Coccinia grandis, Ivy Gourd or Kundru: A Miraculous Vegetable


 

Coccinia grandis, Ivy Gourd or Kundru: A Miraculous Vegetable3. Healing certain diseases

Since times immemorial, the ivy gourd has been utilized like a cure for asthma, leprosy, bronchitis and jaundice. The plant of the veggie is additionally utilized for offering relief to the bowel problems. This particular veggie is additionally verified to be healthy in healing particular blood diseases and is particularly confirmed to reduce higher fever (by utilizing paste produced from the leaves of the ivy gourd). Patients struggling with asthma and high cholesterol level may also be occasionally recommended to take the ivy gourd within their normal diet.

4. Ivy Gourd as Health Food


It is promoted like a health food in several parts of India due to its high-content of Vitamins. Each one of these vitamins is essential for the body of a human, and helps reinforce the defense mechanisms. It is abundant with Vitamin C, which will help in conditioning the bones. It�s got �-carotene inside it that is a precursor of Vitamin A in body. Additionally, it consists of Vitamin B1 and B2.It is usually best to take Ivy Gourd together with meals throughout fever.

Additional health benefits


It is also notorious because of its capability to manage the sugar metabolism and therefore make sure an ideal amount of blood sugar levels. Additionally it is thought to have got anti anaphylactic as well as anti-histaminic qualities. Several research additionally declare this particular vegetable to be anti-oxidant to some degree; additionally it is constructive at increasing the defense mechanisms which often serves the entire body in eliminating against several illnesses in the much better way. Vitamin C present in this particular vegetable is additionally functional at developing the general body structure.

Along with the above, in case you eat on this veggie it�s got nurturing effects on the eyes, heart, liver and kidney. Including this particular veggie in your routine diet casts no negative effect on the functioning ability of the liver or even the kidney. Additionally it is utilized to prepare medications which are effectual to cure anorexia, coughing, diabetic wounds, as well as hepatic problems. The ivy gourd is additionally well known because of its detoxification capability because it acts to cleanse our blood too.

Some individuals also feature therapeutic property for skin outbreaks as well as minor wounds to the leaves of the veggie. Leaves and also the root of this plant may also be recognized because of their medical uses; the plant finds considerable use within preparation of herbal supplements. Extracts out of this plant may also be shown to own hypoglycemic properties. The ivy gourd isn�t just anti-bacterial but in addition anti-ulcer, and is also pain killers as well.

As being a traditional plant, it may distribute vegetative or even by seed. The stem is really a herbaceous climber or even perennial slender climber along with infrequent adventitious roots creating where the stem runs across the ground. The tendrils usually are lengthy, flexible along with coil-like springy character that may cover the host to the whole length. The foliage is regarded as palmately simple along with five lobes whilst the shape differs from the heart to pentagon form. The dimension of the leaves is around 5 10 cm wide as well as length. The flower is big and white about 4 cm in diameter and possesses 5 long tubular petals. The ivy gourd fruit belongs to the berry type: oval and hairless along with thicker as well as sticky skin. The raw fruit is green in color as well as turns bright red when it�s ripe. The mature fruit is generally from 25 to 60 mm long by 15-35 mm across and possesses numerous pale, squashed seeds.

Ivy gourd can be obtained as soon as the rainy season for around Six months in one year. The majority of people like to develop this particular vegetable in their own individual kitchen garden. A number of dishes could be prepared with this particular adaptable veggie just like fries, chutney or even full of masala. Few also love to include it in Gojju that is generally prepared with all the soft ivy guard. This particular fresh tender gourd is a simple dish to start as well as a summer delight!
 

Ivy gourd is from time to time grown like a garden veggie within the exotic as well as sub-tropical parts of the entire world and was most likely brought to the Northern Territory just before European settlement. Modest populations are spread through the entire northern coastal parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. However, an invasion was documented from riparian vegetation along Wolston Creek within the western suburbs of Brisbane in February 2011, well away from previously known range of this particular species around Australia. Since that time it�s been noticed distributing from gardens in other regions of Brisbane (e.g. at Boondall and Sunnybank).

Nutritional Value of Ivy Gourd


Coccinia grandis, Ivy Gourd or Kundru: A Miraculous Vegetable100 gm of the fruit has a number of essential nutrients.
 

