Bamboo shoots also known as bamboo sprouts are a culinary must-have in various dishes and soups, in Southeast Asian cuisine, and in a few parts of India.
Eat Bamboo Shoots Regularly to Stay Healthy
Bamboo shoots are low in sugar and calorie content, high in protein and fiber, packed with minerals and vitamins, and offer an appetizing effect.
What are Bamboo Shoots
Eat bamboo shoots are simply bamboo sprouts that spring out beside a bamboo plant. There are different types of bamboo, but the common ones used in cooking include Bambusa vulgaris and Phyllostachys.
They are a common ingredient in most Asian cuisine. The shoots are peeled to remove the exterior thick and woody layer that’s difficult to chew.
The shoots are often soaked, cooked, pickled, or boiled before being added to various dishes, including soups, stir-fries, salads, and curries.
They are also delicious and nutritious, with numerous health benefits.
Available in fresh, fermented, and canned forms, Eat bamboo shoots have become quite popular in recent years, owing to their highly impressive nutritional profile. These shoots with a crisp texture, are collected from the soil from various bamboo species including Bambusa vulgaris, Phyllostachys edulis, Bambusa Oldham, etc.
Eat Bamboo Shoots Regularly to Stay Healthy
Incredibly Healthy Reasons Why You Should Eat Bamboo Shoots
Raw bamboo shoots are loaded with a type of natural toxin called cyanogenic glycosides. These toxins get destroyed during the cooking process, usually by boiling sliced eat bamboo shoots in large amounts of water several times.
Bamboo shoots that grow across Japan, China, and Taiwan are harvested during summer. In our country, these delicious shoots are a staple of sorts in states like Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Karnataka.
In many ancient traditional medicine texts, eat bamboo shoots are described as ‘The Poor Man’s Timber’, ‘The Plant With Thousand Faces’, and ‘The Green Gold’ owing to their innumerable therapeutic properties. The medicinal uses of bamboo shoots were first chronicled in Chinese books dating back to 618-907 AD and in Japan, it is prized as the ‘King of Forest Vegetables.’
Why you should include bamboo shoots in your daily diet
Nutritional Profile
Bamboo shoots are a powerhouse of proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, and minerals. These eat bamboo shoots are very low in fat and sugar making them an ideal snack for diabetics. The presence of fiber in large quantities known as nutraceuticals helps in dealing with gut issues.
Several studies in recent times revealed that ample amounts of antioxidants, with phenolic compounds in these shoots, help in fighting free radicals and exhibit anti-cancerous, antibiotic and anti-viral properties.
Include these shoots in your daily diet to reap the benefits of vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin B6, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, copper, zinc, manganese, and other vital minerals.
What’s more? One can consume bamboo shoots guilt-free as the calorie count does not exceed 20 calories for every 100 grams. The carbohydrate count is negligible too, as it amounts to only 3 to 4 grams per every 100-gram serving. These shoots are cardiac patient-friendly, as they contain unsaturated fats that help in fighting against bad cholesterol.
Health benefits of bamboo shoots
Eat Bamboo Shoots Regularly to Stay Healthy
They may promote heart health
Bamboo shoots are rich in phytosterols, ideal for lowering harmful LDL or bad cholesterol. This improves blood circulation and promotes overall cardiovascular health.
Phytosterols are plant sterols or naturally occurring compounds that possess cholesterol-like effects. When consumed, these compounds compete with body cholesterol for absorption in the digestive tract. This eats bamboo shoots help lower cholesterol levels by limiting their absorption, causing a drop in your cholesterol levels.
In one study, consuming 12.7 ounces of bamboo shoots was found to lower both total and LDL cholesterol compared to a control group.
In addition, bamboo shoots are high in potassium, an essential nutrient for lowering and maintaining blood pressure
Ideal for Strong Bones
Bamboo shoots are one of the best sources of potassium and phosphorus. One serving of bamboo shoots has twice the amount of potassium as a banana which amounts to about 13% of the daily required levels of potassium. Potassium is an important component of cells and body fluids that helps control heart rate. Moreover, by countering the effects of sodium, it keeps blood pressure under control. Potassium and phosphorus also maintain healthy bones and help the body build muscle strength.
Prevents cancer
Bamboo shoots have been shown to be effective in preventing cancer, thanks to the presence of compounds called isoflavones. These compounds are known to bind and neutralize carcinogens. They are also high in quercetin, a powerful antioxidant that fights cancer cells by inhibiting their proliferation in various cancers, including prostate, cervical, and lung cancer.
Eat Bamboo Shoots Regularly to Stay Healthy
High in Antioxidants
The bamboo shoot is a great source of antioxidants, which are important compounds that can neutralize free radicals to prevent cell damage. In particular, the bamboo shoot is rich in antioxidants and flavonoids such as catechin, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, and p-coumaric acid.
Not only can antioxidants help reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, but some research suggests that they could protect against chronic disease as well. In fact, antioxidants may aid in the prevention of conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes
Cure late delivery in pregnancy
People who practiced Traditional Chinese medicine or TCM know that eating bamboo shoots has uterotonic properties. Utorotonic properties are a substance that can trigger uterine contractions. Chinese people also use bamboo shoots as medicine to treat pregnant women in the last months of their pregnancy, especially women who still not giving birth even though they have passed the delivery date.
