Know2eat

Lychee

Litchi chinensis

What lychee has been studied for

1 association assessed — none with dependable human evidence behind them yet. Strongest first.

  • 1 Insufficient
3 things to know first — allergies, interactions and intake limits

About lychee

A subtropical fruit with a rough red shell, translucent white flesh and a single glossy brown seed. Native to southern China and now grown across the subtropics.

Also known as Litchi, Lichee, Leechee

Antioxidant & Oxidative Stress

The evidence in depth

Best supported: Insufficient

What each association actually rests on, and the papers behind it. A rating describes the state of the research, not how impressive the food is. How we rate evidence.

Oxidative stress markers

Antioxidant & Oxidative Stress
Insufficient evidence

Lychee pericarp and seed extracts have a laboratory literature, and a very small number of human studies use a proprietary oligonol product derived from lychee. Eating the fruit has not been studied for any outcome.

Insufficient evidence. Not enough human research to say anything useful yet.

4 sources

Deep research mode adds each paper’s own conclusion and stated limitations.

Ask about Lychee

Ask about Lychee

Answers are written only from the entries on this page — the same nutrients, compounds, claims and citations you can read above. Nothing is added from outside the database, and every answer lists what it was built from.

AI explanations are not switched on for this site, so there is nothing to ask here. Everything above is read straight from the database and does not need them.

Key nutrients

Nutrient content per 100 grams
NutrientAmount% DV
Macronutrients
Calories66 kcal3%
Protein0.83 g2%
Total fat0.44 g1%
Carbohydrate16.5 g6%
Fibre1.3 g5%
Total sugars15.2 g—
Water81.8 g—
Fats
Saturated fat0.099 g0%
Monounsaturated fat0.12 g—
Polyunsaturated fat0.132 g—
Cholesterol0 mg0%
EPA (omega-3)0 g—
DHA (omega-3)0 g—
DPA (omega-3)0 g—
Linoleic acid (omega-6)0.067 g—
Vitamins
Vitamin A0 µg0%
Vitamin C71.5 mg79%
Vitamin D0 µg0%
Vitamin E0.07 mg0%
Vitamin K0.4 µg0%
Thiamin (B1)0.011 mg1%
Riboflavin (B2)0.065 mg5%
Niacin (B3)0.603 mg4%
Vitamin B60.1 mg6%
Folate14 µg4%
Vitamin B120 µg0%
Choline7.1 mg1%
Minerals
Calcium5 mg0%
Iron0.31 mg2%
Magnesium10 mg2%
Phosphorus31 mg2%
Potassium171 mg4%
Sodium1 mg0%
Zinc0.07 mg1%
Copper0.148 mg16%
Manganese0.055 mg2%
Selenium0.6 µg1%
Other measured compounds
Beta-carotene0 µg—
Alpha-carotene0 µg—
Lycopene0 µg—
Lutein + zeaxanthin0 µg—
Caffeine0 mg—
Ash0.44 g—

Nutrient values are per 100 g of the USDA reference entry named on this page and vary with variety, growing conditions, storage and preparation.

Source record: Litchis, raw (USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 169086).

% DV uses the FDA Daily Values for adults and children aged 4 and over. A dash means no Daily Value has been established for that nutrient.

Bioactive compounds

Compounds present in meaningful amounts. Presence is banded rather than quantified, because whole-food levels vary enormously with variety, growing conditions, storage and preparation.

How preparation changes things

Only effects with real support are listed. If a preparation method is missing, it is because nothing dependable is documented — not because it makes no difference.

Nothing dependable is recorded about how preparation changes this food’s nutritional properties. Rather than guess, this section stays empty.

Things to know

Allergies, interactions and intake concerns. Every food gets this section — a reference where everything is uniformly good is not a reference.

  • Avoid

    Unripe lychee and hypoglycaemic encephalopathy

    Unripe lychees contain hypoglycin A and methylenecyclopropylglycine, which block the body from making glucose from fat stores. Outbreaks of acute encephalopathy and death in undernourished children who ate unripe fruit on an empty stomach and skipped an evening meal have been documented in India, Bangladesh and Vietnam. Ripe fruit eaten by well-nourished people has not been implicated.

  • Allergy

    Lychee allergy and latex cross-reactivity

    Lychee allergy including anaphylaxis is documented, and cross-reactivity with natural rubber latex and with mugwort pollen has been described.

  • Too much

    Easy to eat a lot of sugar quickly

    Peeled lychees are small and go down fast, and canned lychees sit in syrup. The sugar load of a bowlful is larger than the fruit-sized portions suggest.