The efficacy and function of water chestnuts

Are there many people who don't know how to pronounce the word "water chestnut"? It doesn't matter if you don't know it, as long as you know that it is also known as calla lily. What are the effects and functions of water chestnut ?

Water Chestnut

About Water Chestnut

Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica has a detailed description of its plant shape and cultivation method. It is widely cultivated in provinces south of the Yangtze River in China. Wuwei in Anhui, Guilin in Guangxi, Yuhang in Zhejiang, Gaoyou in Jiangsu and Fuzhou in Fujian are famous production areas. It is propagated by bulbs. After germination, a shortened stem is formed first, and the green leaf-like stems that grow upward from the top buds and side buds are slender and upright like tubes. The leaves degenerate into membranous sheets and grow at the base of the leaf-like stems and the upper part of the bulbs. Photosynthesis is carried out by the green leaf-like stems. From the shortened stems of the mother plant, stolons grow around, and the tips swell into new bulbs. Spike inflorescence, small flowers are spirally attached. Small nuts, leathery, not easy to germinate. Seed shepherd's purse germinates at 15℃, begins to tiller at 25℃, and the plant grows vigorously at 30℃. The bulbs are formed when the temperature drops below 20℃. Generally, in early spring, select seedlings of shepherd's purse with healthy apical and lateral buds to be raised in outdoor seedbeds, and keep them moist at all times. Seedlings will be formed in about 15 to 20 days for field planting. The row spacing is generally 30 cm × 60 cm, and about 3,000 holes are planted per mu. During tillering and division, a certain water layer is maintained and nitrogen fertilizer is applied. Applying phosphorus and potassium fertilizers before the formation of bulbs has a significant effect on increasing yield and improving quality. The main diseases and insect pests are wilt, borer, etc.

Water chestnut is a perennial herb native to India. It is mainly distributed in Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Guangdong and other wetlands in my country. Water chestnuts are dug up in winter and spring and are available for sale. Water chestnuts are the bulbs with swollen tips at the top of their underground runners. The bulbs are oblate and smooth in surface. When mature, they are dark chestnut or reddish red in color. They have 3 to 5 rings of segments and short bird-beak-shaped terminal buds and lateral buds. The flesh is white, tender, juicy and sweet.

Water chestnuts have purple-black skin, white flesh, sweet and juicy taste, crisp and delicious. They have been known as "underground snow pears" since ancient times, and northerners regard them as "Jiangnan ginseng". Water chestnuts can be used as both fruits and vegetables, and are a popular seasonal product.

Effects

Water chestnuts have been used as medicine since ancient times. Chinese medicine believes that water chestnuts are sweet and cold in nature, and have the effects of clearing heat and resolving phlegm, appetizing and digesting food, promoting body fluid and moistening dryness, improving eyesight and sobering up. They are clinically suitable for the treatment of yin deficiency and lung dryness, cough with phlegm, thirst and constipation, drunkenness and drowsiness. In the season of respiratory infectious diseases, eating water chestnuts is beneficial for the prevention and treatment of meningitis, measles, whooping cough and acute pharyngitis. In clinical Chinese medicine, water chestnuts are often used to make "Xue Geng Tang" to clear heat and remove phlegm, lower blood pressure and treat dry and hard stools.

Antihypertensive effect

Water chestnut juice added to fresh lotus root juice, pear juice, fresh reed root juice and Ophiopogon japonicus juice is called "Five Juice Drink", which is used to promote salivation, eliminate heat and lower blood pressure.

To treat esophageal cancer: Steam 10 water chestnuts with the skin on and eat daily.

To treat sore throat: squeeze water chestnut juice and drink it cold, 125 grams each time.

Preventing Flu

250 grams of fresh water chestnuts, 1 piece of sugarcane, cut into sections, put into a pot and boil, eat when cooked. It has the effect of clearing away heat and inflammation, promoting fluid and quenching thirst. It is suitable for treating irritability and thirst in the later stage of fever and persistent low fever, and can also prevent influenza.

