Rhubarb is a strange-looking plant with a highly interesting history. It belongs to the Polygonaceae plant family. While some people regard it as fruit, others consider it to be a vegetable. Scientifically, Rhubarb is herbaceous perennials with leaves that grow off the top of thick rhizome. Leaf stalks are the most used part of the plant. You can use the leaf stalks as an ingredient in sweet dishes or dessert.
Rhubarb brings with it countless benefits when consumed. Top on the list of reasons that folks cultivate and take the plant is because of its astounding nutritional value. It’s packed with magnesium, manganese, potassium, calcium, B complex vitamins, vitamin K, vitamin C, protein, and a dietary fiber.
When it comes to organic compounds, rhubarb is an incredible source of polyphenolic flavonoids such as zeaxanthin, lutein, and beta-carotene.
Having looked at just some of the benefits of the plant, now let’s look at the benefits that are more specific:
1. Weight Loss
Rhubarb stands out as one of the vegetables in the market with the lowest number of calories. As such, it’s recommended highly for those that are struggling to shed weight in a healthy way. To be specific, rhubarb contains only twenty-one calories. Therefore, you should feel free to load up this plant because you will not pack on any pounds. You stand to benefit from an array of organic compounds contained in the vegetable. The compounds are effective at enhancing your body’s metabolism, thus raising the rate at which the body burns fat.
2. Cardiovascular Diseases
The other benefit you stand to derive from taking rhubarb has to do with cardiovascular diseases. The vegetable is low in cholesterol and fat. That means that it doesn’t pose any form of threat to your cardiovascular health. Actually, it can raise the levels of healthy cholesterol because of the dietary fiber present. That is known to scrape the excess cholesterol from the arteries and blood vessels’ walls. Additionally, the huge amounts of antioxidants in the plant ensure that the free radicals do not cause dangerous health conditions such as heart diseases.
3. Digestion
The digestive system of the human body plays such a big role in our general health. As a result, it’s essential to ensure that the digestive system is not only regulated but also healthy. The huge amounts of dietary fiber contained in rhubarb can assist in maintaining a healthy digestive system through bulking up of stool.
By doing that, your bowel movements are guaranteed of being regular and smooth. Traditionally, rhubarb has been utilized for purposes of curing constipation. However, most recently, researchers have established that it brings with it such a powerful effect. The fact that it eases constipation as well as other digestive issues, it helps to prevent plenty of serious gastrointestinal disorders including colorectal cancer, cramping and bloating.
4. Cancer Prevention
Antioxidants have been studied widely in recent years because of their ability to neutralize free radicals in the entire body. The free radicals are byproducts of cellular metabolism which might cause the death or mutation of healthy cells usually resulting to cancer or different other chronic diseases.
The plant is an excellent source of beta-carotene as well as other polyphenolic compounds such as zeaxanthin and lutein that act in the same way as Vitamin A. they’re effective at protecting the eyes and skin from effects of free radicals. Decent amounts of antioxidants in a diet can assist to delay premature aging, cataracts, wrinkles, and macular degeneration.
5. Alzheimer’s Disease
Vitamin K is the major vitamin in this vegetable. While it does not enjoy much attention like other vitamins, it plays such a big role in neuronal and brain health. It has the ability to prevent oxidation of brain cells as well as stimulating cognitive activity. Ultimately, it helps to prevent or delay the start of the Alzheimer’s disease.
6. Bone Health
In addition to protecting your brain from neural degeneration, the vitamin K contained in rhubarb promotes osteotropic activity too. That means that it’s able to stimulate bone repair and growth. Coupled with high amounts of calcium as well as other minerals contained in rhubarb, the vegetable plays a pivotal role in bone protection.
Conclusion
Consuming rhubarb, whether as a plant or vegetable is one of the best and healthiest ways of deriving nutritional and health benefits. The above are just some of the many benefits related to the plant.