The weather is getting hotter and it's time to eat melons again.
There are watermelon cantaloupes in the front, pumpkin cucumbers in the back, and then there are winter melons, and various melons also make this bitter summer add a touch of coolness.
And there is a kind of melon, for southerners, especially Cantonese people can be described as a "regular customer" on the summer table.
This melon is served in a variety of ways, whether it is soup or stir-fry, or stew, almost all of which can be easily formed with many ingredients.
In particular, the most common way for Cantonese people to do is steaming, with fresh shrimp, Yaozhu and other ingredients, not only salty and fresh, but also impeccable in color and flavor.
This kind of melon is a loofah.
Loofah is a treasure, what are the nutritional values?
First, the melon meat has the effect of clearing heat and dissolving phlegm
If the loofah meat is cut into thin slices and eaten in soup, it can play a role in clearing heat and dissolving phlegm, dehumidifying and itching, cooling blood and detoxifying. Moreover, it has a certain alleviating effect on the symptoms of heat stroke, eczema, cough, blood in the stool, muscle pain and so on.
Second, loofah seeds can treat lung fever cough
Loofah seeds have a bitter taste and are neutral, with the effect of clearing heat and dissolving phlegm, anti-inflammatory and insecticidal.
Usually you can eat some loofah seeds to help alleviate some of the symptoms caused by the cold, you can mash the loofah seeds, brew with boiling water and take it, for patients with lung fever cough and people with phlegm thick symptoms have a certain therapeutic effect.
Third, loofah flowers have the effect of clearing heat and detoxification
The nature of loofah flowers is cold, the taste is relatively bitter, and it has the effect of clearing heat and detoxification.
For people who are prone to fire, it is recommended that loofah flowers can be taken appropriately, and patients can drink loofah flowers in decoction water to effectively alleviate the sore throat caused by fire.
Fourth, loofah leaves have the function of activating blood and dissolving stasis
Loofah leaves are slightly cold, taste bitter acid, with heat and detoxification, phlegm and cough, blood stasis and other effects, often take loofah leaves can help the body maintain a healthy state.
Who does not recommend loofah?
The general population can eat loofah, even pregnant women, mothers, nursing mothers and babies can eat a moderate amount of loofah.
For some female patients with irregular menstruation, physical weakness, sputum cough, and postpartum milk blockage, it is advisable to eat more loofah, which can effectively help patients alleviate related symptoms.
For people with cold and diarrhea, it is not advisable to eat more loofah.
Due to the partial coldness of loofah, if the patient eats too much, it will aggravate the cold phenomenon of the body, resulting in aggravation of diarrhea symptoms, and may also cause some gastrointestinal problems.
Bitter loofah, it is best not to eat
It should be noted that loofah contains a special phytochemical, saponins.
This chemical has the effects of regulating lipid metabolism, lowering cholesterol, antibacterial, antitumor, antithrombotic, helping immunomodulatory, antioxidant and so on.
However, saponins are also toxins, and if taken too much, they can have a strong irritating effect on the digestive tract, resulting in nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and other symptoms of poisoning.
Loofah produces a large amount of saponins under improper planting conditions and improper storage, making the loofah taste bitter. If loofah is found to have a bitter taste, it should be discarded to avoid poisoning.
At the same time, loofah also produces a class of bitter toxic substances under special conditions---- cucurbitacin.
Studies have shown that cucurbitacin is a highly toxic substance, which will produce strong cytotoxicity in the human body, resulting in a variety of poisoning symptoms, such as diarrhea, vomiting, gastrointestinal bleeding, liver and kidney function damage and other phenomena, and serious may also cause death.
At present, there are more than 20 kinds of known cucurbitacin, the most terrible of which is the cucurbitacin D contained in bitter urns, which is more toxic than arsenic.
Except for bitter melon, although bitter melon belongs to the cucurbitaceae family, it can also produce cucurbitacin, but the content of cucurbitacin is relatively small, and the bitter melon is unique to the sweet plant, so it has a mild bitter taste to eat, and it is not difficult to swallow.
Therefore, if you encounter a particularly bitter loofah, whether you buy it yourself or grow it yourself, it is best not to eat it!
Bibliography:
[1] LI Yan-mei, LIU Yue-su, LIU Jing-yun.Experience of prevention and treatment of bitter loofah poisoning in 49 cases[J].Pharmaceutical Services and Research,2006(05):396-397.
[2] J, Gry et al. (2006) Cucurbitacin in plant foods.TemaNord 2006:556.