A recent study conducted at the University of California, Davis found that eating two cups of mangoes a day had beneficial effects on the systolic blood pressure among healthy postmenopausal women, according to Medical News Today.

The study also found that this delicious fruit that’s been cultivated in South Asia for thousands of years also helps our intestinal and gut flora.

Mangoes are the national fruit of India, Pakistan and the Philippines and are cultivated in many warm regions here in the United States. They contain a wide range of vitamins and  minerals. They also contain polyphenols which have an antioxidant effect.

For the University of California study, the researchers recruited 24 health postmenopausal women and asked them to consume 330 grams of mango each day for two weeks.

After the two week period the subjects returned to their standard fare, without eating mangoes. The researchers took regular measurements of heart rate and blood pressure readings throughout the trial and also examined blood and breath samples. The breath samples helped them analyze gut health.

The results, presented at The American Society for Nutrition’s annual meeting this year revealed that the systolic blood pressure, the measurement in the arteries when the heart contracts, was significantly lower in the study subjects than the baseline reading 2 hours before they consumed their mangoes.

The breath test they performed measured hydrogen and methane levels. High methane levels are considered to be an indication of poor gut health. Of the subjects who had high levels of methane at the beginning of the trial, half showed reduced methane output at the end. Although the findings are encouraging—and yet another reason to enjoy the summer’s bounty of mangos– experts say that more research on a larger scale is needed to evaluate the benefits of mangoes on gut and cardiovascular health.