On Wednesday, May 18, 2005, at 10:43 AM, Tad Glines wrote:
>> Thomas Bridgeland wrote:
>>
>> I use papayas and bananas as medicine. When traveling in third world
>> countries a papaya and some bananas every day prevents most stomach
>> troubles.
>
> What kind of troubles? How ripe (or unripe) does the fruit have to be
> for it
> to be effective? Is the fruit effective when really ripe (e.g mushy)?
>
Various sorts of bacterial/parasitic infection. The trots are pretty
common for travelers.
I can't say what level of ripeness works best, but I like bananas and
papayas fully ripe so that is what I try to buy. The seeds of papays
are said to be the most potent part.