As we ate pineapples as a snack, one of my sisters kept complaining how her tongue hurt so much after eating pineapples so being as the nerd I am, I went on and explained why that happened and why that didn't happen when we ate the canned ones or in juices.
I actually consider pineapples as hardcore fruits because they "eat you back" as we jokingly say back in the laboratory. But in reality, there's this specific enzyme inside pineapples that degrade or somewhat breaks down proteins found on meat, thus why eating fresh pineapples can give you cuts on your tongue. That enzyme is called bromelein!
Anyways, bromelain isn't just used to attack tongues, it also has its benefits too
Cooking
Since bromelain breaks down collegen (the protein chains in your muscles), it is often used as a marinate and as a meat tenderizer for a lot of recipes and a lot of cuisines
As seen in this image, there's your collagen (your protein strands that give your muscles form), when bromelain comes into play, those strands break down into peptides which are much smaller chains and if left there long enough, can break them down into amino acids, which is the basic unit of your proteins. This part actually explains what happens with your poor tongue.
Exfoliation
So we know that it breaks down proteins, so it would make sense to tell you that people use pineapples for exfoliation. In the medical field, there are doctors that give bromelain creams or oils as treatments for burns and or for infections. Why? because it can remove the burnt tissues, which are essentially proteins to begin with. Plus it also has an antimicrobial property so it can at least keep bacteria, fungi and some viruses from getting you infected.
Helps with metabolism problems
Now I'm telling you that this enzyme doesn't just break down proteins, but it also helps your body absorb nutrients better, thus giving you better metabolism (because metabolism is not just how you break down food but also how it stores and absorbs the nutrients you consume). How is that, well there are studies shown that bromelain can improve your body's absorption of certain medication like anti coagulants (aspirin and ibuprofen applies here), your antibiotics, and even sedatives
It also helps with osteoarthritis and inflammatory pain but then it also treats sinusitis because it reduces swelling in the muscles. In a lot of studies, it's also used in various cancer cell targeting researches because it shows specificity in reacting with just those cells, but those are still in vivo (outside the body study), I'm not sure if the same specificity will apply for in vitro studies (inside the body).
This was much shorter than I had hoped for... but I hoped you learned something new today! I'm gonna put a link here if you want to check out a review of more things bromelain can offer ^-^
This is one awesome article. Thank you so much for sharing