Clinical Significance of Drinking Ash Gourd Juice: A Review Article

Fruit and vegetable juices are important in human diets because of their pleasant, satisfying, aesthetic, refreshing therapeutic qualities. The Ash gourd (Benincasa hispida), a unique melon that belongs to the cucurbit family, includes significant nutritional values with a long storage life and good transport qualities. This fruit contains medicinal and functional characteristics and is used to treat a variety of clinical conditions in Ayurveda, naturopathy and Chinese systems of medicine. The ash gourd is valuable for its nutritional significance and contains characteristics such as triterpenoids, flavonoids, glycosides, saccharides, proteins, carotene, vitamins, minerals, β- sitosterin, uronic acids and sterols. The fruit includes a high quantity of moisture and the mature fruit is predominantly rich in vitamins B1 and C. It contains a high quantity of dietary fibers. Pharmacological studies have revealed that Benincasa hispida plays important roles in central nervous system (as anxiolytic, muscle relaxant and antidepressant agent, in Alzheimer's disease and for decreasing opiate withdrawal symptoms) with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-asthmatic, diuretic, nephroprotective, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic and antimicrobial effects. In addition, ash gourd juice improves gut health by changing the intestinal microbiota, which plays important roles in the health benefits. Thus, consumption of ash gourd juice can be adopted as a part of healthy diets.