Does papaya have medicinal properties as well?
In addition to its many health and medicinal properties, papaya is also high in retinene, which assists melanin formation in the skin to facilitate tanning. Retinene is also a scavenger of free radicals thought to be related to the formation of cancer. Extensive studies have shown that eating a variety of fruits and vegetables helps protect against many types of cancer, particularly cancers of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts. Papaya has long been used to combat a wide variety of illnesses and afflictions around the world. For example, in the Cook Islands , fresh unripe fruit is used externally to treat cuts, sores and skin infections. In Cuba , unripe papaya is eaten for hypertension. Fresh papaya latex is used externally in the treatment of ringworm in Jamaica , while natives in Malawi drink a water extract of dried papaya root to cure yellow fever. Dried papaya leaves are taken orally to combat yellow fever in Sierra Leone . In Mexico , like many other countries, papaya i
