You may have seen papaya enzymes -- called papain -- in health food stores. While papaya enzyme is a common herbal supplement and has been used in traditional medicine for a variety of purposes, you should talk to your doctor before using papaya for anything other than as a food.
Tenderizing Meat
Perhaps the most accepted use of papaya enzyme from a scientific perspective is as a meat tenderizer. Papain is a proteolytic enzyme, which means it breaks the bonds between amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. When you apply papaya enzyme -- generally in the form of papaya juice or flesh added to a marinade -- to meat, it breaks the tough portions of meat down into a more tender state, making the meat easier to chew.
Treating Parasites
One of the traditional uses of papaya is as a way to kill intestinal parasites, including worms and other organisms that infest the intestine and decrease the amount of nutrition you can extract from your food. There isn't much scientific evidence to support the antiparasitic activity of papaya; the University of Maryland Medical Center notes that only a single study of a small number of individuals has found an effect, but future research may support this use.
Treating Skin
In combination with urea, a chemical that occurs naturally in urine, papaya enzyme has some potential to treat certain skin wounds and conditions, explains the University of Maryland Medical Center. This is more than just a traditional treatment; there are pharmaceuticals available by prescription that rely upon a combination of urea and papain to treat bedsores, burns and other skin ulcerations. There isn't evidence that a similar combination can treat rashes and other mild skin conditions, however.
Prostatitis
There are many different kinds of prostatitis, which is an inflammation of the prostate gland in men. Some types of prostatitis are associated with cancer, while others are benign and relate to the normal aging process. According to the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, a plant component called quercetin can help reduce prostate inflammation, and papain appears to increase your body's ability to absorb quercetin, especially in combination with pineapple enzyme.
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