In the recent years, mangosteens have been over-rate and touted as one of the world’s top Super Foods, citing it as amongst the most powerful antioxidants found in nature. One of these life-enhancing antioxidants is found in Mangosteen pericarp and is called Xanthone.

Some of the claimed health benefits of eating mangosteen:
Anti-viral
Anti-bacterial
Free radical fighter
Cardio support
Immune system Enhancer
Powerful antioxidant
Skin rashes, infections and wounds
Diarrhea
Anti-inflammatory
Vasorelaxant

Whether mangosteens are the acclaimed super food or not, all of us in the family love eating mangosteens. We normally grab a bag of mangosteens after buying durians. This is because mangosteens are believed to be ‘cooling’ for the body and durians are ‘heaty’. Thus eating mangosteens after eating durians may balance the yin and yang of the body, by expelling some ‘heatiness’ from the body.

While I love eating mangosteens (minus breaking them up), I find that the seeds of the mangosteen rather irritating. In the past, I used to spit out the seeds until recently, where I chew them together with the flesh and swallow everything down. I find that if I keep spitting out the seeds, I would have nothing much to eat! Since mangosteens are considered a super food, I guess there is no harm in swallowing the seeds too. But just the other day, as I was eating mangosteens and chewing the seeds too, it just dawned on me whether it is safe to eat the seeds too. I know that the seeds of certain fruits (like lime) are toxic to the body. For mangosteen, I am unable to find much information on whether the seeds are harmful to the human body.

I wish to seek an answer and hope someone can enlighten me.