You probably do not know yet what is taro and what the health benefits of taro leaves are, but this plant which known as colocasia esculenta provides amazing properties to enhance body health. Taro itself is edible to be eaten after they are cooked, not only you can eat the leaves but the roots also have numerous benefits. However, in the raw state, never eat taro leaves since they might be toxic. That’s why you also need to know how to cook taro leaves to experience the advantages and you can learn that today by reading below information.
About Taro Leaves
The plant mostly grown in sub-tropical and tropical climates and this is means that taro cannot last in winter condition and thus they can only being harvested in warm temperature. Just like the roots, taro leaves brings special roles for health and usually the leaves appear deep green and bright in color with heart shape form. As for the flavor, they have similar taste like spinach so if you like spinach it will be pleasure to eat taro leaves. If you look on the base, it has veins come from the steams and both of them have purple to red color shades with variety of range. Please take a note that although taro leaves provides numerous nutrition, but in the raw state, they are really toxic and could be dangerous for health.
When they are raw, the leaves contain calcium oxalate which can lead to kidney disease. To neutralize the harmful substance, the leaves need to be soaked overnight in cold water and then cooked properly. In addition, when you want to eat taro leaves then it’s better to consume it with other high calcium foods.
The health benefits of taro leaves come from its nutrition levels such as:
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin B6
- Vitamin C
- Protein
- Iron
- Calcium
- Fats
- Folate
- Phosphorus
- Magnesium
- Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids
- Dietary fiber
- Niacin
- Thiamin
- Ribovlavin
- Manganese
- Zinc
- Copper, etc.
From the taro leaves nutrition facts above, we can certain that the plant brings various health benefits of taro leaves. For your information, taro leaves can grow more than six feet in height and according to some studies, there are around 87 taro varieties worldwide. And because of the big size, the taro leaves sometime referred as Luau leaves and Elephant’s ear. Taro leaves mostly grown in both India and Malaysia which know more as Avri in those areas. There are many properties and healthy nutrients of taro leaves which can learn more below.
15 Health benefits of Taro leaves you should know better
The amazing health benefits of taro leaves should be the reason alone of why you need to add the plant into dietary plan. All you need to do to ensure yourself that the leaves provide wonderful healthy benefits are to go through this checklist:
1. It is Good to Improve Eye Vision
Taro leaves when eaten is good to improve eye vision thanks to the numerous vitamins including vitamin A. While promote better eye health it also enhance vision acuity and prevent eye diseases too including blindness, myopia, and cataract. It is recommended to eat food rich in vitamin A to maintain healthy eyes and since taro leaves reach amazing daily recommended values till more than 100 percents, you can depend on the cooked taro leaves.
2. Maintain Healthy Heart
Taro leaves claimed to be a healthy food for heart since it has lower saturated fats level and it rich in high quality of fiber. Fiber playing essential roles to prevent the accumulation or accretion of fats and cholesterol in the blood streams and potassium contained in the taro leaves also help to keep normal blood pressure. All these properties ensure to prevent heart disease and stroke by lower homocysteine levels. That’s why if you maybe want to consume cooked taro leaves if you do not want to harden the arteries.
3. The Fiber Supports Healthy Digestive System
The taro leaves once cooked are very easy to digest and because they also rich in fiber, they support healthy digestive system. The fiber can help to normalize bowel movements as well as enhance stools’ bulkiness. From that reason alone, taro leaves can prevent digestive issues such as constipation and Irritable Bowel Movement (IBM). Additionally, there is more benefit given by the leaves which is lower colon disease risk.
4. Body Cells Protection
There are two main compounds in taro leaves which really helpful to protect body cells and they are called carotenoid and phenolic. Taro leaves health benefits of these substances exhibit potent anti-oxidant properties that fight against free radicals and take care our body cells from oxidative stress and other damages.
5. Helps to Prevent disease
By frequently consumed taro leaves in moderate amount, it can make sure to prevent dangerous illness such as disease and this is all thanks to the presence of vitamin C. You may already know that this nutrition content is really powerful and protective as anti-oxidant which can prevent mild disease such as cough and cold to severe disease like disease. Vitamin C helps to improve overall immune system as well as speed healing process when you are injure or wounded. This property is required to ensure strong connective tissues growth such as ligaments, cartilage, and tendons. In addition, vitamin C helps to support in the synthesis of hormones and neurotransmitters.
