Although fenugreek seeds are used extensively in the recipes of countries in the Middle and Far East, in the West it is not as well known as many other spices.
Not only does fenugreek present a characteristic flavour and tang to food but it also has some very foremost disease preventing characteristics.
In former medicine, fenugreek has been used to treat a whole of conditions together with diabetes, sore throats, and in poultices used to treat sores and abscesses. new investigations into the healthful properties of this spice advise it is foremost not only as a preventive for persisting diseases such as diabetes, but also for enhancing normal physiological processes, especially with respect to athletic
performance.
As with most spices it contains many antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds such as apigenin,
genistein, kaempferol, quercetin, rutin, selenium and superoxide-dismutase. It also contains compounds such as trigonelline that has shown to forestall the degeneration of nerve cells in neuro-degenerative diseases.
Medicinal properties of fenugreek
Cardiovascular disease and blood lipids
Fenugreek has a strong modulating result on blood lipid levels and can substantially cut the risk of atherosclerosis. In diabetics, who ordinarily suffer lipid imbalances, it has demonstrated a considerable capability to lower cholesterol, triglycerides and Ldl levels while raising Hdl levels. Someone else asset of fenugreek is the discount of platelet aggregation which, in turn, dramatically reduces the risk of abnormal blood clotting related with heart attacks and strokes. Like most spices, fenugreek also contains many foremost antioxidants and has the added advantage of protecting other dietary and internally produced antioxidants from free-radical damage. This has foremost cardioprotective benefits, as well as helping to fortify the body against a range of other persisting conditions.
Diabetes
Fenugreek, which has comparable antidiabetic potency to cinnamon, is one of the most important spices for the operate of glucose metabolism and thus the arresting and rehabilitation of Type Ii diabetes.
Owing to its many properties it helps in the arresting and rehabilitation of diabetes in some ways.
Working in a similar way to the coarse antidiabetic drug glibenclamide, fenugreek lowers cellular insulin resistance and controls blood glucose homeostasis. It has been shown to lower blood glucose levels of Type Ii diabetics by as much as 46 percent.
It also increases the levels of some foremost antioxidants and reduces the damaging oxidation of lipids related with diabetes.
As an added bonus, fenugreek seeds are a very rich in a type of dietary fibre that modulates post-prandial blood glucose levels by delaying the absorption of sugar in the intestines. This mucilaginous fiber also reduces the absorption of fat and cholesterol from the intestines thus providing supplementary security against heart disease and obesity.
Cataracts
Fenugreek is also effective against diabetes-related cataracts which occur generally in diabetics. The enzymes that operate glucose uptake into the lens of the eye do not function ordinarily in diabetics and, as a result, glucose and its metabolites, fructose and sorbitol, regain in the lens tissues. The lenses of diabetic patients are also prone damage by enzymes that would ordinarily protect against destructive free radicals, and a blend of these factors leads to the gradual opacification of the lens known as a cataract. As fenugreek has been shown to partially reverse both the metabolic changes in the lens and to cut the density of the cataract, it is likely to be even more effective as a inhibitive agent against cataract formation in diabetics.
Alzheimer's and other neuro-degenerative diseases
Fenugreek contains the blend trigonellene that has shown to stimulate the regeneration of brain cells. This asset has stimulated supplementary research to see whether it can help in the arresting of diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
Sport
One of the many difficulties facing athletes who compete in stamina events is maintaining a facilely ready supply of vigor in the body. In order to accomplish this, muscle carbohydrate stores, in the form of glycogen, must be continuously replenished. In an event persisting more than one-and-a-half hours, glycogen shop become depleted, and for the remainder of the event the athlete has to rely on external sources of energy, such as high carbohydrate drinks, which are inferior to glycogen as an vigor source. Post event re-synthesis of glycogen is also very important, and the two hours immediately following prolonged practice is the crucial time for this process to occur.
Fenugreek has been shown to have a strong result on glycogen replenishment; expanding post-event re-synthesis by over 60 percent in some stamina athletes. While its effects on glycogen re-synthesis during an event have yet to be tested, fenugreek is likely to exhibit a similarly useful result during, as well as after, exercise.
Hormones
Fenugreek is one of the richest sources of phytoestrogens and is thus a very useful spice for women who have low oestrogen levels. Phytoestrogens are also view to help protect against definite types of cancer, and fenugreek may well be proven to have anti-tumourigenic effects should this asset be investigated in the future.
Selenium
Fenugreek is one of the richest sources of selenium, which is among the most foremost antioxidant micronutrients. When consumed regularly, selenium appears to have a protective result against a range of cancers, together with those of the colon, lung and prostate. new evidence also shows that selenium helps to forestall the progression of Hiv and other persisting viral illnesses.
While other spices like chilies and cinnamon hold the culinary and healthful headlines, the research into fenugreek is showing us that this spice has health benefits on a par with, or even excellent to, those of the best known spices.
However it is foremost to appreciate that synergism in the middle of distinct spices enhances the bioavailability and efficacy of their respective bioactive compounds. Therefore, to regain optimum advantage from fenugreek, it is foremost to use it with other coarse spices in both the arresting and rehabilitation of disease.
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