Monday, May 9, 2011

Why we need to eat Indian Mustard Plant

Heal yourself with Indian mustard plant
by FELICITY WARNER, Daily Mail
This doesn’t look edible, let alone medicinal: thin, pointed leaves with a flavour like rocket fuel, and a crop of straggly yellow
flowers.
Yet an extract made from the Indian Mustard plant is being hailed as the most important food supplement of the future.
Indian Mustard, or brassica juncea, is a little-known member of the broccoli family. It is a favourite ingredient with Eastern
cooks, lending a fiery punch to stir fries and salads, and is living proof that eating your greens is good for you.
For centuries, peasants in rural India used the plant to add flavour to rice dishes. They called it the ‘plant of long life’, claiming
it had powerful healing properties.
Recent research into Indian Mustard’s ancient medicinal claims has provided scientists with two remarkable findings.
First, the plant contains a powerful cocktail of anti-cancer ingredients, including vitamins, antioxidants and minerals with three
times more calcium, potassium and iron than is found in ordinary green-leafed vegetables.
Second, it has a unique ability to absorb metals and minerals from the earth it grows in. Taking this into account, Russian
agronomists have planted it around the site of the Chernobyl reactor to de-contaminate the ground from dangerous levels of
lead and uranium.
Nicknamed ‘Nature’s magnet’, it is now being grown by scientists to help boost our intake of metals and minerals often lacking
in our Western diet.
Using state-of-the-art bio-technology, the Indian Mustard plants are being grown hydroponically, in water infused with
nutrients. In the Natrahealth pharmaceutical laboratory, they are also being drip-fed with carefully measured amounts of the
mineral selenium, which is vital for human health.
The plants absorb the mineral, storing it in their stalks and leaves ready for harvesting and drying. Minerals are difficult for the
body to absorb because they sometimes bind with other molecules that the body cannot break down.
Plants naturally convert minerals into phytominerals, a bioavailable form which the body can easily use.
Selenium is an essential trace element which is found in grains and cereals, fish, poultry, meat and Brazil nuts. It is important
for regulating thyroid function and the metabolism, as well as protecting against heart disease and cancer – and, as a nation,
we are lacking in it.
Modern farming methods, acid rain and the use of pesticides have depleted the amount of naturally occurring selenium in the
soil, and doctors and nutritionists are concerned that between 1996 and 1998, the average intake of selenium in the standard
British diet fell by more than 50 per cent.
In some countries, where levels are low, the deficiency has led to an increase in arthritis and heart problems. In Finland, the
entire country receives extra selenium through mandatory fertilisation of crops with Selenate, which contains selenium.
A recent report in the Journal of Medicinal Food has examined the potential of using Indian Mustard to provide us with extra
selenium.
It revealed that a small daily dose of the dried plant was enough to provide us with the recommended daily intake of 50-
70mcg.
Heal yourself with Indian mustard plant | Mail Online Page 1 of 3
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-28388/Heal-Indian-mustard-plant.html?printingPa… 5/2/2011
It also reported that Indian Mustard contains important carotenes, including lutein and zeaxanthin, which boost the immune
system and can help to improve eyesight.
Research Scientist Dr Burt Ensley, who conducted the research into Indian Mustard in America, has also discovered that the
growth of breast cancer cells can be slowed down when injected with Brassica extract.
Now the committee on Diet, Nutrition and Cancer at the National Academy of Science says that a diet containing just 10 gm of
these foods a day cuts the risk of cancer by 8 per cent.
Sadly, you probably won’t find Indian Mustard leaves on your super-market shelves. However, varieties such as Red Giant,
which has redtinted leaves, or Green In The Snow, which is particularly fiery, can be found in ethnic shops and street markets.

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