Why Aren’t You Eating Strawberry?

By: Anita Galuh S.H.

            Have you ever known that strawberry can make us fresh and give health benefits for our life? Strawberry, with its tempted color, makes us want to taste it. It looks fresh and appetizing. Actually, strawberry tastes a little bit sour but it is very delicious. Moreover, strawberry contains high amount of antioxidant, vitamin C, xylitol, polifenol, and other minerals which or body needs. Those minerals will help our body to stay healthy and fresh. Besides, the minerals of strawberry can prevent some diseases that potentially threaten our health, such as dental decay and cancer. There are three reasons why you should eat strawberry.

            The first reason why you should eat strawberry is that strawberry can make you fresh. When you are exhausted, eating strawberry may be one of several ways that can help you get fresh again. It is caused by the vitamin C inside the strawberry. I once ate strawberry when I felt exhausted after doing sport. I drank a glass of water and took some strawberries from the refrigerator. I ate them while I was taking a rest in my living room. The strawberries tasted watery, cool, and a little bit sour. I enjoyed eating them one by one. After I ate them all, I felt fresh again. My thirst was gone. Perhaps having a glass of water is enough for you, but if you eat some strawberries after drinking, you will be fresher.  On the other way, if you like juice, you may also make strawberry juice to refresh your body.

            The second reason is that eating strawberry can help you to decrease dental decay. Most of dental decay is caused by the plaque on the surface of teeth. According to Rahmi Ayu Budi Amalia, a researcher from The University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, strawberry can help us to prevent plaque forming on the teeth. Rahmi says, “The chemical substance of xylitol and polifenol of the strawberry have been proved to decrease Streptococcus mutans. So, it can prevent the plaque forming.” Streptococcus mutans is a kind of bacteria that usually lives on the teeth and obstructs the activity of enzyme by forming plaque. Plaque can cause caries (decay in the teeth), calculus (having tartar), and gingivitis (bleeding gums). “Because the plaque forming cannot be avoided, we need to decrease the plaque forming in order to prevent dental decay. One of the ways is consuming strawberry,” she adds.

            The third reason is that eating strawberry can prevent certain cancer. Strawberry contains nutrition and minerals which is needed by our body. 100 grams of strawberry has 0.8 grams of protein, 0.5 grams of fat, 8 grams of carbohydrate, 28 milligrams of calcium, 0.8 milligrams of iron, 10 milligrams of magnesium, 27 milligrams of potassium, and 0.003 milligrams of vitamin C. According to American Cancer Society, the nutrition and minerals of strawberry contains chemopreventive or anti-cancer that can help our body to decrease cancer risk, such as breast, cervical, colon, and esophageal cancer. Moreover, the study which is published by The Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry shows that from 1000 elderly people, there are 67% of them, who consume strawberry, have lower risk of cancer than the other 30% who do not. It means that strawberry is good to prevent cancer in our body.

            For all those reasons, why aren’t you eating strawberry to get healthy life? Strawberry can help you to refresh your body, to decrease dental decay and to prevent certain cancer. Staying refreshed makes you exited. Staying health makes you feeling alive. One of the Indonesian proverbs says, “lebih baik mencegah dari pada mengobati”, which means it is better to prevent before we get sick. So, consuming strawberry is an easy way to stay healthy. Why do not you start now?