A study by Gruber and O’Brien from the University of Vienna reported that bamboo is one kind of the thousand kinds of plants in the world that has a uterotonic effect.
Maintain healthy skin
Bamboo shoot contains vitamin E which give great benefits to the skin. Vitamin E is an antioxidant that can prevent the free radical effect damage to the body, especially damage that occurs in the skin. Free radicals are also one cause of aging skin. So if you want to have healthy and young skin, eating bamboo shoots can be a good option
Regulates blood sugar levels
Bamboo shoots are not just good for food. They can also help regulate your blood sugar levels and help prevent diabetes.
They have a low glycemic index and provide a slow release of eating bamboo shoots sugar into the bloodstream. This is because they are high in fiber and low in sugar, making them an excellent option for people looking to keep their blood sugar under control.
In addition, bamboo shoots are a good source of antioxidants, which can help fight against free radicals and help boost the immune system. All these properties work to keep glucose levels low and reduce the risk of developing diabetes.
The glucose tolerance properties of the bamboo shoot also allow them to help your body maintain its insulin sensitivity. This means that your body can use insulin more effectively to control blood sugar levels.
But to regulate blood sugar levels, bamboo shoots must be consumed regularly. To use bamboo shoots for diabetes management, cook them until they are soft and then puree them in a food processor or blender. Add this mixture to your favorite foods or drink and enjoy.
Eat Bamboo Shoots Regularly to Stay Healthy
Treats stomach disorders
Bamboo shoots are a popular vegetable in China, Japan, and other East Asian countries. These shoots have a long history of use as a dietary supplement for gastrointestinal issues. Eating bamboo shoots has been shown to improve the symptoms of diarrhea, constipation, and gas. In addition, bamboo shoots have been proven to be an effective treatment for stomach ulcers.
Bamboo shoots are high in dietary fiber and contain a number of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and vitamins B6 and E. These nutrients may work together to help reduce gastrointestinal issues. Additionally, the soluble fiber in bamboo shoots may help to regulate bowel movements.
If you are looking for a natural way to treat stomach ulcers, reduce gas and bloating or improve your overall digestive health, you may want to try eating bamboo shoots.
Fights inflammation
Inflammation is a process that your body goes through when it is under physical stress. It keeps the immune system running smoothly and helps you heal faster from injuries. However, inflammation is something that you want to get rid of as soon as possible because it can cause significant health problems if left unchecked.
Bamboo shoots are a great source of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, manganese, and magnesium. They can help boost your immune system and reduce inflammation in the body. Try adding them to your breakfast smoothie or lunchtime salad for extra flavor and anti-inflammatory benefits eat bamboo shoots.
Also, applying bamboo topically can help fight inflammation by reducing swelling and pain caused by various injuries or conditions.
Regulates cholesterol levels
Bamboo shoots may be a natural cholesterol regulator. Researchers from the University of Texas Health Science analyzed the effects of bamboo shoot extracts on human cholesterol levels. The study found that the extracts decreased LDL (bad) cholesterol and increased HDL (good) cholesterol without any significant changes in triglycerides or VLDL (very low-density lipoprotein).
This research offers some potential explanations for why eating bamboo shoots may have beneficial effects on cholesterol levels. For example, the extract could decrease LDL levels by blocking the absorption of bad cholesterol from the gut or by increasing good cholesterol production. Alternatively, elevated HDL levels can protect against heart disease by scavenging harmful LDL particles from circulation.
While further studies are needed to confirm these findings, this research provides new insights into how bamboo shoots might act as a natural cholesterol regulator.
Eat Bamboo Shoots Regularly to Stay Healthy
Antivenomous
Improve lungs functioning
Rich in vitamins and other compounds, regular consumption of bamboo shoots helps in the strengthening and functioning of the lungs. It is suggested to boil washed bamboo shoots in hot water for 5 minutes and then drink it with honey twice a week for effective results.
health Benefits Of Bamboo Shoots
The lignans in bamboo provide anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-fungal benefits while the phenolic acids have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.
The fiber in bamboo shoots helps control not only constipation but also cholesterol levels by binding to them and aiding in their removal. It also reduces the risk of colon and rectal cancer.
Potassium levels in bamboo shoots help in regulating both the heart rate and blood pressure.
Being nutritionally rich and low in fat and weight-increasing components like sugar and calories, bamboo shoots help control weight gain and even help in losing weight.
The low-fat levels help in preventing the development of plaque in arteries thus helping to keep the heart healthy as well, also helping to keep the BP low.
The various antioxidants and vitamins strengthen the immune system.
The anti-inflammatory property of bamboo shoots helps soothe and heal wounds and ulcers.
It has been found that a decoction of tender bamboo shoots is helpful in treating respiratory diseases. Take it with a tbsp of honey.
Eat bamboo shoots leaf decoction also kills intestinal worms and stimulates and regulates menstrual periods as well.
A decoction of bamboo shoots mixed with palm jaggery taken once or twice daily for a week induces abortion during the first month of pregnancy. The same used in the last month of pregnancy induce labor.
Post-delivery, the decoction helps ease the expulsion of the placenta and checks excessive blood loss.
Eat bamboo shoots phytosterols flavones, amylase, and chlorophyll help in fighting and controlling cancer.
Bamboo extracts help counter snake and scorpion bites.
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