Can Papaya Leaf Juice Help Cure Dengue Fever? Here's What Science Says!
The long-awaited monsoon rains have finally arrived. While nothing can match up to the exhilaration monsoon rains bring, the season can sometimes be a nuisance too. With the monsoon rains come stagnant rainwater, inadequate drainage, and mosquitoes. As a result, this is also the season when the incidence of dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases shoot up. Dengue is a seasonal menace that can infect you, leaving you with only painful memories of the season.
Recovery usually takes a very long time and the situation can be very difficult for you, especially if your immune system is weak. So, how do you ensure a speedy and safe recovery from this mosquito-borne disease? Can you do anything at home to make your allopathic treatment more effective? Well, one home remedy touted to work wonders in conjunction with allopathic treatment is Papaya Leaf Juice. This ancient home remedy has been followed for ages and has no side effects.
So, let’s first look at the benefits of papaya leaf juice in dengue treatment and know how effectively it helps in recovery from the illness:
How does papaya leaf juice speed up the recovery after dengue fever?
Juice derived from papaya leaf is known to have magical healing effects on dengue. Here's how the magical raw papaya leaf helps in the recovery process:
- Boosts platelet count: In dengue patients, we encounter low platelet counts. As the platelet count comes down drastically, it leads to fatal outcomes. The leaf extract of papaya, prepared from freshly ground leaves, possesses flavonoids and other phenolic compounds that increase the blood platelet count in such patients.
- Enhances body’s immunity: The juice of papaya leaves is rich in several minerals. These minerals balance the mineral deficiency caused by the dengue virus. Not only this, drinking this juice on a regular basis also aids in strengthening the immune system and helps the body fight dengue. Therefore, this juice is known to benefit people with weak immune systems.
- Controls dengue fever: Dengue causes high-grade fever that lasts 2-7 days. Papaya leaf juice contains essential bioactive compounds like papain, chymopapain, and carocain, which reduce infection during dengue fever.
Other benefits include reduction in duration of illness/fever, shorter hospital stay, and rapid elevation of red blood cell count. To know more about the health benefits of papaya leaf juice, you can consult an Ayurveda specialist.
Let’s make it!
Here’s the step-by-step guide to preparing a glass of refreshing papaya leaf juice:
- Get papaya leaves from a fruit-bearing tree. If possible, use only fresh, healthy mature papaya leaves
- These leaves should be washed thoroughly with lukewarm purified drinking water
- Chop the leaves into small pieces
- Take 50g of papaya leaves, 50 ml of boiled cool water, and 25 g of sugar
- Put this mixture into a mortar and pound it well for 15 minutes
- Make a uniform pulp, mix it well, and keep it for about 30 minutes
- Squeeze this pulp properly to obtain papaya leaf extract
- Strain the contents using a sieve and papaya leaf juice is ready
- You can keep this preparation in a bottle and store it for 24 hours in the lower compartment of your refrigerator (+4 degrees Centigrade)
- Shake the bottle of juice well before you give the juice to the patient
How to consume papaya leaf juice?
Papaya leaf juice can be consumed as a syrup. The juice can be given to the patient at any stage of the disease. Ideally, the juice should be given from the first day of fever. Adult Dengue patients are advised to take 30ml of papaya leaf juice 3 times a day before meals. Children should be given 5-10 ml juice 3 times a day. One should not stop the treatment halfway. However, if you are allergic to papaya, avoid taking this juice.
The incidence of Dengue usually increases during the rainy season. This is the time when you should do your best to protect yourself from mosquito bites and consequent dengue fever. Still, if you are diagnosed with Dengue fever, you should immediately consult your doctor and start allopathic treatment. And, papaya leaf juice should be given concurrently with the usual Dengue management. For best results, the patient needs to continue taking papaya juice until he/she has fully recovered from the illness.
To know more about dengue fever and promising Ayurvedic treatments you can consult our online Ayurveda Specialist now!
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