Soursop Vs. Jackfruit: Are They the Same Thing?

Soursop and Jackfruit are both tropical fruits but have notable differences. For instance, Soursop is ideal if you prefer a tangy-sweet, refreshing taste. In contrast, if you choose a rich, sweet flavor, Jackfruit would be more suitable. Additionally, each offers distinct nutritional benefits. Let's explore the fascinating aspects of Soursop and Jackfruit.

Soursop Vs. Jackfruit: Are They The Same?

Despite tropical fruits having significant health benefits, Soursop and Jackfruit have distinct differences. Understanding their benefits can help you choose the one that suits your dietary needs better.

What is Soursop?

Soursop is a tropical fruit with an oval shape, greenish skin, spiky protrusions, and white flesh. It has a tangy-sweet flavor with a predominance of mild acidity.

Soursop is available year-round, making it popular for smoothies, juices, or culinary creations.

What is Soursop Nutrition and What Are Its Benefits for Health?

Nutrition of Soursop

Soursop contains vitamins (C, B1, B2), minerals (calcium, phosphorus), protein, and fats.

Moreover, it is a fruit high in antioxidants that protect cells from free radical damage [1]. The vitamins help strengthen the immune system, aiding in disease resistance.

Additionally, Soursop's high fiber content significantly improves digestion. It also contains substantial amounts of Vitamin B6, riboflavin, and niacin, crucial for energy metabolism and maintaining a healthy nervous system.

Specifically, soursop fruit provides many nutrients, but today, many people also use soursop leaves to make tea.

Health Benefits of Soursop

Boosting the immune system: Vitamin C helps improve immunity and fight infections [1].

Anti-inflammatory properties: Soursop exhibits anti-inflammatory characteristics, aiding in reducing swelling and pain from conditions like arthritis, tendonitis, rheumatism, neuropathy, and other inflammatory diseases [2].

Soursop is widely used in traditional medicine to manage hypertension, diabetes, and cancer. Studies indicate it contains bioactive compounds such as acetogenins, flavonoids, phenols, and alkaloids with potential therapeutic effects on wounds, ulcers, inflammation, cancer, diabetes, and hypertension. However, more detailed research is needed on anti-diabetic effects to develop pharmaceuticals and understand their mechanisms [3].

Protecting the digestive system: Soursop fruit and leaves are extensively used in West Africa to treat diarrhea. Flavonoids, triterpenoids, and saponins help inhibit intestinal motility and secretion, alleviating diarrhea symptoms. Additionally, its high fiber content significantly improves digestion [4].

Suitable for the skin: Soursop may also aid in treating skin conditions such as rashes and inflammations [4] due to its abundance of antioxidants that slow down the skin's aging process.

Soursop leaf tea effectively helps reduce stress, improve sleep quality, enhance skin beauty, and aid in weight loss.

While Soursop offers many health benefits, excessive consumption, particularly concerning the nervous system, may pose risks such as an increased likelihood of Parkinson's disease [1]. It should be consumed in moderation and monitored scientifically and regularly.

What is Jackfruit?

Jackfruit is a tropical fruit native to Southeast Asia. The fruit is oval or egg-shaped, greenish skin covered in large, sharp spikes, and yellow flesh. Jackfruit has a rich, sweet flavor, fragrant aroma, and slightly intense taste.

What is Jackfruit Nutrition, and What Are Its Benefits for Health?

Jackfruit Nutrition

Jackfruit is a highly nutritious fruit with numerous health benefits [5]. It is rich in essential nutrients, including vitamins such as A, C, B6, folate, niacin, and thiamine.

These vitamins support immune function, overall health, disease prevention, and energy metabolism.

For example, vitamin A benefits vision, vitamin C boosts immunity, vitamin B6 supports brain function, folate helps prevent congenital disabilities, niacin aids energy metabolism, and thiamine maintains a healthy nervous system.

Jackfruit also contains significant amounts of potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, and copper. Its high fiber content aids in improving digestion, preventing constipation, and reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Furthermore, Jackfruit is rich in antioxidants such as polyphenols and flavonoids, which protect the body from the harmful effects of free radicals, thereby reducing the risk of cancer, heart disease, and premature aging.

