Eggplants were named this way because the fist eggplants that entered into Europe were white and had the size of an ostrich egg. In non-English speaking countries, this plant is called aubergine, which comes from the Arabic word ´albadhinajan´.
Nutrients
Eggplants contain many fibers. 100 gram of eggplant supplies you with 14% of the RDA of fibers. They help to digest other nutrients better. Minerals in this vegetable: molybdenum, potassium, copper, and magnesium. An important phytonutrient is nasunine. This component has medicinal benefits for the brains. It protects the cell membrane against free radicals.
Antioxidant nasunine
Next to nasunine there are 13 important polyphenols in this fruity vegetable. Chlorogenic acid is a polyphenol with strong antioxidant capacity. It protects against bacteria, viruses, and cancer. The immune system improves after consuming aubergine.
Good for the heart, or not?
Research shows that this delicious vegetable has cardioprotective benefits. Especially nasunine is good for the heart. But there are other studies that conclude eggplants increase oxidative stress. Therefore it is a risk factor for arteriosclerosis. This makes eggplants a risk for cardiovascular diseases. What we see now is that different groups or scientists contradict each other on this terrain. Some say eggplant benefits the heart, others say it is a danger. When you are interested in a vegetable that has proven to be good for the heart, try beets.
Is it because eggplant is a nightshade?
Eggplants belong to the nightshade family, like tomato, potato, bell peppers, hot peppers and goji berries. Members of the nightshade family are not healthy for everybody. A growing number of people has problems with the mucous membrane in their intestines, which causes all kinds of auto-immune diseases. For healthy people, eggplant might work beneficially because the few toxic elements in this plants are not being absorbed by the body. But when the filter function of the mucous membrane is failing, toxic elements from members of the nightshade family may enter the body and cause for kinds of inflammation. These inflammations may also take place in the arteries. Therefore, new scientific studies are needed in which study the different uptake in disease-promoting non-nutrients by people with healthy mucous membrane and a group of people with failing mucous membrane.
Allergy to eggplants
Some people have an eggplant allergy. This might also be related to the fact that eggplant is a nightshade. In fact, recent research turns out that food allergies are related to intestinal problems such as inflammations which cause the mucous membrane to fail. When this membrane filter function fails, bad components of eggplants can enter the body and do harm. It is good to know that in most cases these inflammations in the intestines are not caused by food but by medicines. Antibiotics are one of the worst medicines for the intestines. After one week of using antibiotics, you have killed one-third of your microbiota gut and this will cause new inflammations in just a few days, weeks or months. Also, painkillers like ibuprofen and paracetamol harm the microbiota gut. When you want to cure this kind of auto-immune disease related food allergies, you have to cure your intestines first.
When you peel grilled eggplant, you can make a mash of it and put it on your bread. Enjoy your medicine!
Sources:
- Cardioprotective: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21894326
- Lowers cholesterol: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2601855/
- Increases cholesterol: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15207376
- Allergy: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3650967/
- General info: http://www.geneeskrachtigegroenten.nl/Groenten-en-hun-medicinale-werking/Aubergine/