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Jicama has fibre, vitamins, and minerals that are good for you. As part of a healthy diet, it may be suitable for your heart and your gut bacteria.
The jicama is a ball-shaped root vegetable. It has a papery, golden brown exterior and a starchy, white interior.
It is derived from the plant that produces beans with a lima bean appearance. That said, the jicama plant’s beans are toxic (1, 2 Sources Recognized).
The jicama plant originated in Mexico and went to the Philippines and other Asian countries. It prefers warm climates all year round since it requires a lengthy growing season free of frost.
On the interior, you’ll find a crunchy exterior with a hint of sweetness and saltiness. According to some, it has a flavour similar to a cross between potato and pear. It resembles a water chestnut, according to some.
Jicamas is also known as the Mexican potato, the Chinese turnip, the yam bean, and the Mexican water chestnut.
Here are Eight Ways that Jicama is Good for Your Health and Diet.
Full of Good Things For You
Carbs make up the bulk of that material. A negligible amount of fat and protein provide the remainder. In addition to being high in fibre, jicamas is an excellent source of several essential vitamins and minerals.
- The following nutrients are found in one cup (130 grams):
- 49 calories, 12 grams of carbs
- One gram of protein
- 30 milligrams of fat
- 6.4% dietary fibre
- One-quarter of the recommended daily intake (RDI) of vitamin C
- Folate (4% of the RDI)
- 4-percent of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for iron
- The magnesium RDI is only 4%.
- 6.0% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for potassium
- Very little, just 4% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for manganese
Jicamas also contains trace amounts of copper, phosphorus, vitamin B6, pantothenic acid, vitamin E, thiamine, and riboflavin.
People on a diet will benefit from this root vegetable due to its low-calorie, high-fiber, and water content. One cup (130 grams) provides 17% of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for thread for males and 23% for women.
Jicamas is rich in vitamin C, an essential water-soluble vitamin for enzyme function (4 Trusted Source), which is only one of the many beautiful things about this root vegetable.
SUMMARY
Vitamin C, folate, potassium, and magnesium are just some of the essential vitamins and minerals that jicama offers. It has few calories and a lot of nutrients and water. Beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, and other minerals are also in it.
A lot of Antioxidants
Antioxidants are good plant chemicals that help keep cells from getting damaged. Jicama has a lot of them.
One cup (130 grams) of jicama provides approximately half of the recommended daily intake (RDI) for the preventive vitamin C. Along with beta-carotene, selenium, and vitamin E, it contains antioxidants.
When protecting cells from damage, antioxidants are no match for free radicals, dangerous molecules that cause oxidative stress.
Memory loss, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease are among the chronic disorders that have been associated with oxidative stress (5 Trusted Source).
A diet high in jicama and other antioxidant-rich foods can help fight oxidative stress and reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases.
For example, antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables have been linked to a lower chance of Alzheimer’s, heart disease, diabetes, and weight gain (6, 7, 8).
A SUMMARY
If you want to get antioxidants like vitamin C, jicama is a good choice. People who eat a lot of these compounds may be less likely to get some long-term illnesses.
It Could be Good for Your Heart.
Jicama is a great way to improve heart health because it contains nutrients.
Soluble dietary fibre helps prevent the intestinal reabsorption of bile and the subsequent increase in liver cholesterol production, two mechanisms that may contribute to a reduction in cholesterol levels (9 Recommended Sources).
In a meta-analysis of 23 trials, researchers discovered that increasing fiber consumption significantly reduced total and “bad” LDL cholesterol levels (10 Trusted Source).
Potassium, found in jicama, helps lower blood pressure by opening the blood vessels.
One study, for instance, found that potassium lowered blood pressure and kept people from getting heart disease and stroke (11 Trusted Source).
Jicama may also help blood flow because it has iron and copper, essential for red blood cells to stay healthy. One cup has 0.62 mg of copper and 0.78 mg of iron.
You can also get nitrate from jicama. Studies have found a link between eating high-nitrate veggies and better exercise performance (12 Trusted Source).
Also, one study of healthy adults found that drinking 16.6 ounces (500 mL) of jicama juice lowered their chance of getting blood clots (13 Trusted Source).
SUMMARY
Jicama has dietary fibre, potassium, iron, copper, and nitrate. These nutrients may be suitable for heart health by cutting cholesterol, blood pressure, and circulation.
Helps the Digestion
Fibre in food helps make stools bulkier. Because of this, it moves through your digestive system more easily (14).
