Miracle fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum) is a plant native to West Africa which is still in the same family as sapodilla fruit. Miracle fruit has an oval shape with a length of 2-3 cm resembling a melinjo fruit or coffee fruit. When it is ripe, the miracle fruit will turn red.

Miracle fruit actually has a bland taste. Then how can this fruit turn any taste sweet? After investigation, this sweet taste change comes from a protein molecule called miraculin.

Miraculin is a type of protein that can bind to the cells of the tongue and change their structure. These changes cause the tongue to create a sweet taste sensation, even when it sticks to sour or bitter foods.

The protein binding process that changes the taste to sweetness will last about 15-60 minutes until the miraculin finally disappears by itself.

Thanks to their unique ability to alter flavours, miracle fruit is often used as a natural, low-calorie sweetener. However, it doesn't stop there, there are also several other miracle fruit benefits that we can get, namely:

Miracle fruit is very good consumed by diabetics because it does not cause an increase in blood sugar levels. In addition, miracle fruit can also help diabetics satisfy their cravings for sweet foods without having to eat high-sugar foods that are not good for them.

Not only that, a study shows that miracle fruit can prevent insulin resistance on a high-sugar diet so that it can help reduce the risk of diabetes. However, this research has only been done on animals, so its effectiveness in humans still needs to be investigated.

Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy usually experience a number of side effects, including taste changes that make the tongue taste bitter. This condition can certainly make the patient lose his appetite, so the risk of causing drastic weight loss.

A trial on chemotherapy patients showed that miracle fruit can change the taste of food that was bitter for them to sweet. These changes can increase their desire to eat, while increasing the intake of nutrients they need.

Foods high in sugar are known to play a major role in weight gain. For those of you who are undergoing a weight loss program but have trouble avoiding sweet foods, try consuming miracle fruit with healthy foods that are low in sugar.

In addition, miracle fruit is very low in calories and contains no fat. With its delicious taste and unique properties, miracle fruit is perfect for helping to lose weight.

Some parents complain that their children do not like to eat vegetables. On average, children reasoned that vegetables tasted bitter.

Instead of forcing, let alone scolding your child, try giving him a miracle fruit before he eats vegetables. This may help increase the child's appetite for vegetables.

However, try to keep your child accustomed to eating vegetables without the help of miracle fruit, so that he can get used to a healthy diet until adulthood.

Seeing its unique abilities and health benefits, you may be interested in incorporating miracle fruit into your daily healthy diet, for example to improve the taste of healthy but less delicious food.

However, keep in mind that long-term research into the benefits and safety of miracle fruit is still limited. So, try to build and maintain a healthy diet without the help of this fruit.

If you want to take advantage of the miracle fruit for certain conditions, consult the doctor who treats you first. Using miracle fruit as a therapy to replace the medication recommended by your doctor can put your health at risk.