The Yomiuri Shimbun
An experiment is under way in Ishigaki, Okinawa Prefecture, to try to verify the local assumption that papayas help brea$t milk production.
The city, on Ishigakijima island, is 420 kilometers southwest of Naha and 277 kilometers east of Taipei.
About 70 tons of papaya were harvested on the island in 2004, the largest quantity in all of the nation's papaya-growing areas.
"If the assumption [about brea$t milk production] proves correct, we will exploit the finding to increase tourism to our island, particularly by prospective parents," a city official said.
The experiment began last month at the Ishigaki Papaya Research Institute, which was established in December 2005 with two staff members and 22 volunteers to promote research on cultivating the fruit and improving its quality.
The experiment involves the consumption of immature green papayas, which contain large quantities of papain, an enzyme that breaks down proteins, thereby improving digestion.
In the experiment, 10 women ate 200 grams of immature papayas a day for the first week after giving birth. In the second week, they ate no papayas.
The women will be asked to eat papayas or refrain from eating them on alternate weeks over a period of three months.
The women are weighed immediately before and after bre@st-feeding their babies to determine the amount of milk the babies are given.
The institute plans to release a report on the experiment by next March.
"If the experiment turns out to be successful, we will inform consumers across the country about the 'hidden power' of the papaya," a researcher at the institute said.
Papayas hang from trees almost all year round on the island, but if left unprotected they are vulnerable to typhoons.
To protect them from strong winds, the institute has advocated the use of a reinforced plastic sheeting in constructing greenhouses for papaya trees.
(Mar. 26, 2007)