Lifting bowels and facilitating bowel movements: Boil 500 grams of water chestnuts, mash them, add salt, ginger, and bean powder, squeeze them into balls, fry them, and then remove them. Thicken the sauce with cornstarch and pour it on the balls. It tastes delicious and smooth, can help digestion, stimulate appetite, and promote bowel movements.

Treatment of hemorrhoids: It is also very beneficial for patients with hemorrhoids to eat water chestnuts regularly.

Adjuvant therapy for cancer

Gastrodia elata also contains effective ingredients for preventing and treating cancer. It is mostly used clinically for lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and breast cancer. It is a very good auxiliary therapeutic food.

Reduce fever: Water chestnuts are cold foods, and have good effects of clearing away heat and purging fire. They can clear away heat and promote the production of body fluids, and can also supplement nutrition, making them most suitable for patients with fever. They also have the effects of cooling blood and detoxifying, promoting diuresis and relieving constipation, removing dampness and expectoration, and helping digestion and relieving bloating.

Measles: Boil water chestnuts or reed roots in water and drink it as tea, which can help measles break out early and recover early. It can also prevent complications.

Corns: 6 water chestnuts and 12 buckwheat grains. After washing your feet with warm water every night, use the tip of a needle to gently pick the corns (do not pick deeply) to remove the floating dirt. Put two buckwheat grains in your mouth and crush them with your front teeth to remove the soft black skin. Use your fingers to apply the buckwheat flour to the corns to fill them up. Then apply a little saliva to moisten the buckwheat. Also, cut the washed water chestnuts into pieces the size of the corns and as thick as a copper coin. Stick them on the buckwheat flour of the corns and wrap them with a thin cloth to prevent them from falling apart. Do this for a week and the corns will disappear without you noticing. This method has been proven time and time again and is quite effective.

Acute nephritis: One liang (four qian of dried product) of fresh water chestnut seedlings (Tongtiancao) and five qian of dried tangerine peel, decocted in water and taken orally. It can not only cure nephritis, but is also effective in eliminating edema.

Cataract: Using mashed water chestnut juice to drip into the eyes can achieve the effect of removing cataract.

Wind-fire red eyes (acute conjunctivitis): Wash and peel fresh water chestnuts, mash them, squeeze the juice with gauze, add a little salt and wash your eyes.

Kidney stones:

1. Peel the skin of raw water chestnuts and eat one to three pounds of them raw every day. This method is effective in treating acidic kidney stones.

2. Boil water chestnuts, corn ears and fossil grass (also known as true tube grass) in water and drink it instead of tea. It is effective in treating various stones.

Who is not suitable to eat water chestnuts?

The phosphorus content in water chestnuts is the highest among root vegetables. It can promote human growth and development and maintain physiological functions. It is very beneficial to the development of teeth and bones. At the same time, it can promote the metabolism of sugar, fat and protein in the body and regulate acid-base balance. Therefore, water chestnuts are suitable for children. In the study of water chestnuts, the UK discovered an impatient antibacterial ingredient - water chestnut oxalis. This substance has a certain inhibitory effect on Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus fumigatus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and has a certain effect on lowering blood pressure. This substance also has a preventive and therapeutic effect on lung, esophageal and breast cancer. Water chestnuts also have the function of preventing acute infectious diseases. In the spring when measles and epidemic meningitis are more likely to occur, water chestnuts are a good disease prevention food. Water chestnuts are cold foods and have a good effect of clearing heat and purging fire. It can clear heat and promote body fluid, and supplement nutrition. It is most suitable for patients with fever. It has the effects of cooling blood and detoxifying, diuresis and laxative, removing dampness and expectorant, digestion and bloating. Suitable for people: It is a popular food. It is most suitable for children and patients with fever. Applicable amount: about 10 each time. Water chestnuts should not be eaten raw, because water chestnuts grow in mud, and there may be more bacteria and parasites attached to the skin and inside , so they must be washed and cooked before eating, and cooked water chestnuts are sweeter. Water chestnuts are raw and cold food, which is not suitable for people with spleen and kidney deficiency and blood stasis.

Water chestnuts are delicious whether eaten raw or cooked.

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