Guavas are sweet summer fruits that are just as tasty as they are delicious. While its leaves are usually discarded, they’re slowly gaining recognition for being just as beneficial as the fruit. South American traditional medicine has for long featured guava tree leaves as remedies for many diseases. It’s time you caught up to them by seeing the benefits of guava leaves for yourself. Dry and crush guava leaves and brew them like you normally would to enjoy these eight benefits.
1. It Stabilizes Your Blood Sugar
Drinking guava leaf tea after a meal could prevent your blood sugar from spiking. This tea can be extremely useful for diabetics as it slows down the conversion of carbohydrates into glucose. It also prevents your body from absorbing sucrose and maltose, offsetting the negative effects these sugars can have. Even if you’re not already diabetic, drinking guava leaf tea is still important because it prevents the disease from occurring in the first place.
2. It Can Give You Smoother Skin
The leaves of the guava tea are extremely high in vitamin C, a compound which is essential for healthy skin. Drinking guava leaf tea regularly will clear up your acne and keep you looking radiant. Vitamin C is also an important antioxidant so the tea can prevent free radical damage from prematurely aging your skin. You can even use it topically by crushing it to form a paste and applying it over your skin.
3. Helps You Recover From An Upset Stomach
If you’re experiencing a terrible bout of diarrhea, drinking a cup of guava leaf tea can help. The tea can improve the health of your intestinal tract by killing diarrhea-causing bacteria. Drinking it will also reduce tummy aches associated with a bad stomach and will help your stools firm up. Because it contains vitamin C, the tea can boost your immunity and prevent you from falling sick again.
4. Helps You Get Thicker Hair
While losing up to 100 strands a day is perfectly normal, anything more than this can make your hair look thinner. People with thin hair usually shed hair faster than they can regrow it. If you have this problem, a weekly rinse with guava tea can help. Brew a strong pot of guava tea and pour this over your hair after you’ve washed it. Do this every week and you will begin to see an improvement.
5. Helps You Sleep Faster
If you’re no stranger to tossing around in bed for a long time before you finally fall asleep, ditch the counting-sheep method. Guava tea is a much more effective way to catch a good night’s sleep. The tea calms your nerves and slows down your mind. This will help you actually sleep when you tuck yourself in instead of pondering what-ifs for hours.
6. Improves Your Oral Health
If you’re suffering from a toothache, guava leaf tea is a great natural way to reduce the pain. It has strong anti-inflammatory compounds which soothe your nerve endings. Drinking guava leaf tea often also reduces oral infections because it is a strong natural antibiotic. It can help mouth ulcers heal faster, prevent the growth of harmful bacteria and keep your breath fresh.
7. It Can Cure Respiratory Infections
If you’re suffering from a cold or even more serious respiratory infections, guava leaf tea can bring you instant relief. It’s high in vitamin C which can fight off disease-causing germs and strengthen your immunity. It also clear any mucus that’s congesting your airways, helping you breathe easier.
8. It Can Prevent Cancer
Guava leaf tea is high in the antioxidant superhero lycopene. Lycopene is also found in tomatoes and bell peppers and is one of the most effective antioxidants. Drinking guava leaf tea often can increase lycopene levels in your body, which in turn fight off free radicals. Since free radical damage is one of the main reasons behind cancer formation, guava leaf tea can be a great way to protect yourself from this dreaded disease.
