The fruit of the Nopal cactus has been used by indigenous cultures for many centuries for its healing properties. Many of the plant’s benefits are thought to derive from a powerful class of nutrients called Betalains. Betalains are compounds found within the prickly pear (nopal) fruit that have powerful antioxidant properties. They’re also what give the cactus fruit its distinctive bright red color.
After learning of the restorative qualities of the nopal fruit, which is found in the Sonoran Desert in the southwestern U.S. and in contiguous areas of northern Mexico, TriVita® went to work to create Nopalea. However, while Nopalea is derived principally from these wonderfully restorative fruits, we didn’t stop there. To further enhance Nopalea’s therapeutic qualities, we combined the Nopal cactus fruit with a number of other plant-based ingredients known to have various health benefits. These ingredients include everything from beet juice and papaya to raspberry, cranberry and pomegranate.
In the same way that grapes grown in a harsh environment may be richer in antioxidants, the harshness of the Sonoran Desert is part of what spurs the Nopal cactus to produce significant concentrations of beneficial antioxidants. Nopalea has two significant health properties. Along with the other ingredients, the Nopal cactus has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables have been shown to contain levels of antioxidants that confer health benefits, hence the recommendation from most health experts to include several servings per day of fruits and vegetables. Nopalea combines several different ingredients to have a broad spectrum of antioxidant compounds. At the level of our cells much of the damage that occurs is from oxidation. Our bodies need to combine oxygen with the foods we eat to efficiently create energy. This process of creating energy using oxygen produces high amounts of energy and also creates free radicals, which can harm the cells themselves.
The body’s immune system also uses intense bursts of reactive oxygen species to defend itself. Both of these processes create species of oxygen molecules that can damage healthy cells. For much of human history, our diet was rich in healthy antioxidants. It is only recently that we replaced large portions of fruits and vegetables with foods like French fries and charred burgers, both of which have high levels of compounds that contribute to oxidative damage in the body. Eating more fruits and vegetables and taking products like Nopalea may help offset some of the damage to our bodies that is continually being caused by harmful foods and other chemicals we encounter on a regular basis in our modern society.
Nopalea also has anti-inflammatory effects in the body. Research on Nopalea has shown that it decreases inflammatory markers in the body such as CRP – C-reactive protein, which can be an indicator of both local and body-wide inflammatory states. Studies and customers have both demonstrated that Nopalea can improve conditions that may be related to inflammation. Many patients report they have benefited from a higher initial dose of Nopalea for the first 1-2 months, followed by a lower maintenance dose on an ongoing basis.
Given the damaging effects of both inflammation and oxidation on the body, products such as Nopalea that contain healthy plant antioxidants and have been proven to reduce inflammation may be a wise choice for modern times.