  • Ascorbic acid 1.4 mg

  • Ca 40 mg

  • Carbohydrate 3.1 g

  • Energy 75 kJ (18kcal)

  • Fat 0.1 g

  • Fe 1.4 mg

  • Fiber 1.6 g

  • Niacin 0.7 mg

  • P 30 mg

  • Protein 1.2 g,

  • Riboflavin 0.08 mg

  • Thiamin 0.07 mg

  • Water 93.5 g

Edible Uses:

  • Leaves and fruits of the plant are consumed as veggies. There are numerous of edible purposes of this plant.

  • In Thailand, it really is consumed in boiled as well as fried form.

  • Curries and soups are prepared utilizing the green ivy gourds. It is extremely well-known in India and Africa.

  • Ripe gourds may also be consumed without cooking in several cultures.

  • Its leaves are frequently utilized in preparing a type of herbal tea right after drying it.

  • The unripe fruits can be created into pickles.

  • Indian cuisine is rich also it utilizes Ivy Gourds in many dishes where it is stuffed with spices just before deep frying them.

  • Indonesian cooking includes cooking these types of fruits in coconut milk.

 

Medicinal Uses:
 

  • Coccinia grandis, Ivy Gourd or Kundru: A Miraculous VegetableThe leaves are very effective for treating diabetes as well as keeping the sugars under control.

  • It is a superb treatment for a multitude of skin ailment just like leprosy, psoriasis as well as scabies.

  • They happen to be utilized for dealing with tongue sores, diarrhea and jaundice. Flowers are generally beneficial in healing jaundice.

  • Roots of the plant have already been utilized in Chinese medicine since they have numerous therapeutic qualities.

  • A tonic made from the leaves is really a noted Thai medicine for the treatment of patients.

  • Their essence have been combined in a variety of therapeutic preparations that are offered as capsules as well as tinctures.

  • Some other conditions just like respiratory mucosae as well as bronchial inflammations may also be cured along with it.

  • Leaves, fruits as well as stems possess the capacity to support hypertension.

A detailed research is available about Ivy Gourd is "Medical Properties of Ivy Gourd (Cephalandra Indica): A Review by Goldy Yadav at: http://www.ijprd.com/204-NOV-10-14.pdf in the International Journal of Pharma.Research & development-Onine(IJPRD).

A new research shows that consuming 50 grams of kundru daily can help keep your blood sugar under check. A three-month study conducted by doctors at the Institute of Population Health and Clinical Research, Bangalore, India has found that the common kundru, which looks like a poorer cousin of the tasty gourd parwal and has no particular gastronomic appeal, can reduce blood sugar levels in patients with mild diabetes.

The team found that sugar levels in new diabetics, with fasting blood sugar counts below 200, can drop by 16% by simply slurping the curried vegetable, known to botanists as Coccinia indica. It also reduced post-prandial blood glucose (sugar count after a meal) by 18%. The findings have been reported in the latest issue of the international journal Diabetes Care.
 

"We fed 30 early diabetics a daily capsule of one gram of frozen, dried powder of kundru, that is equivalent to 15 grams of the vegetable, for three months and found it to greatly reduce blood sugar. It also reduced glycosylated haemoglobin by 0.4% which is significant," said Dr Ganapathi Bantwal, associate professor of endocrinology at St John's Medical College Hospital, Bangalore. However, doctors say when cooked and consumed, the dose has to be higher than that of the extract � typically about 50 grams.

Kundru is a local name of Ivy Gourd. It is under cultivation as vegetable crop in Chhattisgarh. Kundru Chana dal is a curry prepared by using Kundru fruits with Chana dal (Chickpea splitted seeds). Among the natives this preparation is popular for its delicious taste but the traditional healers are aware of its health benefits. According to them this preparation is specially useful for the patients having diabetes. It is also useful in biliousness and diseases of blood. During fever the use of this preparation with meals, helps in reducing the high temperature. Like other vegetable crops, For the fatty natives of Chhattisgarh the traditional healers are having many herbs and herbal formulations useful as medicine. Although the problem of obesity is not considered serious in rural and forest regions but in urban areas the natives are becoming health conscious and now they are in search of herbal remedies that can help in reducing extra fat.
 

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Dated 16 June 2015
 


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