Not only is it delicious, eggplant is also rich in nutrients that are healthy for the body. Indeed, what are the benefits of eggplant?
Eggplant is a type of fruit that is often used as a vegetable. Usually, eggplant is served as fresh vegetables, stir-fries, or as a vegetable with coconut milk.
“To maximize the taste, eggplant is usually combined with other cooking ingredients such as fish, tempeh, and tofu.”
Not only is it easy to process and has a delicious taste, but eggplant is also rich in nutrients. The nutritional content of purple eggplant is fiber, calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin C, vitamin B1, vitamin B2, vitamin B3, copper, and zinc in one eggplant.
In terms of nutrition, here are the various health benefits of purple eggplant that you need to know:
1. Good for heart health
Your heart has an important job, namely pumping blood throughout the body. If the heart has problems, blood circulation to the body’s cells can be disrupted. Without treatment, heart disease can cause death.
In order to maintain heart health, you must stop smoking, exercise regularly, and eat healthy, nutritious foods, such as eggplant.
The benefits of purple eggplant are demonstrated by research in the journal Comparative Study. Consuming raw or grilled eggplant in animals for 30 days can reduce the risk of death from heart disease.
The benefits of eggplant for heart health come from flavonoid compounds which act as antioxidants for the body.
6. Suitable for diets
If you want to lose weight, eggplant could be one of the recommended diet vegetables. The fiber content of purple eggplant can keep your stomach full for longer.
As a result, this effect can suppress your desire to snack unhealthy. That way, your diet will be easier to follow.
2. Lowers Blood Pressure
One of the factors causing heart disease is hypertension. This is because high blood pressure makes the heart work harder in pumping blood.
Eggplant is known to contain potassium. This mineral is responsible for stabilizing blood pressure by increasing sodium levels in the body. Therefore, consuming eggplant and foods high in potassium can help maintain normal blood pressure.
7. Prevents Constipation
Not only does it facilitate your diet, the fiber in purple eggplant can also prevent constipation. Fiber can help keep the stool texture soft.
This way, feces can pass through the intestines smoothly and are more easily excreted from the body. The benefits of fiber from eggplant will work optimally if you drink enough water every day.
9. Maintain a healthy digestive system
Apart from preventing constipation, purple eggplant also provides overall benefits to the digestive tract.
The reason is, the fiber in teong also stimulates peristaltic movements, namely smooth muscle contractions that move food nutrients throughout the body. Fiber can also be food for good bacteria in the intestines.
All these benefits make the digestive system function optimally and maintain health.
8. Helps stabilize blood sugar levels
Eggplant is healthy to consume, including for people with diabetes. Because fiber can lower blood sugar by slowing the rate of digestion and absorption of sugar in the body.
Slower absorption keeps blood sugar levels stable and prevents rapid spikes and drops.
In addition, polyphenols in eggplant can reduce sugar absorption and increase insulin secretion. Both can help lower blood sugar.
3. Prevent cancer
The polyphenols in eggplant have been shown to have anticancer effects. Anthocyanins and chlorogenic acid protect cells from damage caused by free radicals, while also being able to prevent tumor growth and the spread of cancer cells.
The benefits of anthocyanin in purple eggplant are preventing new blood vessels from forming in tumors, reducing inflammation, and blocking enzymes that help cancer cells to spread.
Through this mechanism, consuming eggplant and foods high in antioxidants can help you prevent cancer.
10. Lowers Cholesterol Levels
The body needs cholesterol in small amounts. If the levels are excessive, cholesterol levels will be high. Over time, extra cholesterol can form plaque and cause blockages in blood vessels.
High cholesterol should be watched out for because it often does not cause symptoms. If a blockage occurs, heart disease or stroke can occur.
Fortunately, you can manage cholesterol levels by eating eggplant and limiting fatty foods.
4. Protects Brain Health
It’s best to consume eggplant with the skin, you know! The reason is, eggplant skin contains nasunin.
Nasunin is a powerful antioxidant that protects brain cell membranes from damage caused by free radicals. This substance also helps in the process of distributing nutrients into cells, as well as moving waste.
Protected cells certainly keep the brain healthy from disorders.
11. Prevents inflammation
Inflammation can cause chronic diseases, such as arthritis. If affected, the joints will swell and feel painful. These symptoms can cause your daily activities to be hampered.
To prevent this, consuming healthy foods is highly recommended. For example, eating foods that contain anti-inflammatory substances, such as eggplant.
14. Improves Eye Health
Eggplant also contains the antioxidants lutein and zeaxanthin. The antioxidants in purple eggplant provide protective benefits for the health of your sense of sight.
So, these two antioxidants can help prevent age-related macular degeneration, which can cause vision loss in the elderly.
12. Optimize Neural Performance
The nervous system functions as a receiver and sender of signals so that the body responds to something. The function of this nervous system can run optimally if the needs for minerals and vitamins are met properly.
The potassium, sodium and various B vitamins in eggplant help you meet the nutritional needs of the nervous system. That is why eating eggplant can provide benefits by supporting optimal nerve performance.
15. Makes you live longer
Based on the benefits of purple eggplant that have been explained, it can be concluded that consuming this vegetable can make you live longer.
This is because the risk of various diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke can decrease. However, you need to be reminded again that these benefits cannot be obtained just by eating eggplant alone.
You need to perfect it by implementing other healthy lifestyles, such as regular exercise, quitting smoking, and getting enough sleep.
13. Maintain Bone Density
Your bones are made up of layers of bone cells. Over time, bone density will decrease. This condition can make you susceptible to bone fractures or osteoporosis in the future.
To maintain bone density, consuming foods rich in vitamin D and calcium is necessary. Apart from milk and dairy products, consuming eggplant which contains calcium can also help maintain bone density.
5. Fights free radicals
Free radicals can cause premature aging and chronic diseases, such as cancer and heart disease. Fortunately, you can fight damage to body cells caused by free radicals with antioxidants.
Well, eggplant which contains antioxidants can help fight free radicals. You can get the benefits of purple eggplant by consuming it regularly.
These are the various healthy benefits you can get by eating eggplant. However, remember to limit portions so you don’t overdo it. Apart from that, avoid processing eggplant by boiling it for too long or frying it using a lot of oil (deep frying) so that the benefits are not lost.