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Beetroot - Health Benefits of Beet Juice

Botanical Name: Beta vulgaris

Family Name : Chenopodiaceae

Generally called as garden beet, it is a juicy root vegetable in two colors-deep red and violet. They are flat, short-top shaped, deep oblate to round, globular to oral, half long and long. Two varieties are grown in India - Crimzon Globe and dark red, both belong to the globular to oval group.

Beetroot has for many years been used as a treatment for cancer in Europe. Specific anti-carcinogens are bound to the red coloring matter which supposedly helps fight against cancer and beetroot also increases the uptake of oxygen by as much as 400 percent.

Origin and Distribution

Beetroot is a native of Europe, used by Greeks & Romans thousand years back. It is now cultivated all over the world. In India, it is cultivated for its nutritional roots.

Properties of asparagus

Anti-anemic, diuretic, tones liver, clears constipation and piles, cardiotonic.

Forms of Use :- As vegetable, salad, juice, soup.

Food Value of asparagus

This vegetable is good for health as it has carbohydrates in the form of sugar with little protein and fat. It is taken in form of salad, juice and as vegetable. Beetroot juice is considered as one of the best vegetable juices. It has natural sugar and calcium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, iodine, iron, copper, vitamin B1, B2; niacin, B6 and C.

Analysis of beetroot (100 gm's edible part) gives the following composition (per 100 gm's of edible part):

Medicinal Uses & benefits

No doubt, beetroot possesses great medicinal properties as it cleans kidney, gall bladder and is rich in alkaline elements, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron. Its uses are:

1. Beet juice is useful in anemia as it forms blood owing to substantial iron. It triggers and activates the R.B.C., pushes fresh oxygen into the body and enhances lungs function for normal breathing. The juice of the red beet enhances body's power of resistance. It is good antimagnetic for children and young people.
2. Beet juice is useful for jaundice, hepatitis, nausea and vomiting arising owing to acidity, diarrhea, indigestion & dysentery. Adding a teaspoonful of lime juice to this juice increases its medicinal value and it can be given as a liquid food in these conditions. Fresh beet juice mixed with a tablespoonful of honey taken every morning before breakfast helps the healing of gastric ulcer. Juice of beet leaves mixed with lime juice is useful in jaundice and gastric ulcer to be taken once daily.
3. Eating beetroot is also useful for constipation and piles. If used daily, it prevents habitual constipation, thus helping in piles.
4. Beet juice corrects circulatory disorders as it is an excellent solvent for inorganic calcium deposits and thus helpful in the treatment of hypertension, arteriosclerosis & heart trouble.
5. For kidney and gall bladder disorders, beet juice along with the juice of carrot and cucumber, acts as a cleansing material for both kidney & gall bladder.

Beet juice still remains a potent force the secrets of which are far from being unlocked. It is, after carrot, one of the chief juices in the science of natural healing as practiced on earth. The chlorine present in beet juice acts to regulate digestion by controlling the peristalsis, or natural rhythmical contractions of the gut and, because of this, the assimilation of food during the time of recovery is much assisted.