as much calcium as much 1 cup of milk. Figs also contain strontium which contributes to our bone health.

Figs also help mus with bone density and bone thinning issues which is a common problem in people as they age.

Figs are high in iron which directly helps your hair health.

Figs are a positive effect on hair growth as well as scalp health.

Figs are used by the hair care industry as the figs extracts create a wonderful hair conditioner they provide moistures our hairs and aid in hair health.

There are so many minerals and vitamins present in figs that improves blood circulation and improve hair growth and scalp health.

Figs can also help us with better skin.

There was a study conducted that resulted that figs have an anti collagenase effect and antioxidant effect on wrinkled skin and even reduced the wrinkle depth.

Figs can rejuvenate your skin you can eat them or make a mask and apply on your face to results in very less time.

Applying figs directly on the skin can help you with any type of skin inflammation issue too.

Figs have Vitamin C and are high in antioxidants so they will even out your skin tone and will make your skin smooth for sure with regular use.

9.Helps with blood sugar levels

There was a study conducted in 1998 that people with type 1 diabetes included 1 fig leaf in their breakfast decreased their insulin levels by around 12 percent.’

Another study conducted on rats that rats with type 2 diabetes fig leaf improved insulin levels and even decreased blood sugar levels.

However, dried figs are high in sugar so keep an eye on the number of figs you take because you might a have problem too but the better option is to include fresh figs in spite of dried figs.

10. Helps you with insomnia

A good diet is essential for better sleep because a balanced diet will be full nutrients and figs can help you with those nutrients.

Figs contain tryptophan an amino acid which helps our body to create melatonin which aids better sleep.

Tryptophan in figs helps synthesize Vitamin B3 which improves our sleep as a lack of Vitamin B3 can make us feel unstable and restless which can lead to insomnia issues.

11. Anticancer properties

Figs have shown anti-cancer properties too.

There have been some studies that show the positive effect of Fig leave on cancer cells.

Figs will help you with breast cancer.

A study conducted showed that women who consumed more dietary fiber in their adolescence had less risk of developing breast cancer and we know figs are high in dietary fiber.

Figs can prevent Colon cancer

Again figs are high in fiber and it can help remove waste in our body quickly which can help, prevent colon cancer. This study also supports this claim.

Figs can help you fight amenia.

Amenia is caused by a lack of iron in our bodies. Dried figs are high in iron so it can help you directly with amenia issues. It also improved ur hemoglobin profile.

It is advisable to include figs in your diet if you bare ill or just had surgery so that your body won’t fall for iron deficiency.

The high nutrition profile of Fig can help improve the immunity of our body.

Also, fig kills bacteria, roundworms, and even some viruses in our body which might create some health problems in the future.

So figs kill harmful bacteria and viruses and improves your immunity at the same time.

Problems or side effects of figs

So these were some of the wonderful health benefits of figs, after reading all these health benefits of figs you must be wanting to include them in your daily diet.

But keep an eye on two things first if you are diabetic then use fresh figs and keep an eye on sugar content.

Another thing is that eating too much fiber can also cause problems so don’t eat too many figs as anything in large amounts will have some side effects.

Also, keep an eye for allergies some people might be allergic to figs.

After answering the health benefits of figs and some side effects of figs Know let us answer some commonly asked question about figs

How many Figs should I eat a day?

Eating around 3–4 figs a day will be an idea for you. But you should eat them according to your convenience and need of your body.

Don’t g crazy and start eating 10 figs a day they can have some negative effect too, so keeping around 3–4 figs a day is a good option for you.

Which are better the dried figs or the fresh figs?

Dried figs have some more iron but it is also high in sugar whereas other nutrient values of both dried, as well as fresh figs, are mostly the same.

So if you have some blood sy=ugar problems you should avoid dried figs but if you are deficient on iron than you should go for dried figs.

So choose them according to your needs.

What is the best time to eat figs?

The best time to eat figs is when you can consume them.

Figs are nature’s fruit so they won’t affect immediately upon eating so you need to eat them on a regular basis to have some results and timing won’t matter.

But to absorb them fastly you can eat them on empty stomach or you can eat them in the place of your desert.

So we discussed so many health benefits of figs and even some side effects of figs.

Figs have so many health benefits of figs from erectile dysfunction to better health to improving your skin health.

So we recommend you try figs for some time and enjoy the health benefits of figs. But keep eye side effects to and it is always better to consult a nutritionist.

Originally published at https://simplebodyfitness.com on August 31, 2020.