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Is it Safe to Eat Mango Skin?

Thanks to the wide spread terror against protecting ourselves from the pesticides sprayed on fruits and vegetables, most of us dread eating their skin. The truth however is that the skins of some fruits like mangoes, guava, grape, sapote, plums and apple are actually supposed to excellent sources of essential nutrients and minerals. In fact, most of these fruits are digested better when eaten with the skin.

So the simple answer on whether it is safe to eat mango skin would be affirmative. Mango skin is edible and tasty to boot, with the exception of certain family of mangoes. In countries like India, most locals enjoy eating the mango whole, with its skin. In America, people are more concerned about the wide spread use of chemical sprays which deters them from eating the skin. If you are concerned about chemical sprays, you should try eating some organic mangoes with the skin.

Benefits of eating mango skin

We can learn a lot about how to eat a fruit, if we look at a monkey go about it. It will eat the skin of certain fruits, while it discards the skin of others. For example, a monkey would peel a banana (this implies that the banana skin is not really edible for humans) while it will eat a mango with the skin (which implies the mango skin is edible). The people who claim that mango skin is poisonous are simply talking out of hearsay, there is no basis to such a claim.

In certain states of India, mango skin is peeled and dried in the sun with some edible spreads on it and then eaten as a snack. Mango skin has been acclaimed for its benefits by the practioners of Ayurveda, an branch of natural medicine.

Here are a few known benefits of eating a mango skin.

1. Compounds present in the mango skin help fight against metabolic diseases such as diabetes
2. Studies have indicated that the eating mango skin can help protect against some forms of cancer, compounds like quercetin and mangiferin present in mango skins are anti-oxidative in nature and protect cells from oxidative damage.
3. Mango skin is highly effective against internal inflammations like stomach ulcers or colitis
4. Mango skin is said to contain resveratrol, also present in the skin of red grapes, which helps regulate the body cholesterol levels

Mango pulp has high amounts of sugar or glucose. Eating the pulp alone, in the absence of the skin, can lead to a spike in sugar levels due to its immediate absorption. That could be another reason why such high sugar fruits have skins with beneficial minerals that help regulate the digestion and metabolism of the body.

So eating mango skin is a good thing. If you are worried about mango skin being poisonous due to the chemical sprayed on it, simply wash the mangoes with hot water, or dip it in a bowl of hot water 5 minutes prior to consuming it. Hot water is known to removes chemicals more efficiently than cold water.  Eating organic mangoes may be another viable option so that you enjoy the skin without worrying about chemicals.

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