Content
Sorrel is a green crop widespread almost everywhere in Russia. This type of culture refers to plants whose fresh young leaves are used in green form for preparing salads, soups and for canning. Sorrel is a healthy spring product that is included in the menu of both adults and children. Those who are interested in this vegetable will need information about the health benefits and harms of sorrel, and how to use it correctly.
Useful properties of sorrel
It, like all greens, has little protein and carbohydrates, and virtually no fat, but this is not its benefit as a food product. In spring, sorrel grows early and becomes one of the first garden crops that can be eaten during this period. At this time, it comes in handy - it contains a lot of vitamins and mineral elements, which the body urgently needs after winter.
Fresh sorrel can be not only a vitamin product, but also a medicine.It has many uses in folk medicine. It can be used as a remedy that improves and stimulates digestive processes, as an astringent, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and healing agent, as an antibiotic and an antiscorbutic drug.
It can be eaten for:
- prevention of hypovitaminosis, anemia;
- increasing immunity;
- improved digestion;
- eliminate inflammatory processes in the intestines and restore microflora;
- maintaining muscle tone;
- cleansing blood vessels and increasing their elasticity;
- removing accumulated toxins;
- normalization of fat metabolism.
Sorrel decoction is used as a choleretic agent, used for the treatment of dyspeptic disorders and skin diseases, allergic rashes. From the root of the plant, remedies are prepared for the treatment of liver pathologies, inflammatory diseases of the oral cavity, small wounds and mild burns. A decoction of the roots and leaves will help with enterocolitis.
What are the benefits of sorrel for women?
It contains vitamins important for the female body, including ascorbic and folic acids, tocopherols and minerals, iron, calcium and iodine. Women need all of them for the normal functioning of organs and systems, help maintain their functioning and preserve the youth of tissues.
Thanks to these substances, sorrel helps to recover from menstruation and alleviates menopause, reducing the severity of symptoms characteristic of this condition such as dizziness, hot flashes, sweating, etc.
In addition, sorrel, like all greens, is low in calories, it contains only 22 kcal, so it can be eaten even by women who are watching their weight.It is recommended to use it as a component for homemade cosmetics, prepare a decoction and use it to wash skin rashes and to whiten freckles and spots.
What are the benefits of sorrel for men?
The vegetable will also be useful for men's health. If consumed regularly, it will have the most positive effect on the health of the genitourinary organs, in particular the prostate gland. This effect is explained by the presence of zinc in the plant. Another element, potassium, is necessary for the proper functioning of the heart, thus, adequate intake of this element in the body is necessary to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
What vitamins are in sorrel?
There are very few proteins, fats and carbohydrates in this garden vegetable, as in other herbaceous plants: 1.5 g, 0.3 g and 2.9 g, respectively, per 100 g. There are several organic acids - 0.7 g, fiber - 1.2 g and a lot of water - 92 g.
In addition to these substances, green sorrel contains a number of vitamins, especially many compounds from group B (B1, B2, B4, B5, B6 and B9), as well as retinol and beta-carotene, ascorbic acid, alpha-tocopherol, biotin, phylloquinone, niacin and niacin. The largest percentage of them in sorrel contains vitamins: A, beta-carotene, B1, C, E and K. There are also plenty of mineral elements - K, Ca, Si, Mg, Na, S, Ph, Cl, Al, B , V, Fe, I, Co, Li, Mn, Cu, Mo, Ni, Rb, Se, Sr, F, Cr and Zn.
The nutritional value of the plant and its benefits lie in vegetable protein, easily digestible carbohydrates, vitamins and many mineral elements that are rarely found in other crops. All of them enter the body from fresh or canned leaves and are completely absorbed.
Why is sorrel harmful?
Fresh or canned leaves of the plant are undoubtedly beneficial for health, but only if consumed in moderation, without exceeding the norm. Otherwise, the harm of sorrel to the body is manifested in the excessive accumulation of organic acids, especially oxalic acid. They negatively affect the stomach, kidneys, and duodenum.