Health Benefits of Jackfruit

The health benefits of Jackfruit can be summarized as follows:

Energy and endurance: In every 100 grams of ripe Jackfruit, there are approximately 88 to 410 kilojoules (kJ) of energy [6]. This is due to its carbohydrate content and natural sugars like fructose, glucose, and sucrose, contributing to increased energy and endurance.

Digestive support: Jackfruit can improve digestion and alleviate diarrhea symptoms due to its nutrients and extracts from seeds and other parts of the plant. Additionally, its fiber content helps prevent constipation and enhances digestive health [6].

Immune system support: Thanks to its vitamin C content, Jackfruit boosts the immune system, helping the body fight off infections. Jackfruit seeds also contain jacalin, a lectin known for enhancing immunity. Studies have shown that jacalin can enhance immune responses in people infected with HIV-1, potentially improving their immune status [6].

Eye health protection: Vitamin A in Jackfruit protects eye health and prevents eye-related diseases [6].

Reduced risk of cardiovascular diseases: Jackfruit has also been shown to be beneficial for heart health [6].

Bone health: Jackfruit contains essential minerals like calcium and magnesium, which help maintain strong bones and prevent osteoporosis [6].

Skin benefits: Vitamins A and C in Jackfruit contribute to healthy and elastic skin.

Additionally, its antioxidants protect the skin from the damaging effects of sunlight and free radicals.

Soursop Vs. Jackfruit: Which Should You Choose?

Below is a comparative table of the nutritional components of Jackfruit and Soursop [7]:

Nutrition of Soursop vs Jackfruit

Based on this, we can draw the following conclusions:

Energy and key nutritional components:

• Energy: In every 100 grams, Soursop (66 kcal) has fewer calories than Jackfruit (95 kcal).
• Protein and fat: Jackfruit contains more protein (1.72g versus 1g) and fat (0.64g versus 0.3g) than Soursop.
• Carbohydrates and sugars: Jackfruit has more carbohydrates (23.2g versus 16.8g) and sugars (19.1g versus 13.5g) than Soursop.

Fiber:

• Fiber: Soursop (3.3g) has more fiber than Jackfruit (1.5g), which may support better digestion compared to Jackfruit.

Vitamins and minerals:

• Vitamin C: Soursop has a higher vitamin C content (20.6mg versus 13.7mg), providing crucial antioxidant effects to protect cells from damage.
• Potassium: Jackfruit provides more potassium (448 mg versus 278mg), helping to maintain good water and electrolyte balance within cells.
• Vitamin B and other minerals: Jackfruit supplies more vitamins B1, B2, and B6 and minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, and phosphorus than Soursop.

Based on this, it can be seen that Jackfruit is suitable for those needing more energy and essential nutrients. In contrast, Soursop is suitable for those who need fewer calories and is a food rich in vitamin C and fiber.

Next, I will present another table to suggest the appropriate fruit.

How to Use Soursop and Jackfruit

Some ways to use Soursop:

• Eat raw: Cut and peel to eat the flesh inside. Choose ripe, soft fruit with dark green.
• Blend into smoothies: Blend the flesh with water or milk for a tangy-sweet flavor with a creamy texture.
• Make desserts: preserves, ice cream, cakes, mousse cakes, flan, cheesecake, etc.
• Cook soup: In some cultures, Soursop is used to cook soup or to make soups.
• Soursop ice cream: You can use Soursop to make ice cream sticks or fresh ice cream, which cools down and tastes delicious.
• Make tea: Soursop leaves can be dried and brewed. Soursop leaf tea has cooling, detoxifying, and digestive support effects.

Some ways to use Jackfruit:

• Eat raw: Jackfruit can be eaten directly after peeling and rSoursop all the flesh inside. Choose ripe, soft fruit with dark yellow skin for better flavor.
• Make preserves: To make jackfruit preserves, slice the Jackfruit and then soak it in sugar to create a unique flavor.
• Make cakes: Jackfruit can make pancakes, bibs, desserts, Jackfruit cake, Jackfruit soup, or Jackfruit candy.
• Make juice: Jackfruit can also be crushed to make Jackfruit juice delicious and nutritious.
• Make fruit salad: Combine with fruit salad to increase sweetness and stickiness.
• Make ice cream: Jackfruit can make ice cream sticks or fresh ice cream.

Conclusion

Soursop and Jackfruit have many nutritional benefits, each with unique flavor and health benefits. Choosing which fruit is best for you depends on personal preference, dietary needs, and intended use. You can also combine both fruits for a varied diet.