Potential Medicinal Properties of Carica Papaya Linn. - a Mini Review

Carica papaya Linn. is commonly called as paw-paw and it belongs to the family Caricaceae. Papaya possess excellent medicinal properties for treatment of different ailments. The different parts of the Carica papaya plant including leaves, seeds, latex and fruit exhibited to have medicinal value. The stem, leaf and fruit of papaya contain plenty of latex. The latex from unripe papaya fruit contain enzymes papain and chymopapain; other components include a mixture of cysteine endopeptidases, chitinases and an inhibitor of serine protease. Phytochemical analysis of C.papaya leaf extract revealed the presence of alkaloids, glycosides, flavanoids, saponins, tannins, phenols and steroids. This review focuses on different properties of papaya such as antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity, anticancer activity, anti-inflammatory activity, treatment for dengue fever, antidiabetic activity, wound healing activity and antifertility effects. Thus C.papaya acts as a multi faceted plant. It is also imperative to identify the mechanism of the plant compounds and studying the active principle of the extract. Thus, we should include the papaya in our diet as fruit salads, fruit juice, leaf extract, decoction prepared through papaya leaves, etc. However, including papaya seeds in any of the form should be avoided for young men and pregnant women, since it possess antifertility effects that was demonstrated well in animal models.