Properties

Traditional properties of groundnut and horchata

According to Pio Font Quer (1888-1964, professor of botany at the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Barcelona) in his book “Medicinal Plants: Renovated Dioscorides” (Editorial Labor, Barcelona, 1956) the tiger nut milk is “calefacciente and desiccant, expels flatulence, strengthens the bowels, relieve colic, causes urine and menses, recent advantage for dropsy, is deemed by cephalic and good for vertigo and dizziness headache. is sometimes used in mouthwashes or rinses for ulcers in the mouth and gums“.

Obviously this is a very old language because Pio Font Quer adopted a book of pharmacopoeia of a Roman army physician, Dioscorides, a lover of medicinal plants and lived in the first century of our era, the difficult translation in modern medicine, truffle Hippocratic concepts (V century BC) and Paracelsians (XVI century), so it has little application to our current knowledge and understanding, but it affects some of the most interesting aspects of its digestive properties:

1. its content is eupéptica amylase and lipase, facilitating the digestion of carbohydrates and fats respectively. Relieves the discomfort of flatulent dyspepsia and prevents bloating.
2. is a diuretic because of its abundant water content and low in sodium (no deduction, therefore).
3. is anti-diarrheal (“strengthens the bowels”) for its starch content, which has thickening properties of the stool and as a prebiotic promotes the growth of beneficial intestinal flora fermentation (lactic acid forming bacilli), remember that the “horchata rice and “tiger nut milk” were known remedies for childhood diarrhea for 40 or 50 years.
4. by their content of peroxidase and catalase would not be surprised by his usefulness in cold sores as “disinfectant” oropharyngeal, although it is not so commonly used and often drunk, not done with her mouthwash.

The other properties, “cephalic” and “the vertigo and dizziness in the head”, do not supportable by any of the properties of the tiger nut milk or whole tuber, based on their composition and known today.

The tiger nut milk energy properties because it contains more carbohydrates percentage than milk, and are much starch, glucose traces, digestive (s antiflatulent and antidispéptica) and astringent, no lactose and fructose can therefore take people who can not tolerate fruit sugar (or soft drinks derivatives) or honey, or milk sugar, which occurs in 30% of the adult Spanish population and almost 50% of our seniors. Has more iron, zinc and copper and magnesium content as cow’s milk or goat, which makes it particularly suitable for children and old age, and pregnant women, and although it alone is not able to meet daily requirements iron (should take about three liters a day), it’s copper, magnesium and zinc.

But above all its content amionácidos and monounsaturated fatty acids which gives healthy properties that make it comparable with other soft drinks or nutrients.