Beetroot and its healing benefits, a natural medicine

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Underground growing tubers we know as beetroot can be very delicious for human consumption. Beets are healthy and have specific medicinal benefits. How good is it to eat tasteful medicines? Small slices of beetroot is doing very well in a salads or just plain with olive oil as a raw, vegetarian carpaccio. You can also eat the leaves. In Northern Europe the leaves are being eaten as salad leaves for ages. Nowadays you can also blend them and make a vegetable juice or smoothie of the beetroot leaves.

 

Beetroot Variations

The beet is a root vegetable with edible leaves. Besides this root and the cut leaves you can eat the germinated seeds. These sprouts are widely used as a garnish; They look nice in red. It’s just a delicious and healthy vegetable. A serving tip for rice is: boil it with slice of beetroot. You’ll get pink rice. For children it is extra special to eat rice in a colorful way . Besides that you teach them to love vegetables when you use it in this creative way.

 

 

Beetroot against hypertension

Beetroot is known for a number of medicinal uses. Since the Middle Ages this staple food is prescribed for illnesses related to the blood and diseases related to the intestines and digestive system. In the journal of the American Heart Association a study is published which found that beetroot is a good help against hypertension or high blood pressure. Drinking half a liter of beetroot juice helps well against high blood pressure and the effects were still being measured 24 hours after drinking. You can make a beet juice using a blender. In some organic shops a bottle of beet juice is for sale.

 

Vitamins in red beets

Beetroots are an excellent source of vitamins. It contains mostly folic acid, in some countries Europe also known by the name vitamin B11. 100 Gram beets give a whopping 27% of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for folic acid. Vitamin C is in the beetroot represented 8% of the RDA. Pyridoxine or vitamin B6 is good for 5% of the RDA. For riboflavin or B2 you can get 4% of the RDA out of the beetroot. Pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) is good for 3% of the RDA.

 

Minerals

Beetroot houses a number of healthy minerals. There is 14% of the RDA of manganese in our beets. For iron there is 10% of the RDA is in this delicious vegetable. Copper has a rate of 8% of the RDA. Potassium is a mineral that is supllied for 7% by RDA by beetroot. Magnesium is in beetroot and 100 gram yields 6% of the RDA. Sodium is delivered for 5% RDA out of 100 gram beets. Finally, there is zinc; 3% of the RDA.

 

Phytonutrients

There are many more phytonutrients than vitamins and minerals. There are over 3000 phytonutrients known and every week scientists find more of them. These phytonutrients are sometimes more potent than vitamins and minerals. Phytonutrients have not been synthesized. That is why it’s so good to eat fresh fruits and vegetables and never to rely on synthetic supplements. An important group of substances in beets are betalaines. In particular, betanin and vulgaxanthine are very healthy betalaines. These substances support anti-inflammatory mechanisms in the body, fight free radicals and, help the body to detoxify. As a result, they help prevent diseases in general. Betalaines are removed by boiling. The longer you cook them, the less it contains these wondeful polyphenoles. An optimum amount is only provided as they are being consumed raw. After an hour of cooking almost all betalaines disappeared. You can cook them for a short amount of time, like 5 minutes. In that way the phytonutrients will be better absorbable for the body and there will be more phytonutrients entering the body because not so many are destroyed due to the short cooking process. In general it is wise to know that every vegetable that you can eat raw, you can also cook shortly to benefit at a maximum level from the phytonutrients in it.

 

A red tuber against cancer

In scientific research betanine tested for cancer cells. Betanine which is added to a tumor causes the tumor to grow less rapidly. That is what the researchers found and concluded. Betanine was tested on tumors in the nerve system, prostate, breasts, testicles, intestines, lungs and stomach. This research in itself is no proof that beetroot operates against cancer but it is an incentive for scientists to do further research at this track.

 

 

Beets are good for blood

Beets are good for the blood. Atherosclerosis or arteriosclerosis is prevented by eating beets. That’s because substances in beetroot help regulate the homocystein levels in the blood by beetroot. Choline, an amino acid, plays a key role in the neutralization of unwanted homocystein. Betaine is a variation of choline; is the choline to which three types of methyl groups is attached. In addition, betaine well as an anti-inflammatory agent. It prevents inflammation in a variety of body parts. That’s one of the reasons that it reduces the risk of arteriosclerosis.

 

Growing old with beetroot

In Russia people eat borscht, the traditional Russian beetroot soup. There are regions in Russia where many people reach more than 100 years. Some scientists suggest that the large consumption of beetroot is responsible for reaching this high age. The claim on longelivity by eating beetroot can be traced to three reasons;

  • Beets promote the phase two of the detox because toxins are converted to water-soluble substances that can be rapidly discharged from the body. Detox is disease-preventing and health-promoting.
  • Beets provide for protection of the heart,
  • Beetroot might prevent cancer.

 

Fiber in beets

As in many natural food there are fibers in beetroot. Fibers are healthy because they make sure that all the nutrients in the food can be better absorbed. Fiber can be divided into several types. Fibers from roots and tubers such as beets are extra special because they can prevent cancer.

Beetroot helps overall condition

Scientists found out in 2012 that beetroot supplementation is good for people who love to do sport. It was measured that running performances improve when people consume beetroot. The scientist consider that this effect has to do with the improved function of the heart by beetroot.

 

Sources:

Good for blood and helps manage cancer: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4425174/

Improves running performances http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22709704

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=49

http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/beets.html

 

 

thomas
My field of interest is the healing power of food. Latest scientific research shows that many food has medicinal values. I am researching whether people can get well by eating the right kinds of foods at the right time. What I have found during my research I write down in articles.