It has 6.4 grams of fibre per cup (130 grams), which can help you reach your daily goals (3).
Inulin is a type of fibre that is also found in jicama. Studies have shown that inulin can help constipated people go to the bathroom up to 31% more often (15 Trusted Source).
Also, jicama has a lot of water, which may help people having trouble going to the bathroom. Foods like jicama that are high in water can help you get enough fluids every day (16 Trusted Source).
SUMMARY
Jicama has a lot of water and dietary fiber, which both help your body have good bowel movements.
Suitable for the Bacteria in Your Gut
A prebiotic fiber called inulin is found in large amounts in jicama.
A prebiotic is something the bacteria in your body can use to make good things for your health (17 Trusted Source).
Prebiotics like inulin can’t be broken down or absorbed by your digestive system, but the bacteria in your gut can process them.
If you eat a lot of prebiotics, the number of “good” bacteria in your gut will grow while the number of “bad” bacteria will drop (18, 19).
Some bacteria in your gut may impact your health, weight, and immune system (20 Trusted Source).
Eating prebiotic foods helps the growth of certain bacteria that may lower the chance of getting long-term diseases like diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and kidney disease (21).
SUMMARY
Jicama is a type of prebiotic fiber that feeds good bacteria in the gut. Having healthy bugs in your gut lowers your chances of getting diabetes, heart disease, and being overweight.
Could Lower the Risk of Getting Cancer
Jicama has selenium, beta-carotene, and the protective vitamins C and E. Free radicals can hurt cells and cause cancer. Antioxidants get rid of them.
Besides that, jicama has a lot of fiber. There are over 6 grams of fiber in one cup (130 grams) (3).
It is well known that dietary fiber can help prevent colon cancer (22 Trusted Source).
It was found that people who ate more than 27 grams of fiber every day had a 50% lower chance of getting colon cancer than people who ate less than 11 grams (23 Trusted Source).
Jicama also has a prebiotic fibre in it called inulin.
Prebiotics may lower the chance of cancer by increasing the number of good bacteria in the gut, making more protective short-chain fatty acids, and making the immune system more substantial (24).
So much so that eating inulin fiber may help keep you from getting colon cancer (25 Trusted Source, 26 Trusted Source).
As well as being a suitable type of fiber, inulin has been shown to protect the gut walls by acting as an antioxidant (27).
SUMMARY
These three things—antioxidants, fiber, and prebiotics—have been shown to help fight some types of cancer.
Could Help You Lose Weight
Jicama is a food that is high in nutrients. It has a lot of good nutrients and few calories.
This vegetable helps you feel full because it has a lot of water and fiber.
Jicama may also help keep your blood sugar level because it has fiber. Fibre helps control blood sugar levels from climbing too quickly after eating because it slows digestion (28).
Insulin resistance is a big reason why people get fat. It takes place when your cells stop responding as well to insulin. This makes it harder for glucose to get into the cells and be used for energy.
The glucose stays in your system instead, which raises your blood sugar.
According to studies on mice, eating jicama may make insulin work better and lower blood sugar levels (29 Trusted Source, 30 Trusted Source).
Inulin, a prebiotic fiber found in jicama, has been linked to weight loss and has been shown to change hormones that control hunger and fullness (31 Trusted Source).
Having jicama might increase the good bacteria in your gut that help you lose weight and make you feel fuller after a meal.
SUMMARY
You can’t go wrong with jicama because it is low in calories and high in fiber and water. Eating jicama has been shown to lower blood sugar, improve insulin, and make you feel full longer.
Very Flexible
- Jicama can be used in many different recipes and eaten raw or cooked.
- After removing the harsh, brown peel, you can cut the white meat into slices or cubes.
- The following are some ways to eat jicama:
- For extra crunch, add it to a veggie salad.
- Mix with mango, pineapple, or papaya for a tropical fruit salad.
- After cutting it into thick pieces, serve it with a dip like guacamole or hummus.
- Could you put it on a plate of vegetables?
- Use rice vinegar and olive oil to stir-fry it.
- For a hot snack, sprinkle it with chili powder and lime juice.
SUMMARY
You can eat jicama in a lot of different ways. That means you can eat it with a dip or add it to soups and stir-fries.
In Short
It would be best to eat jicama because it is good for you.
It has a lot of fiber and vitamins, which may be suitable for your health and help with digestion, weight loss, and a lower risk of getting sick.
It’s also crunchy and tasty; you can eat it by itself or with many different things.
It would help if you considered adding jicama to your diet because it is good for you in many ways.
