HEALTH BENEFITS OF LOTUS SEEDS (FOX NUT)


Lotus seeds are delicious edible seeds obtained from the lotus plant. It has lots of medicinal and nutritional values. It is popularly known as kamal gatta in Hindi, padma beeja in Sanskrit, thamarai vithai in Tamil and tavara vithulu in Telugu.

Lotus plant is a herbaceous, perennial, aquatic plant which belongs to the family of Nelumbonaceae. Botanical name of this plant is Nelumbo Nuclfera. This plant is native to India and is found all over the world. Roots and stem grows under the water, the leaves and flowers float on the water. This plant blooms in summer season, the flowers are white and pink in color and sweet scented.

The seeds are black in color and are contained in a hard outer shell, are present inside the central part of the flower. These seeds have sweet taste and have chewy texture like that of almonds. The dried seeds tastes like chickpeas when baked.

Aminoacids in lotus seeds
Phenylalanine, Tyrosine, Leucine and Lysine

Nutrients in lotus seeds
Lotus seeds are storehouse of nutrients. They are low in saturated fats and rich in nutrients such as potassium, folates, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, manganese, magnesium, zinc, Calcium, selenium, copper, phosphorus, protein, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, vitamin A and vitamin C.

Properties of lotus seeds
Some research studies reveals that alkaloids present in these seeds, liensiline, neterine and isoliensiline posses sedative, antispasmodic, antihypertensive and are beneficial for heart.
  • The seeds are praised as vrishe, which means aphrodislac that boosts libido.
  • It contains anti-aging enzymes. 
  • The natural flavonoid, kaemferol prevents inflammation. 
  • It acts as a body coolant.
  • It improves male fertility and erectile dysfunction due to diabetes. 
  • It strengthens the uterus, prevents habitual abortion, promote weight loss, as they fills the stomach.
  • It suppresses the appetite, controls diarrhea, combat kidney diseases.
  • It is good in reducing high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
  • It helps achieving low glycemic index which makes it good for diabetes.
  • The baked and roasted seeds can make healthy snacks. 

Lotus seeds inside the central part of the flower

Lotus seeds

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HEALTH BENEFITS OF PONNAVARAI

Image
Ponnavarai is a medicinal herb having lots of curative properties. Botanical name of this herb is senna occidentalis or cassia occidentalis . It belongs to the family of fabaceace . Cassia occidentalis or senna occidentalis is a perennial shrub that grows in tropical and temperate climates. It is mostly found in rainy season in between the plants, roadsides, waste lands all over TamilNadu in India. This plant grows up to height of 3 feet. Its flowers are yellow in color. Other names of this herb are coffee senna, stinking weed, kasundi, mogdad coffee, etc. Seeds of this shrub are commonly used as an adulterant in coffee. The whole plants, seeds, leaves roots has lot of nutrients like apigenin, amodiene, emodin, quercetin, amino acids, volatile oil, oleic acid, tannin, linoleic acid, minerals like magnesium, calsium, iron, etc. The leaves of this herb is very effective in treating obesity and constipation. Take a hand full of leaves, wash it and the cut into small piec
Read more

THE BEST VEGETABLE TO TREAT DIABETES - MOMORDICA CYMBALARIA

Image
MOMORDICA CYMBALARIA Momordica Cymbalaria is a medicinal plant belongs to the family of curcurbitaceae found in India .It is a wild crop well known as athalakkai in Tamil ,Karchikai in Kannada ,kasarakaya inTelugu .This plant is a climbing ,branched and striated stem .The roots are woody tuberous and perennial .This plant is allowed to grow along the boundary of fields ,fences and even in the the fields for its fruits  The fruits of this plants are edible and using for preparing various dishes like koottu ,poriyal ,fry ,kulambu ,vaththal ,pickles etc . It is used in various traditional system of medicine for long time for the treatment of diabetes ,rhematism ,ulcer ,skin diseases and diarrhea .The fruit of this plant is having lot of nutrients like vitamin C,calcium ,potassium ,sodium ,antioxidants ,flavonoids  , qucrcetin , saponin ,cucurbitacins ,momordicine ,glycosides etc .It is having hypoglycemic ,hypolipidemic ,cardio protective ,hepatoprotective ,nephroprotective  ,ant
Read more

HEALTH BENEFITS OF PAVALAMALLI (NYCTANTHES ARBOR-TRISTIS)

Image
Pavalamalli Pavalamalli  is a popular medicinal plant having lots of medicinal properties used for treating various diseases in Indian system of  alternative medicines like Siddha, Ayurveda, Naturopathy and Home remedies. This herb belongs to the family of  oleaceae   and native to India, now it is widely distributed in tropical and sub tropical regions of the Asian continent. It is grown as an ornamental plant in the house gardens of Tamil Nadu, India. This herb is commonly known as night flowering jasmine , coral jasmine  in English , Parijata in Sanskrit and  Kannada, Harsingar in Hindi and Bengali, Parijatakam in Malayalam, Parijathak in Marathi, Pavalamalli or Parijatham in Tamil. Pavalamalli is a shrub or a small tree which grows up to 10 meters in height with flaky grey bark. The leaves are opposite, simple which are 6 to 21 cm long and 2 to 6.5 cm broad with entire margin. The flowers are fragrant with five to eight lobed white corolla with an orange red center
Read more

PATHANEER OR NEERA HEALTH BENEFITS

Image
Pathaneer or Neera Pathaneer or neera is a sweet, cool, delicious, highly nutritious and unfermented fresh beverage from palmyra palm tree. It is an excellent beverage for beating the summer heat. It is a popular summer drink in some parts of our country. Only available at summer season. It is a popular drink in some parts of our country.      Obtaining the sap traditionally involves tapping the top shoots and collecting the dripping juice in hanging earthen pots overnight from palm trees. U sually collection of pots are coated with calcium carbonate to reduce the risk of fermentation. This beverage is called in other languages like pathaneer in Tamil, neera in marathi, thatti kallu in telugu.  Pathaneer is rich in more nutrients like electrolytes, calcium, vitamin B  complex, vitamin C, Phosphate, low calories, low fat, etc.  It is a good Tonic, diuretic, cooling stimulant, laxative, anti-inflammatory. Intake of  this pathaneer is help to  Cure  Gastric ulcer  Constipati
Read more

MEDICINAL BENEFITS OF MIMUSOPS ELENGI (MAGILA MARAM)

Image
Mimusops elengi , commonly known as Magila maram (மகிழ மரம்) is an important medicinal herb belonging to Sapotaceae family. Its usage as traditional medicine traces back to the beginning of the history of medicine.  It is a medium sized evergreen, wide-spreading tree found in tropical forests of India, South Asia, Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, China, N orthern Australia, etc.  This tree is very famous for its shade and fragrance. These trees are mainly grown in home gardens and botanical parks. Leaves are glossy and dark green in color, flowers are star-shaped, creamy white in color with pleasant fragrance. These flowers are used to make garlands. This is a sacred tree for Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. Raw fruits are green in color, when it ripens it turns into a yellow to orange color. These eatable fruits are oval shaped, having little flesh with sweetish taste like  Sapodilla.  Seeds are thick greyish black in color. All parts of this plant are used to cure many diseases in
Read more