6. Support Strong and Healthy Fetus Development
When asking is taro safe during pregnancy then certainly that the nutrition in the taro leaves alone can support strong and healthy fetus development. That nutrition called folate and pregnant women is always recommended by their doctors to get enough folate intakes since it’s important for healthy fetus development. In addition, folate also protects the fetus from major birth issues such as neural tube defects. And for your information, taro leaves is required to prevent certain diseases like rectal disease and color disease. Meanwhile, the nutrient in the taro leaves necessary for DNA synthesis as well.
7. Lower High Cholesterol Levels
It is good when you eat taro leaves as part of your weight loss diet since taro leaves contain zero percent of cholesterol levels and they only bring about one percent of total fats. Health benefits of taro leaves can be experienced for someone who has high cholesterol level because it can help to reduce the cholesterol naturally so judging from that role, you can say that taro leaves is a super food with wonderful health benefit of taro leaves. Properties such as dietary fiber and methionine presence in the leaves will break down the triglyceride levels and then lower the cholesterol effectively and efficiency. It is good for basic diet menu plan to have.
8. Great for Those Who Suffer Anemia
Taro leaves contain minerals and one of them is iron which playing essential role to improve Red Blood Corpuscles (RBCs) production. This property also required to distribute oxygen to various body parts. People who suffer from anemia can consume taro leaves frequently in moderate amount to fulfill the need of iron intake while prevent the body from tiredness, fatigue, and weakness.
9. Maintain Electrolyte Balance in The Body
One of the most important minerals required by the body to function properly is potassium. This mineral has various important roles to maintain healthy body including builds the muscle, keeps normal development of the body, absorbs carbohydrates, maintain acid-base balance, and help to control overall heart electrical activity. In addition, potassium is essential to balance electrolyte and body’s fluid. If you want to get sufficient quantities of the mineral then you can consume taro leaves rich in potassium regularly.
10. Reduce Wrinkle/ Anti-Aging
Health benefits of taro leaves also good for overall appearances because the threonine content contained in the plant. It is an amino acid which can help in the production of elastin and collagen. Both properties are critical to support healthy skins and they are useful to rejuvenate the skin and prevent wrinkles at the same time.
11. Provides Amino Acids and Omega Fatty Acids
Taro leaves contain omega 3 fatty acids just like fish and omega 6 fatty acids which are important to prevent disease, cardiovascular disease, and good for brain function. In addition of the omega fatty acids, the plant also provides more than seventeen different types of amino acids and just like the fatty acids, this mineral also good to prevent a lot of dangerous illnesses.
12. Promote Weight Loss
Just like we already mentioned before, taro leaves is low in both fats and calories. Besides that, it promotes weight loss and can be eaten daily in proper amount. Taro leaves give full feeling for longer period of time and that’s why it’s great to control appetite or hunger pangs which mean your body will accumulate lower calories too. Taro leaves good to manage weight during diet.
13. The Leaves Help to Enhance Mood and Memories
Taro leaves help to maintain healthy body function and nervous system. In addition, they provide substance called dopamine, to enhance brain memories and to control or manage your moods. If you often feeling so stressful due to certain circumstances such as work pressure, maybe by eating taro leaves can help you to control the moods. This is health benefit of taro leaves which you need to experience.
14. Helps to Strengthen The Bone and Teeth Development
100 grams of taro leaves provide about eleven percents of calcium and it’s already known so well that the mineral beneficial for healthy bones and maintain healthy teeth development. The calcium works along with phosphorous to strengthen the bones and teeth while support bone formation. Besides the calcium, taro leaves brings enough manganese which useful to form bone, teeth, and cartilage for pregnant women.
15. Help to Treat Diarrhea ASAP
If you suffer from diarrhea then you can treat it quickly with taro leaves thanks to the zinc content provided by the plant. The zinc will help to protect intestine mucosa and when the diarrhea happens, the mucosa will be loosened by the intestine wall. Next, if your body has enough zinc then it will help to relieve the mucosa as soon as possible so the disease can stop quickly.
To experience health benefits of taro leaves you should cook them properly and never eat them raw! There are many recipes that can be tried and for simple cooking method, you can use pressure cooker to properly cook them. Avoid boil the leaves because you will end up remove all the goodness in the taro leaves. In addition, you can also mix the leaves with other ingredients to serve delicious dish, for example you can wrap a whole fish with taro leaves and then bake it with aluminum foil. Share to us your recipes!