Old leaves, which contain more acid than young ones, are especially dangerous in this regard.
Is sorrel safe for pregnant women?
Sorrel during pregnancy in moderate doses is not contraindicated and is even beneficial, primarily due to folic acid and mineral elements. Vitamin B9 is necessary not only for the mother carrying the baby, but also for the child for normal development. Its deficiency during the period of fetal formation does not allow it to develop correctly; the child develops abnormalities, often very serious.
Is it possible for a nursing mother to eat sorrel?
Healthy women who have given birth and are already breastfeeding should not give up sorrel. It enhances the secretion of enzymes by the gastrointestinal tract, has a choleretic effect, and works as an antiseptic for food. But the use of sorrel by nursing mothers should be moderate and strictly controlled: if, for example, after it the child develops an allergy, it should be immediately removed from the diet. In other cases, sorrel is not contraindicated during breastfeeding.
Doctors recommend using a decoction of the leaves for pregnant women with sore throat, gingivitis, and stomatitis to gargle and rinse the mouth.The decoction is recommended for use, since many synthetic sprays are not suitable for women during this period, but natural remedies are allowed.
At what age can children eat sorrel?
Very young children should not be given sorrel due to increased acidity, despite all its benefits. Acids irritate the stomach lining, and children do not really like sour foods. Therefore, up to 3 years of age, there is no need to feed a child sorrel; it is better to find other products that contain the same beneficial substances. For children over 3 years old, it is better to give it cooked as part of dishes, rather than fresh.
How to use sorrel correctly
The benefits and harms of sorrel for the human body can be discussed in connection with its correct or incorrect use. It must be remembered that oxalic acid in small doses is important for the body, but in excessive quantities it is often harmful. It has been established that for safe consumption you need to eat no more than 10 leaves per day. Sorrel dishes can be consumed no more than 1-2 times a week.
To minimize the negative effects of oxalic acid and its harm, you need to eat the leaves of the vegetable in combination with lactic acid products - sour cream or kefir. For example, adding sour cream to green soup with sorrel leaves will make it not only tastier, but also much healthier. This is explained by the action of milk calcium, which binds oxalic acid and prevents it from being absorbed. However, it also cannot be absorbed, so the diet must contain other products with this element or synthetic complexes of vitamins and minerals. This applies not only to the use of fresh leaves, but also canned ones, which are used for making soups in winter.
Salads made from fresh young leaves are recommended to be sprinkled with lemon juice or, alternatively, apple cider vinegar to neutralize oxalic acid and remove its salts - oxalates.
Contraindications to sorrel
Contraindications to the use of the plant are associated with the same oxalic acid and its harm. It should not be eaten by those people who have been diagnosed with kidney disease, sand and stones in the excretory organs. It is strictly forbidden to use sorrel for gout. Diseases caused by disorders of gastric acid secretion, gastritis and ulcers are also included in the list of contraindications. In case of inflammatory processes in the digestive organs, pancreatitis, any disorders of water-salt metabolism and diseases arising from arthritis, arthrosis, osteoporosis, the vegetable is also prohibited.
During pregnancy, it is prohibited if the woman has problems with the kidneys, digestive organs, or inflammatory diseases of the genitourinary organs that are in the chronic stage.
You can use sorrel for type 2 diabetes; there will be no harm from it, but only if there are no other diseases. And since they often do exist, the use of sorrel for type 2 diabetes mellitus should be carried out according to an individual scheme. To do this, you must first consult a doctor and then adjust your diet in accordance with his recommendations.
For people who do not have the listed diseases, the vegetable is not harmful and can only be contraindicated if there is an allergy to any component in its composition, although this does not happen often.
Conclusions
The health benefits and harms of sorrel depend on when, how and in what quantities you consume it. If you follow the rules and regulations for use, the plant will be useful; if you ignore them, it can cause harm.
