Psyllium or Isabgol, as it’s normally called as a husk of a seed. Let’s check out why Psyllium is such an hype now a days…
As we already know, people with higher fibre diets have less risk of breast cancer, colon cancer, heart disease, and it can drastically reduce your cholesterol and improve your digestion. Psyllium with all its properties can do much more. It is prevention & a cure for many diseases. Where Flax & other fibrous seed husks can fall short, Psyllium can do more wonder. Psyllium is extracted from a plant called Plantago ovate. The Plantago plant family has about 200 other members, including many different varieties of plants. It is predominantly produced and exported from India, where it has been a staple in Ayurvedic medicine for centuries. It is also grown in other Asian and European countries, but on a very small scale. This seed husk has grown in popularity over the years due to the changing lifestyle & dietary malfunctions. Psyllium has shown great results as a medicine & adopted by all pharmaceutical companies for their production. Also it has been a great preventer in acidity & weight issues. As mentioned due to many of its properties Psyllium has an advantage over the other seed husk. Let’s know how Psyllium works.
How does Psyllium work inside the body?
Psyllium Husk is known to have high dietary fibres. To put it simply is, there are two categories of dietary fibres, one is soluble fibres & other is insoluble fibres. The insoluble fibres cannot absorb good amount of water & hence are of lesser use to the body, but the soluble fibres can absorb huge amount of water & hold it in the body. Psyllium husks have soluble fibre in huge amount due to which it absorbs & holds water in the body making the GI track well lubricated. As it swells, it turns into a thick gel and traps some nutrients and body fluids, which are then transported out of the body trapped in this gel, and without being digested. A certain amount of glucose is also trapped in the entire course of digestion & is excreted without any effect on the body. Hence, lesser amount of glucose is absorbed in to the blood reducing the diabetes risk. Psyllium also intervenes in secretion of a digestive juice called bile & thus reduces the unwanted cholesterol from the body.
To describe this in few words, Psyllium regulates the highs & lows in our body through our digestive track. It creates & restores the balance of the basic functions f our body making us healthier in many ways. Hence, as said Psyllium is prevention as well as a cure to many physical ailments.
What does Psyllium prevent & cure?
Constipation: When combined with water, psyllium swells & forms a gel like consistency, this stimulates intestines to contract & help speed the passage of stool.
Diabetes: Psyllium absorbs excessive glucose & helps them pass during bowels. This balances out the blood glucose level. This also helps the pancreas secreted insulin to balance out the glucose level in the blood without building pressure on our system.
Diarrhoea: Psyllium can also be used to help relieve mild-to-moderate diarrhoea. It soaks up to a significant amount of water in the digestive tract, making stool firmer and slower to pass.
Heart Disease: High fibre diet reduces the risk of cholesterol in the body and helps to lower levels of triglycerides, thus reducing the cardiovascular risk.
Haemorrhoids: Psyllium is recommended by doctors to help soften stool and reduce the pain associated with haemorrhoids.
Obesity: Psyllium holds the water in the body making the stomach heavier & reducing the cravings.
All this & many more risks are reduced by Psyllium. India dominates the world market in production and export of Psyllium husk powder. It provides approximately 80% of Psyllium husk powder in the world market. India has the upper hand when it comes to cultivating Psyllium, because of certain factors. India’s light soils and warm temperate regions highly promote this crop’s growth. It also thrives well in warm-temperature regions with cool and dry weather. As most regions in India are characterized by this weather. This gives India an upper hand on Psyllium exports.
Psyllium & Psyllium products are used in many industries throughout the world. This so called home remedy in Ayurveda has become the most demanded produce in the industrial world & its application is also vivid. Below is the list, Psyllium is used for many purposes –
- Psyllium is used to prevent landscaping or soil erosion
- In pharmaceutical industry, Psyllium is used as thickening agent during capsule formulation
- Psyllium is used in food and beverages industry, in health drinks, beverages, ice-cream, bread, biscuits, other bakery products, rice, cakes etc., to improve the fibre content of the product
- Psyllium is used in breakfast cereals
- Psyllium is being used as a thickener in ice-cream and frozen deserts
- Psyllium is used for animal feed
- Psyllium is used as a preventive for sand accumulation in animals mainly in sandy region
So many uses of this product make it the most popular product of the current times & which can be felt by its increasing demand in the global market.
Truly a magic food ingredient for humans with such a paced lifestyle of today!
