The pawpaw is a unique/unusual fruit crop with high nutritional value and potential for both fresh and processed market uses. As a food source, pawpaw exceeds apple, peach, and grapes in vitamin, mineral, amino acid, and food energy values.
Major Nutrient Makeup: Pawpaw fruits vary in size, usually ranging from 5 ounces to a pound each. A 100-gram serving, or about 3.5 ounces, of pawpaw fruit provides 80 calories, 1.2 grams of each protein and fat and 18.8 grams of carbohydrates, including 2.6 grams of fiber, or 10 percent of the daily value. Fiber helps fill you up on fewer calories and may lower your risk for heart disease, constipation, and Type 2 diabetes.
Vital Vitamin Content: A serving of pawpaw fruit contains about 31 percent of the daily value for vitamin C, as well as small amounts of vitamin A, thiamine, niacin and riboflavin. Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant, helping to keep your cells from becoming damaged by harmful substances called free radicals. You also need vitamin C for forming collagen and healing wounds.
Manganese, Magnesium and Other Minerals: You’ll get a significant amount of many of the essential minerals each time you eat a serving of pawpaw fruit. For every 100 grams, pawpaw fruit provides 10 percent of the DV for potassium, 39 percent of the DV for iron, 130 percent of the DV for manganese, 11 percent of the DV for magnesium and 25 percent of the DV for copper. Potassium helps counteract the blood pressure increases caused by sodium, iron helps form red blood cells and manganese helps form bones and process cholesterol in the body. You need magnesium for proper muscle and nerve function and copper for a healthy immune system.