Buckwheat rice, buckwheat porridge, soba noodles
Whether it's a fat loss period or a daily diet
are all good choices
Eating buckwheat regularly is healthy
What are the benefits?
What's different about buckwheat?
What are the benefits of eating buckwheat regularly?
Buckwheat is an annual herbaceous plant of the family Buckwheat that prefers cool and humid climates. The taste is sweet and slightly acidic and cold, and it returns to the spleen, stomach and large intestine meridians. It is fragrant and easy to cook, and can be used to make buckwheat rice, millet porridge or buckwheat chips, which has the effects of cough and asthma, anti-inflammatory, lipid-lowering and hypoglycemic effects.
1. Maintain intestinal health
The dietary fiber content of buckwheat is more than 10 times that of rice, and it is also higher than corn, black rice, rhubarb rice, millet, sorghum rice, etc., and can be called a "laxative staple food". In addition, buckwheat is rich in resistant starch, which is a type of dietary fiber and has a prebiotic function. Resistant starch cannot be absorbed and utilized in the small intestine, and will be fermented by microbial flora in the colon, increasing the level of short-chain fatty acids and reducing intestinal pH, inhibiting the growth and reproduction of pathogenic bacteria, and promoting the growth of intestinal probiotics, which is conducive to preventing colon diseases and maintaining intestinal health.
2. Stabilize blood sugar
Buckwheat has a GI value of 54 (GI value is a valid indicator to measure the postprandial blood sugar response caused by food, the higher the value, the less conducive to blood sugar control), which is a low GI food, which is conducive to blood sugar control. The flavonoids in buckwheat have the effect of stabilizing blood sugar, and the content of flavonoids in buckwheat is higher, as well as contains sugar alcohol molecules, which play an important role in insulin signaling work.
The researchers took patients with type 2 diabetes as the research subjects and divided them into the experimental group and the control group, the experimental group ate buckwheat staple food for breakfast, the control group ate wheat staple food for breakfast, ate a standardized lunch after 4 hours of breakfast, and measured blood sugar after two meals, and found that the experimental group's postprandial blood sugar was more stable. There are also studies mentioning that buckwheat dietary intervention can help improve blood sugar levels, and it is recommended to eat at least 40 grams a day and stick to it for at least 12 weeks, the results will be better. In addition, improving blood sugar levels can also help with weight loss and weight control.
3. It is conducive to controlling blood pressure
Eating buckwheat has a certain effect on lowering blood pressure. Eating some buckwheat in daily life can stabilize the patient's blood pressure well, but it cannot treat high blood pressure. Buckwheat is rich in potassium at 401mg/100g, which is nearly 4 times that of rice, which is good for controlling blood pressure. In addition, buckwheat contains flavonoids such as rutin, γ-aminobutyric acid, buckwheat protein, and peptides formed by enzymatic hydrolysis, all of which are helpful for improving blood pressure levels.
4. Regulate blood lipids
Buckwheat flavonoids can reduce the total cholesterol content in the blood and regulate lipid metabolism. Animal experiments have also shown that buckwheat quercetin can significantly regulate dyslipidemia, improve lipid accumulation, and improve physiological indicators related to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in rats with a high-fat diet.
5. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
The phenolic compounds and flavonoids in buckwheat have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, which help the body remove excess free radicals and reduce the body's inflammatory response. The total flavonoid content of cooked sweet buckwheat increased by 73.53% and that of cooked black tartary buckwheat increased by 95.05%.
In terms of intake, when making rice, take about 2 grams of buckwheat instead of part of the rice. In addition, buckwheat is also very friendly for people with gluten allergies, because buckwheat does not contain gluten, and people with gluten allergies can eat it with confidence.
What is better about buckwheat than rice?
According to the "Chinese Food Composition Table", although buckwheat and rice can provide little difference in calories, buckwheat is richer in protein, dietary fiber, vitamin B group, vitamin E, and minerals such as calcium, iron, zinc, potassium, magnesium and other nutrients.
In addition, buckwheat is rich in flavonoids, especially in tartary buckwheat, which is a specialty of the mainland, the content of flavonoids and rutin is very high. Rutin is the main ingredient in drugs for the prevention and treatment of diabetes and the control of postprandial blood sugar rise. Buckwheat reduces capillary fragility and improves microcirculation.
Which is better sweet buckwheat or bitter buckwheat?
Buckwheat, which originated in China, is rich in nutrients and is known as the "king of grains". It is mainly divided into two categories: bitter buckwheat (tartare buckwheat) and sweet buckwheat (common buckwheat). The fruit of sweet buckwheat is large, with obvious triangular edges and corners, and the surface and edges are smooth and bright, while the fruit of bitter buckwheat is smaller, the triangular shape is not obvious, the surface is rough and dull, the ridges are corrugated, and there is a deep groove in the center.
According to the literature, there is little difference between the contents of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, with crude starch content of about 70%, crude protein content of about 15%, and crude fat content of about 2.4%.
The total flavonoid content of sweet buckwheat was 8.23mg/100g, while that of bitter buckwheat was as high as 125.33mg/100g, which was nearly 15 times that of sweet buckwheat, and the total polyphenol content of sweet buckwheat was 40.07mg/g, while that of bitter buckwheat was 107.24mg/g, which was 2.68 times that of sweet buckwheat.
The growth period of tartary buckwheat is longer than that of sweet buckwheat, the yield is lower, it contains bitters, and the texture and taste are not as good as sweet buckwheat. However, tartary buckwheat contains more nutrients than sweet buckwheat, and the content of rutin in tartary buckwheat is several times to more than ten times that of sweet buckwheat. If you can accept the taste of bitter buckwheat, it is recommended to eat more bitter buckwheat.
Editor: Li Ling
Source: Popular Science China
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