I volunteered at a university's botanic gardens recently and learned from one of the employees there that Brazil commonly uses papaya as a treatment for indigestion. The need from this arises from the high amount of red meat that is consumed in their culture's cuisine. Apparently there are actual tablets made up of papaya enzymes that are effective at breaking down those kind of proteins, but they also suggested just consuming dried, natural papaya. Being skeptical, I decided to take some dried papaya that someone brought in and eat some when my stomach was feeling upset. Lo and behold, I noticed that it went away about an hour later. Whether I can attest to the true effect of this or not, it was awfully convenient timing. Maybe next time I will purchase a roll of papaya enzyme tablets and pop a few before eating a large meal at the next steakhouse. |