You are asking about burdock.
Burdock is also known as cow vegetable, vigorously son, cow son, bat prickly, Toyo radish, Toyo ginseng, cattle prod vegetable and so on.
An herbaceous taproot plant of the Asteraceae family, it is a vegetable with a fat fleshy root for consumption, the petiole and young leaves can also be eaten, and burdock seed and burdock root can also be used as medicine. Native to China, around 920 A.D. was introduced to Japan, planted in Japan to train out a number of varieties, the late 1980s by the Japanese introduction of vegetable burdock, most of the exports, a small amount of the domestic market. Burdock in Japan burdock has become a common people's home to strengthen the body, disease prevention and treatment of health care dishes. It can be compared with ginseng, so it is called Oriental ginseng. In our country for a long time for medicinal purposes, only in recent years began to burdock nutritional value, food value and pharmacology research.
Medicinal value
The fiber of burdock can promote intestinal peristalsis, help defecation, lower body cholesterol, reduce toxins, waste accumulation in the body, to achieve the prevention of stroke and the prevention of gastric cancer, uterine cancer effect. Western medicine believes that it has diuretic, elimination of accumulation, expectorant and stop bleeding and other pharmacological effects, but also used for constipation, high blood pressure, high cholesterol diet. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that it has the effect of dispersing wind and heat, promoting the lungs to penetrate the rash, detoxifying the pharynx and so on. It can be used for wind-heat cold, cough and phlegm, measles and rubella, sore throat. The Classic of Materia Medica calls it "three important medicines for dispersing wind, removing heat and detoxifying toxins". The Compendium of Materia Medica said that it can "open the twelve meridians, wash the bad gas of the five organs" and "lighten the body and resist aging if taken for a long time". China's "Modern Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine", "Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine" and other pharmacological effects of burdock is summarized as: growth promotion; tumor growth inhibition substances; antibacterial and antifungal effects.
Eating value
The fleshy root of burdock is rich in nutritional value. Each l00 grams of fresh vegetables containing about 87 grams of water, protein 4.1-4.7 grams, 3.0-3.5 grams of carbohydrates, 0.1 grams of fat, fiber 1.3-1.5 grams. Carotene up to 390 mg, 280 times higher than carrots. Vitamin Cl.9 mg. In the mineral elements containing calcium 240 mg, 106 mg of phosphorus, iron 7.6 mg, and contains a variety of other nutrients. Burdock fleshy root tender and crispy. Can be fried, boiled, raw or processed into drinks. Burdock seed contains a glucoside, that is, burdock because, after hydrolysis can produce burdock and glucose. In addition, it also contains vitamin B. A small amount of alkaloids and fatty oils, the main components of the oil are palmitic acid, stearic acid, arachidic acid, oleic acid, a linoleic acid, burdock sterol. Cherished vegetables", "vegetable cultivation" and other works: regular consumption of burdock root has to promote blood circulation, remove gastrointestinal waste, to prevent premature aging, moisturize the skin, to prevent stroke and hypertension, intestinal detoxification, reduce cholesterol and blood sugar, and suitable for long-term consumption of diabetic patients (because of the inulin in the burdock root), rheumatism, anti-fungal have a certain efficacy, cancer and uremia is also a very good prevention and inhibition. It has a good preventive and inhibitory effect on cancer and uremia, so it is regarded as nature's best blood cleanser, and Taiwanese folk use burdock as a tonic for the kidneys, aphrodisiacs, and a tonic for the holy grail. The role and value of burdock is being more y recognized and explored. American health care expert Dr. Al Schieder pointed out in his book "The Anti-Aging Canon" that "the root of burdock is loved by people all over the world, and is considered to be a gentle nutritious herb that can help the human body to maintain a good working condition (from infancy to old age), and burdock can be eaten on a daily basis without any side-effects and is an important herb with restorative effects on the balance of the body system. It is used by herbalists as a cancer treatment, and is also regarded as an effective digestive agent and detoxifier of the liver", and the Japanese, the world's longest-living people, have long consumed burdock root. Dr. Maeda of the Faculty of Medicine at Kumamoto University in Japan believes that burdock's health benefits lie in its ability to eliminate and neutralize "reactive oxygen species" that are harmful to human health, as "reactive oxygen species" are not only carcinogenic but also one of the causes of arteriosclerosis and aging. Because of the nutritional value and medicinal function of burdock has developed burdock vegetables, burdock tea, burdock wine, burdock paste and other series of products.
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