Lychee
Vitamin C-rich tropical fruit with polyphenol research
Nutrition per serving 1 cup, ~9 lychees (100 g)
- Water 81.8 g82%
- Sugars 15.2 g15%
- Fibre 1.3 g1%
- Other carbs 0 g0%
- Protein 0.8 g1%
- Fat 0.4 g0%
| Nutrient | Per serving | % daily value |
|---|---|---|
| Vitamin C | 72 mg | 79% |
| Copper | 0.15 mg | 16% |
| Vitamin B6 | 0.1 mg | 6% |
| Potassium | 171 mg | 4% |
| Riboflavin | 0.07 mg | 5% |
| Folate | 14 ug | 4% |
| Fiber | 1.3 g | 5% |
| Phosphorus | 31 mg | 2% |
| Magnesium | 10 mg | 2% |
Composition data: USDA FoodData Central ↗
What is Lychee?
Lychee (Litchi chinensis) is a fruit used for high vitamin c contribution to antioxidant and immune support per serving. NutriDex grades the human evidence as Preliminary. Lychee is a sweet subtropical fruit that is an excellent source of vitamin C, providing roughly 80% of the Daily Value per ~100 g, alongside potassium, copper and flavanol-type polyphenols. The strongest human evidence comes not from the whole fruit but from Oligonol, a standardized lychee-derived oligomerized-polyphenol: randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trials report reduced abdominal visceral fat in overweight adults and improvements in liver fat fraction and gut microbiota composition in NAFLD patients, though one NAFLD RCT failed to beat placebo on its primary endpoint. These supplement doses are far more concentrated than what eating fresh fruit delivers, so the trial results should not be read as benefits of the fruit itself. Much of the remaining mechanistic and metabolic data (anti-inflammatory, anti-aging SIRT1/AMPK, renoprotective, anti-sarcopenia) comes from cell and rodent models. Large prospective cohorts show whole-fruit intake is associated with modestly lower type 2 diabetes risk, but lychee was not studied individually and fruit juice trends the opposite way. Overall, direct human evidence for fresh lychee is preliminary, with most benefit signals tied to extracts rather than the fruit as eaten.