The Health Benefits Of Consuming Eggplant‏

Eggplant, one could safely assume that eggplant acquired its name from “egg” since it takes its form. Eggplant is a species of nightshade commonly known in British English as Aubergine and also known as brinjal, brinjal eggplant, melongene, garden egg, or guinea squash.

The egg-shaped glossy black fruit has white flesh with a meaty texture.

The cut surface of the flesh rapidly turns brown when the fruit is cut open.

The delectable, yet mystical eggplant is known by many names, some quite unflattering. When Europeans first encountered the fruit, it had gained an intimidating reputation with its “mad apple” label.

Even after the eggplant developed secure Mediterranean roots, it was still called male insane, meaning “bad egg, mad apple, or apple of madness.” Lifting its perplexing veil, the eggplant reveals its family members are to blame.

Eggplant

Eggplant belongs to the nightshade family that encompasses members like the poisonous Jimson weed or Datura as well as Belladonna, also poisonous and sometimes called Deadly Nightshade.

The eggplant, itself, during its immature growth stage, contains toxins that can cause illness.

Primeval man crudely grew eggplant probably centuries before plant cultivation was developed as a scientific process.

Charles B. Heiser, a botanist, surmises that of the original wild varieties some probably had spiny stems and many bitter tasting fruits that were no larger than a baseball.

Before man developed the alphabet and written communication, he experimented with cultivating food plants by carefully selecting seeds from those plants that tasted less bitter and grew larger fruits.

Eggplant is helpful to the heart since the cholesterol levels are brought down to a great extent by the eggplant. It also helps stabilize the level of blood pressure. All this in turn lowers the risk of heart diseases.

The body is also kept well hydrated thanks to the potassium content present in this fruit.  This ensures that there is no retention of fluids which prevents coronary heart diseases.

We all require iron for proper functioning in our day to day life. However, too much of iron in the body is not a good sign.

The content of nasunin that is present in eggplant helps remove excess iron from the body. This brings down the risk of getting heart attacks as it damages the existence of the free radicals in one’s system.

The luscious fruit is considered to be high in water content yet low in calorie count. This feature makes it very ideal as a healthy diet for people who want to reduce weight.

The spongy texture of the vegetable is what facilitates these characteristics, hence one must consume in its natural form as much as possible.

Last, the digestive system is kept healthy and safe because of the good content of fibre in brinjals. This prevents constipation as well. The risk of colon cancer is also eliminated.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggplant