By Maria Cendejas and editing by Aimee Keenan-Greene

Mexicans have been enjoying nopal cactus for centuries.  The vegetable is currently  trending as a super-food in the natural health and raw food community in the United States. The medical research in the past decade have confirmed that nopal cactus has the ability to lower LDL cholesterol levels.

The neon red prickly pear, the fruit of the nopal cactus, tastes like a cross between bubblegum and watermelon. To prepare prickly pear, the spines are cut off and the skin is removed. This leaves the flesh and seeds of the fruit. Both are edible raw as is, or can be juiced and added to beverages and other recipes.

In a 2003 medical study published by Nuclear Medicine Review: Central and Eastern Europe recognized that 10 patients with high blood cholesterol levels were given 6 weeks of dietary counseling, and then they were asked to eat prickly pear cactus for those 6 weeks. The scientists found that the livers of the patients was able to handle the regulation of LDL cholesterol significantly better by eating prickly pear cactus.

In the scientific community it has recently gained an interest to the prickly pear fruit because it contains the richest source of betalains. Betalains are phytochemicals which are unique to nopal cactus, beets, and Swiss chard. It is the chemical which gives these vegetables their ruby red color. Betalains are glycosides, which means they help to reduce blood glucose levels. .

The antioxidant properties of betalains protect the inner lining of blood vessels and the lymph system.

In a 2004 clinical study published in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences said that the betalains in prickly pear were clearly demonstrated to protect vascular endothelial cells from the free radical effects of redox alteration from cytokines, the "signal" proteins that regulate the immune system.