In your impression, jujubes have always been a great blood tonic. Women can eat a few to replenish blood and benefit their menstruation. Men can also eat a few for their high nutritional value. But are the benefits of jujubes limited to this? Can everyone eat jujubes? You only know how good they are, but you don't realize that jujubes have many considerations too.
The nutritional and health benefits of jujubes were discovered and utilized by people in ancient times. They were included in the "Shennong Ben Cao Jing" (The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica Classic) and recorded in medical books of all dynasties, with the understanding of its health-preserving and therapeutic effects deepening over time. To this day, jujubes are still considered an important tonic. Li Shizhen, in his "Ben Cao Gang Mu" (Compendium of Materia Medica), said: "Jujubes are sweet in taste and warm in nature. They can tonify the middle jiao, replenish qi, nourish blood, and promote the production of body fluids. They are used to treat conditions such as 'spleen deficiency, poor appetite with loose stools, and deficiency of both qi and blood'."
The benefits of jujubes:
1. Anti-cancer
Regular consumption of jujubes can improve human immunity and inhibit cancer cells. It can promote the generation of white blood cells, lower serum cholesterol, increase serum albumin, and protect the liver. Jujubes also contain substances that inhibit cancer cells and can even transform cancer cells into normal cells.
2. Lowers Blood Pressure and Cholesterol
The vitamin content in jujubes is very high. Among all fruits and vegetables, it has the highest content of Vitamin P, which helps maintain capillary permeability and improve microcirculation, thereby preventing arteriosclerosis. It can also regulate human metabolism, enhance immunity, and have anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, and blood sugar- and cholesterol-lowering effects.
3. Protects the Liver
Jujubes can protect the liver and enhance physical strength because they can increase the phagocytic function of monocytes in the body. The Vitamin C in jujubes can reduce liver damage from chemical drugs, promote protein synthesis, and increase the content of serum total protein.
4. Prevents Osteoporosis
Jujubes can also prevent and treat osteoporosis and anemia. Middle-aged and elderly people often suffer from osteoporosis during menopause. Adolescents and women at their peak growth stage are prone to anemia. Jujubes can have an ideal therapeutic effect for them, one that is often incomparable to medication.
5. Prevents Cerebral Insufficiency
The flavonoids in jujubes can prevent cerebral ischemia and have a protective effect on the ultrastructural damage of brain tissue caused by it.
6. Prevents Cardiovascular Diseases
Jujubes are rich in Vitamin C and Vitamin P, which are very beneficial for strengthening capillaries, maintaining the elasticity of blood vessel walls, and resisting atherosclerosis. They can also improve human microcirculation, dilate the coronary arteries, increase blood supply to the brain and heart, slow the heart rate, and reduce myocardial oxygen consumption, thereby improving the metabolism of ischemic myocardium. Therefore, they can prevent cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
7. Restores Physical Strength
It also has a good tonic effect for people with weakness after illness.
8. Prevents Gallstones
The abundant Vitamin C in fresh jujubes converts excess cholesterol in the body into bile acids. With less cholesterol, the probability of stone formation is also reduced.
9. Anti-allergic
For treating allergic purpura, eating 10 jujubes three times a day generally shows results in three days. Japanese scientists have discovered that jujubes contain a large amount of a substance called adenosine cyclic monophosphate, which has the effect of dilating blood vessels and resisting allergies.
These people should not eat jujubes:
1. People with excessive phlegm-dampness
These people are usually overweight, with a thick, greasy tongue coating, a sweet or greasy taste in the mouth, poor appetite, and often feel bloated in the stomach. In severe cases, symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and swelling of the eyelids and face may occur. The greasy nature of jujubes can easily promote dampness, causing phlegm-dampness to stay in the body and be difficult to expel, thereby worsening the above discomfort. People with this constitution are more suitable for eating spleen-strengthening and dampness-draining foods like Job's tears, red beans, Chinese yam, and loofah.
2. People who are prone to "heatiness"
People prone to "heatiness" have a constitution that leans towards heat, often experiencing symptoms of "heatiness" such as constipation, bad breath, and swelling and pain in the throat and gums. Jujubes are sweet and warm in nature, leaning towards a tonic effect. Eating a large amount of them is like adding fuel to the fire.
3. Patients in the early stages of a cold
In the early stages of a cold, the pathogenic factors of wind-cold or wind-heat invading the body are at their peak. If jujubes are consumed at this time, their sticky nature can often cause the pathogenic factors to stagnate, leading to the consequence of "shutting the door to keep the thieves inside," making it difficult for the body to expel the pathogenic factors and hindering recovery.
4. Diabetics
Jujubes contain a relatively high amount of sugar, which can increase blood sugar levels in diabetics and worsen their condition. Therefore, people with high blood sugar should not eat too many jujubes.
The benefits of jujubes are countless, but they also have many considerations. Even the best things have taboos, so attention must be paid when consuming them. Moreover, the processing of jujubes on the market today is very diverse. Since many people know how nutritious jujubes are, they tend to buy a large quantity at once. At this time, it is important to note that rotten jujubes cannot be eaten, as the fruit acid and methanol produced in them can harm the body, and in severe cases, they can even be life-threatening.