16916
Papaya as Medicaments
There are numerous medicinal uses of papaya for the cure of different diseases.
Traditional medicine offers an alternative solution and could be explored as a safer
treatment option (Chawla et al. 2014). Various records on the traditional knowledge
of papaya for treatment of various diseases by different tribal communities or rural
farmers are reported. Papaya has a short growth period and is of great nutritive and
health-care values (Li et al. 2012).
16.1 Papaya Parts and Their Medicinal Uses
Various parts of papaya, namely, ripe and unripe fruits, seeds, bark, leaves, roots
and latex are used by the farmers for treatment of several diseases. In folk medicine,
latex is used for the treatment of boils, warts, freckles, abortion, dengue, ringworm,
expel roundworms, salt making, relieve asthma, stomach troubles, purgative, treat-
ment for genito-urinary ailments, tumour destroying, making herbal tea, digestive,
aid in chronic indigestion, weight loss, obesity, arteriosclerosis, wound dressing,
urinary complaint, anti-haemolytic activity, snake bite to remove poison, high
blood pressure, blood purifier and weakening of heart, and so on (Table 16.1). If you
are a chain smoker or frequently exposed to second-hand smoke, eating vitamin
A-rich foods such as papaya should help in keeping your lung healthy and save life
(Aravind et al. 2013).
16.1.1 Fruit
Papaya fruit may be used as a diuretic, anthelmintic, to treat bilious conditions, to
combat dyspepsia, other digestive disorders and a liquid portion has been used to
reduce enlarged tonsils. In addition, the juice is used for warts, cancers, tumours,
corns and skin defects. Danielone is a phytoalexin found in the papaya fruit. This
compound showed high antifungal activity against Colletotrichum gloesporioides,
a pathogenic fungus of papaya. In Asia and Africa, it is applied on the uterus as an
irritant to cause abortion. The unripe fruit is sometimes hazardously ingested to
achieve abortion. Papaya latex is obtained by cutting the green fruit surface with
containers over a couple of days. The latex is then sun dried or oven dried and ground
into powder. A proteolytic enzyme, papain, is purified from papaya latex and used
in the food and feed industries and also in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic indus-
tries (OGTR 2008). Papain is used in food processing to tenderise meat, clarify
beer and juice, produce chewing gum, coagulate milk, prepare cereals and produce
pet food (Morton 1987). The latex of the papaya plant and its green fruits contains
two proteolytic enzymes, papain and chymopapain. The latter is most abundant but
papain is twice as important. The lanced fruits may be allowed to ripen and can be
eaten locally, or they can be employed for making dried papaya ‘leather’ or powder