3 Ways Mangoes Can Affect Your Digestion

Often called the “king” of fruit, mangoes provide copious amounts of vitamin C and potassium, among other nutrients.

Mangoes can also help prevent constipation, but they do have a high sugar content relative to many other fruits, says Amanda Beaver, RDN, LD, a wellness dietitian with Houston Methodist Wellness Services in Houston. That means they can spike blood sugar faster than, say, strawberries, oranges, and blackberries.

Let’s take a look at how mangoes can affect your digestion.

1. They Add Digestion-Friendly Fiber

One cup of mango has 2.64 grams of fiber, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), including both soluble and insoluble fiber:

• ‌Soluble Fiber‌ This type dissolves in water, creating a gel-like substance that feeds the “good” bacteria in our large intestine (colon). “Providing fuel for the beneficial bacteria in our gut is a good thing, because these gut bacteria can have anti-inflammatory effects,” Beaver says. This can help lower cholesterol, balance blood sugars, and more.
• ‌Insoluble Fiber This type does not dissolve in water. It adds roughage and speeds up the pace at which our stools move through our bodies, Beaver says.

Both types of fiber are vital in aiding digestion, according to Mayo Clinic. Plus, like many other fruits, mangoes also contain polyphenols, a group of compounds with antioxidant properties that may help prevent diabetes and other chronic diseases. Polyphenols also provide fuel for our gut microbiome.

2. Mangoes May Cause Gas and Bloating

While the fiber in mangoes can aid digestion, the fruit is also high in sucrose and fructose, according to the USDA. These are two types of sugar that can cause gas and bloating once the gut breaks them down.

An enzyme in our small intestine called sucrase breaks down sucrose into fructose, according to MedlinePlus.

“Ripe and overripe mangoes are sweeter because this enzyme, naturally found in mango fruit, turns starch into sugar as the fruit ripens,” says Isabel Maples, RDN, a registered dietitian-nutritionist based in Haymarket, Virginia.

Fructose is a type of fermentable carbohydrate, Beaver says. “When the mango reaches our lower gastrointestinal tract [the large intestine or colon], bacteria begin to break down the fermentable carbohydrates and fiber and produce gas as a by-product,” she says.

Our bodies can only absorb so much fructose. Any extra travels to the large intestine, leading to gas and bloating. That buildup of gas and resulting distended belly can lead to abdominal pain, too.

Here are some ways to reduce the risk of gas and its associated complications, according to Mayo Clinic:

• ‌Identify and cut back on foods that contribute to gas.‌ This may include beans, legumes, broccoli, foods containing lactose, carbonated drinks, and certain fruits. If you notice mangoes make you gassy, consider avoiding them or eating only a small portion.
• ‌Reduce how much fatty food you eat.‌ Because fats are slow to digest, this allows more time for fermentation, which in turn leads to gas.
• ‌Take an over-the-counter anti-gas product. ‌Some examples include Lactaid, which helps if you can’t digest lactose, and Beano, which helps digest gases found in beans. You can find these and other options in many drugstores.

3. Mangoes May Relieve Constipation

Mangoes have laxative properties, according to one study. That can be helpful if you’re blocked up.

Another study found that consuming 300 grams of mangoes (about 2 cups or one mango) over four weeks was better than an equivalent amount of fiber in supplement form in managing chronic constipation, producing softer poop more often.

Study participants who regularly ate mango also produced more short-chain fatty acids, an indication that “good” intestinal bacteria are thriving, something fiber supplements don’t do.

“Short-chain fatty acids ... inhibit the body from making more cholesterol in the liver,” Maples says.

How Ripeness and Preparation of Mangoes Affect Digestion

Not all forms of mangoes are equal.

“In general, the more [liquefied] a food is, the faster our body will digest and absorb it,” Beaver says. That means our bodies will digest and absorb juice in less time than puree, which is digested faster than whole fruit. Because juice and puree are digested faster, they lead to higher and faster blood sugar spikes than eating raw mango, Beaver says.

For the same reason, mango juice may be easier on the stomach than whole fruit, says Yasi Ansari, RDN, a registered dietitian-nutritionist based in Los Angeles.

The mango’s ripeness can also affect how your digestive system interacts with it. “This will be highly individualized, however,” says Ansari. “Each person’s tolerance to a mango may be different than another’s.”

Most people do not eat the skin of the mango. Although it does have fiber, nutrients, and antioxidants, the taste is “very fibrous and bitter tasting,” Beaver says.

Moreover, it contains urushiol, an allergen also found in poison ivy, which may cause a skin reaction, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology.

Who Should Not Eat Mangoes

While mangoes overall are a valuable source of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, there are certain groups for whom the fruit is not recommended:

• ‌People With Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) “People with IBS may be sensitive to the high fermentable carbohydrate content of mangoes, which can lead to symptoms of gas, bloating, belching, diarrhea, or even constipation,” Beaver says.
• ‌People With Fructose Intolerance‌ This is when your body has trouble digesting fructose.
• ‌People Who Already Have Diarrhea High-fructose foods can cause and worsen diarrhea, according to Harvard Health Publishing.
• ‌People With Bacterial Overgrowth In these cases, Ansari recommends “working with your dietitian to see if consuming mangoes would be appropriate for you. You may have to adjust the amount of mango you consume for a short period of time.”
• ‌People on a Low FODMAP Diet‌ FODMAP stands for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols. They are highly fermentable sugars that produce a lot of gas. A low FODMAP diet eliminates foods that are possible irritants, and then slowly adds them back to see which ones might be responsible for digestive symptoms like bloating.