Loaded with more Vitamib C than an orange, and more antioxidnts dan cranberry and tomoatoes.....
CONSTITUENTS AND DOCUMENTED HEALTH BENEFITS
Sorrel seeds contain 7.6% moisture, 24.0% crude protein, 22.3% fat, 15.3% fiber, 23.8% N-free extract, 7.0% ash, 0.3% Ca, 0.6% P, and 0.4% S. Component acids of the seed lipids were identified as 2.1% myristic-, 35.2% palmitic-, 2.0% palmitoleic-, 3.4% stearic-, 34.0% oleic-, 14.4% linoleic-, and three unusual HBr-reacting fatty acids (cis-12, 13-epoxy-cis-9-Qctadecenoic (12,13-epoxoleic) 4.5%; sterculic, 2.9%; and malvalic, 1.3%).6 Salama and Ibrahim reported on the sterols in the seed oil, which were identified as 61.3% j3-sitosterol, 16.5% campasterol, 5.1% cholesterol, and 3.2% ergosterol (said to be rare in vegetable oil but the most common mycosterol in most fungi, including yeast).7
Sorrel (dried-flowers minus-ovary) contains 13% of a mixture of citric and malic acid, two anthocyanins, gossipetin (hydroxyfiavone) and hibiscin, and 0.004-0.005% ascorbic acid.
Petals yield the flavonal glucoside hibiscritin, which yields a crystalline aglycone- hibiscetin (C1sH1OO9)' The flowers contain phytosterols. The dried flower contains about 15.3% hibiscic acid (C6H607)' Root contains saponins and tartaric acid. Calyces contain 6.7% proteins by fresh weight and 7.9% by dry weight. Aspartic acid is the most common amino acid. Dried fruits also contain vitamin C and calcium oxalate; dry petals contain flavonol glucoside hibiscitrin, 7
Hibiscus sabdariffa has several documented health benefits. Research conducted locally, revealed that cancerous liver cells, treated with an extract of the sorrel seed, decreased in activity and dramatic) cell death occurred.
Researchers in Britain are also currently testing the plant's effect on essential hypertension. A paper presented recently, reported that there was a convergence between the public's belief and in vitro studies on the effects of sour tea (sorrel) on high blood pressure - two experimental groups of 54 patients provided sufficient information linking a decline in the systolic and diastolic blood pressures to sorrel (Hibiscus sabdariffa).
At the Mexican Institute of Social Security, 'sorrel water' was linked to a significant decline in cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood and also to protection against heart disease.
Abigail Aguilar Contreras, a Mexican scientist, believe that it is a good habit to consume sorrel water daily to decrease the risk of heart disease: It also helps to prevent the clogging of arteries resulting from excessive levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood.
Researchers at the Scientific Research Council (SRC) and University of the West Indies (Mona), who have been studying the plant and creating new exotic sorrel products, report that sorrel contains a wide range of vitamins and minerals including vitamin C, calcium, niacin, riboflavin and a group of compounds known as flavonoids. These antioxidant compounds are found in the calyces (the red sepals that are used in the sorrel drink).
In India, Africa and Mexico, the plant holds significant value in native medicine. The leaves or calyces are infused and used as a diuretic (stimulating the passing of urine); a hypotensive (to lower the blood pressure) and also to stimulate the production of bile by the liver. The leaves are also heated in some parts of the world and applied to boils and ulcers. The seeds are also said to exhibit diuretic properties and is also used as a tonic. In East Africa, the calyx is infused to make a tea - the "Sudan tea"- taken to relieve coughs; Brazilians find medicinal value in the bitter roots.
Reported to be antiseptic, aphrodisiac, astringent, cholagogue, demulcent, digestive, diuretic, emollient, purgative, refrigerant, resolvent, sedative, stomachic, and tonic, sorrel is a folk remedy for abscesses, bilious conditions, cancer, cough, debility, dyspepsia, dysuria, fever, hangover, heart ailments, hypertension, neurosis, scurvy, and strangury.
The drink made by placing, the calyx in water, is said to be a folk remedy for cancer. Medicinally, leaves are emollient, and are much used in Guinea as a diuretic, refrigerant, and sedative; fruits are antiscorbutic; leaves, seeds, and ripe calyces are diuretic and antiscorbutic; and the succulent calyx, boiled in water, is used as a drink in bilious :': attacks; flowers contain gossypetin, anthocyanin, and glucoside hibiscin, which may have diuretic and choleretic effects, decreasing the viscosity of the blood, reducing pleod'" pressure and stimulating intestinal peristalsis.
In Burma, the seeds are used fot:debility, the leaves as emollient.
Taiwanese regard the seed as diuretic, laxative, and tonic.
Philippines use the bitter root as an aperitive and tonic Angolans use the mucilaginous leaves as an emollient and as a soothing cough remedy..
Central Africans poultice the leaves on abscesses.
Alcoholics might consider one item: .simulated ingestion of the plant extract decreased the rate of absorption of alcohol, lessening the intensity of alcohol effects in chickens.
