Artichoke Health Benefits – Have you ever heard the name of Artichoke? The artichoke is a native plant to the Mediterranean region. These plants have stiff stems and branching. The altitude can reach one to two meters. Artichoke included in the group of vegetables and good to eat. Vegetables trunked hard this has been known since ancient times. The artichoke is used as a food of the Egyptians and then by the Greeks and Romans.
Artichoke vegetables enter the harvest season in October to June and many species of plants that bloom Artichoke up to several times a year. This plant is very rare in Asia but more commonly found in Europe especially in Liguria, Tuscany, Sardinia, Puglia and Lazio, and the Italian state. Italy is now the largest producer of artichokes. If you walk to the market, you’ll find Artichoke with some kind. There are round, and some are elongated. Likewise, there are prickly, and there are no thorns.
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Nutritional Value in Artichoke
Artichoke has many health benefits. Among the benefits is due to the content of cynarine, which aromatic substances that give a distinctively bitter flavor and more beneficial to health. Artichoke contains much salt, potassium, and iron. Not only that but Artichoke also contains sugars are said to be safe for diabetics, such as mannitol and inulin as well as other minerals such as copper, zinc, phosphorus, sodium, and manganese.
Awesome Artichoke Health Benefits
Artichoke contains some substances that are beneficial to health such as liver. Cynarine is a material will promote diuresis and secretion of the bile.
Based on the results of scientific research states that health benefits of Artichokes are immense in improving health. The artichoke is beneficial in treating some health complaints mainly related to the digestive and diuretic. The content of inulin in artichokes allows for lowering cholesterol levels. Artichoke also contains chlorogenic acid, an antioxidant, which can prevent atherosclerosis and heart disease. This substance is critical because it is an antioxidant and can prevent tumor disease.
Tips: Health Benefits of Artichoke are excellent indeed, but the food is not recommended for breastfeeding mothers because it can reduce milk production.
1. Cancer Prevention
Artichoke is a great vegetable with high antioxidants in it. USDA has conducted research on more than 1000 different plant species. Artichoke is a plant with the seventh highest antioxidant content. Most of its antioxidant sources are from polyphenol compounds. Antioxidants are important compounds to maintain the body’s defense system against free radical attack. This is the cause of cancer cells and cellular damage. The presence of antioxidants in artichokes provides tremendous health benefits for the prevention of cancer cells.
Aside from polyphenols, the source of artichokes antioxidant is from quercetin and rutin compounds. These are two types of antioxidants that can reduce cancer cells. Antioxidants is powerful to reduce cell damage, even prevent the formation of cancer cells.
Artichokes are also rich in vitamin C, it also acts as an antioxidant to fight cancer. Vitamin C is potent against health problems such as mucositis and fibrosis and has health benefits to reduce breast cancer risk. Artichokes leaves also store a lot of medicinal value especially for problems related to cancer cells. In addition, the leaves are also useful induce cell apoptosis or cell death when injected in cancer. It is good and powerful to treat breast cancer, leukemia and prostate cancer. In conclusion: If you want to avoid cancer, be diligent to consume artichokes vegetables.
2. Maintain heart health
The health benefits of artichokes are not only powerful and experts in preventing cancer cells, but also great in maintaining heart health. Various substances in artichoke can lower bad cholesterol (and weight loss) and raise levels of good cholesterol or omega 3 fatty acids. Bad cholesterol is a type of fat that is formed in the arteries, its presence can affect heart health such as increasing blood pressure, inhibiting blood flow, causing heart attacks to stroke.
If you often have heart disease like blood pressure, heart attack, high bad cholesterol, consume artichokes regularly to keep the heart healthy and functioning well.
3. Maintain liver health
The liver is the most important organ that performs excretion work and removes toxins in the body. When the liver is disturbed, the body will be contaminated with toxins and can cause various diseases complications. The artichoke health benefits are able to keep the heart well.
Artichoke contains two other very powerful antioxidants. These antioxidants are cynarin, and silymarin. They serve to remove toxins in the liver as a whole as well as treat and promote the growth of damaged cells. This is a very surprising health benefit of artichokes. Really, this is a great vegetable that should not be ignored, if you see it in the vegetable market, immediately buy and consume regularly as medicine.
4. Hangover Cure
One of the great artichoke health benefits is cure a hangover. Drunk happens because the blood is poisoned and contaminated. As already mentioned above that artichokes contain antioxidants that can remove toxins in the blood and liver. So, it is very powerful to restore the condition of intoxicated. If you are drunk, chew a few artichoke leafs, this drug (artichoke extracts) will work quickly to neutralize poison and eliminate it.
More: Foods for treating hangover
5. Prevent birth defects
Pregnant women and their fetuses also get benefit from the greatness of artichokes leafs. Folic acid is very high in artichokes so it is good to prevent neural tube defects. So, folic acid is the most important part for pregnant women. In addition to artichokes, pregnant women can choose and consume other vegetables that high in folic acid.
6. Increase minerals in bone
Artichokes are nutrient-dense vegetables for the body to the nutrients needed by the bones. Its leaf extract contains magnesium, phosphorus, excellent manganese to create bone density and prevent bone fragility. The elderly are very potential for osteoporosis, especially women. So, consuming artichokes becomes a necessity for the body to get the nutrients for the bones.
7. Good for metabolism
The body’s metabolic processes can not be separated from essential nutrients. Artichokes provides all nutrition value that needed such as manganese and magnesium. In addition, this mineral is the most important ingredient of protein synthesis in the body as a whole. On the other hand, optimal absorption of calcium by the body also requires magnesium.
8. Improve brain health
Furthermore, the health benefits of artichoke leaf extracts is as a food to maintain and improve brain function. There are a number of factors that hold this function. Artichokes greatness is as a vasodilator to send oxygen to the brain so as to keep the brain cognitively active.
In addition, the phosphorus content is very high in artichoke extracts and this is a mineral that is also found in brain. Phosphorus also important for the brain, because it is known that phosphorus deficiency can cause a drastic reduction in brain function.
So, artichoke benefits are amazing especially for liver health, cancer prevention, liver function, lowers blood pressure, healthy gut, health improves, lower blood sugar, bone health, mens health, womens health, digestive health and much more. So, consume artichokes regularly to keep you and your family healthy.