1. Clearing away heat and toxic materials
Amaranth is sweet and cool, and it is good at clearing heat and promoting diuresis, clearing liver and detoxifying, cooling blood and removing blood stasis. It has a certain auxiliary therapeutic effect on red-eye dysentery caused by damp heat, red-eye pain caused by liver fire, and sore throat.
2. Promote growth and development
Amaranth has a high content of protein. Amaranth leaves contain a high concentration of lysine, which can supplement the shortage of amino acid components in grains, and also contains nutrients such as calcium and zinc that are easily absorbed by human body. Zinc, calcium and lysine have a synergistic effect, which can promote the growth of teeth and bones, maintain normal heart activity and prevent muscle cramps (cramps). Therefore, amaranth can promote the growth and development of infants and adolescents, prevent and treat children's stunting, rickets and osteoporosis in the elderly, and has certain therapeutic value for fracture healing.
Improve eyesight
Amaranth contains a lot of carotene, which plays an important role in maintaining people's vision. Ancient people in China experienced the efficacy of amaranth in improving eyesight and obtained strong evidence.
4. Losing weight is beneficial to both sides.
Amaranth is also the protagonist on the diet table. Regular consumption can reduce weight, promote detoxification and prevent constipation.
5. Coagulation and blood supplement
Amaranth is rich in protein, iron, calcium and vitamin K, which can promote blood coagulation, increase hemoglobin content, improve oxygen carrying capacity and promote hematopoiesis. Amaranth is a good supplementary food for anemia, blood loss, pregnant women, fracture patients and surgical patients. People regard amaranth as a good blood tonic and have the reputation of "blood tonic dish".
6. Prevent and treat diabetes and maintain cardiovascular health.
Amaranth is rich in magnesium. Researchers believe that in patients with diabetes, nephritis, hyperthyroidism, cancer and so on. Too much magnesium is discharged or consumed in the body, and eating amaranth can supplement the missing magnesium. Magnesium supplementation in diabetic patients can improve their glucose tolerance, reduce insulin consumption and help control blood sugar. Magnesium is also beneficial to maintain the health of coronary artery and heart function.
In addition, it was found that protein extracted from amaranth has the effect of lowering cholesterol, while Amaranth has the effect of lowering blood pressure (it is believed that the antihypertensive effect is mainly due to the inhibitory effect of tetrapeptide extracted from Amaranth on angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE)), which is very suitable for patients with cardiovascular diseases.
7. Prevent neurasthenia and insomnia
Amaranth contains iron and is easily absorbed and utilized by human body. Iron is not only involved in the synthesis of human hemoglobin, myoglobin, cytochrome and cytochrome oxidase, but also related to the activities of acetyl coenzyme A, succinate dehydrogenase and cytochrome reductase. In addition, iron metabolism is closely related to spleen deficiency syndrome in traditional Chinese medicine.
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that people with liver blood deficiency's deficiency of both heart and spleen are prone to neurasthenia and insomnia. Amaranth's treatment of neurasthenia and insomnia may be related to its rich iron.
8. Prevention and treatment of anorexia and anorexia.
Amaranth is rich in zinc. Zinc is one of the indispensable elements to maintain the growth and development of the body, maintain the normal taste function and appetite of the human body and promote the normal development. After zinc deficiency, the taste substances on the taste buds of human tongue are difficult to synthesize, the taste is dull, the sensitivity of distinguishing taste is reduced, and the appetite is reduced. Eating amaranth can achieve the purpose of proper zinc supplementation, thus treating anorexia and other diseases.
9. Liver protection
Amaranth has protective effect on liver, and its protective mechanism may be related to carotenoids and phenols.
10. Improve immunity and prevent cancer.
Amaranth is a rare high-quality functional food resource in the composition and content of amino acids, fatty acids and trace elements, which can provide rich nutrition for human body, help to strengthen the body and improve the immunity of the body, and is known as "longevity vegetable".
Studies have shown that amaranth extract can inhibit the proliferation of liver cancer cells (HepG2) and breast cancer cells (MCF-7), and has effects on gastric cancer cells (AGS), central nervous system cancer cells (SF-268), colon cancer cells (HCT- 1 16) and lung cancer cells (NCI-H460).
Expanding: the nutritional value of amaranth
Generally speaking, the nutritional value of amaranth is higher than spinach. The iron content of amaranth is more than 1 times that of spinach. Every100g of vitamin C can meet the daily demand of human body for vitamin C. It is worth noting that the content of calcium and iron in amaranth is the highest among fresh vegetables. Amaranth also contains high concentration of lysine, which is an important amino acid for human growth and development, especially for teenagers and children.
How to buy amaranth
The choice of amaranth products can be divided into green amaranth, red amaranth and colored amaranth, but the two-color amaranth has high iron content and a large proportion of copper, which is beneficial to the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and blood supplement. You should choose fresh plants or tender ones, and the crystal quality is good. When picking, the leaves are generally thick and wrinkled, and the taste is old, while the leaves are thin and tender. When I bought it, I had amaranth in my hand. I felt soft and tender, but it was hard and old. May and June were the best time to eat.
Edible method of amaranth
Amaranth is mainly eaten fresh, and can also be made into soup, porridge and salad. Amaranth is the tender stems and leaves of many edible plants, such as Acanthus retroflexus, Acanthus crispus, Acanthus crispus and so on. Collect tender stems and leaves, put them in a boiling pot for mourning, take them out and wash them with clear water, and make them into various dishes. Amaranth tastes sweet and has high nutritional value. There is a folk saying that "the Dragon Boat Festival amaranth races pork livers, and gold is not exchanged in June". In the south, young plants are eaten as vegetables, and the fat ones are better. When frying vegetables, there is often a smell of lime. In order to avoid it, you can first crack the amaranth in the pot and take it out after cooking. Then wash the pot, add vegetable oil to get angry, continue to stir-fry, and eat after adding seasoning to avoid the odor of amaranth.
(1) shredded chicken mixed with amaranth
Ingredients: Amaranth 300g, cooked chicken breast100g, cooked ham 50g.
Seasoning: 3 grams of salt, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 grams of monosodium glutamate and 5 grams of cooked chicken oil.
1. Remove the old stems and yellow leaves from the vegetables, wash and cut them into 5 cm long sections, blanch them with boiling water, take them out and cool them with cold water to squeeze out the water; Ripe chicken breast is shredded by hand; Shred cooked ham.
2. Peel and chop garlic cloves, put them in a large bowl, add vegetables, cooked shredded chicken, cooked shredded ham, salt, monosodium glutamate and cooked chicken oil and mix well. Serve.
(B) the practice of frying amaranth
Ingredients: 250g of amaranth.
Seasoning: vegetable oil, garlic slices, salt.
Efficacy: Amaranth contains more potassium, magnesium, calcium and vitamin C, and leaves also contain high concentration of lysine, which is very helpful for human growth and development.
1. Wash amaranth and cut into sections for later use.
2. Pour the vegetable oil into the wok and burn the garlic slices to 80% to 90% heat. After the garlic is fried, pour the amaranth into the hot oil pan, stir-fry it constantly, and season it with salt when it is out of the pan.