How Fenugreek Benefits Health

Fenugreek is a plant that grows in the Mediterranean, Middle East, India, and China. It is utilized as a spice in cooking and has a long list of health benefits. The seed part of the plant is the part most often used in medicinal applications like supplements because of its remarkable health and healing properties. Fenugreek is composed of ten percent healthy fats, fifty percent carbohydrates, and thirty percent protein. Fenugreek is often made into teas, capsules, powders, and liquid extracts for supplemental use as it is jam-packed with essential vitamins and nutrients the body needs on a daily basis.

Helps Manage Diabetes

Individuals who have diabetes often struggle to adequately manage their blood sugar and need extra help with lowering high blood sugar. Fenugreek contains a rich content of high soluble fiber, which is able to slow down the speed of carbohydrate absorption and processes of general digestion. Because fenugreek lowers high glucose levels, it is able to assist in reversing some patients' glucose intolerance. Fenugreek also helps manage diabetes in other ways as well.

For example, individuals with diabetes are at a significantly higher risk of developing heart disease, heart attack, and heart failure than the rest of the population. Fenugreek helps lower this increased risk because it significantly decreases low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Additionally, fenugreek reduces the speed of blood glucose absorption. The saponins it contains also are a great help with lowering bad cholesterol levels. Finally, the properties of fenugreek that enable it to help modulate the metabolism of complex carbohydrates make it an effective agent to help diabetes patients with weight loss.

Alleviates Heartburn

The burning feeling that happens as a result of acid from the stomach traveling upward into the esophagus is called heartburn. A couple of properties of fenugreek give it the ability to alleviate heartburn discomfort. The burning pain happens mainly in the chest, but can radiate to other areas of the body. Some cases of heartburn may be caused by poor dietary habits or by the failure to keep stomach acid out of the sensitive esophageal tube. Fenugreek alleviates heartburn by keeping the acidic mass of digesting food from traveling back up into the esophageal tube via an anti-reflux effect it induces in the stomach.

Fenugreek also helps facilitate and manage the production of acid in the stomach, ensuring production is not excessive. Fenugreek additionally helps the body to develop a strong gel layer on the stomach lining to prevent pepsin, hydrochloride, and other food component corrosion. The substances within fenugreek that give it the protective properties to do so are called galactomannans. This protection helps keep heartburn from happening because stomach ulcers are often the culprit behind chronic heartburn due to the inflammation associated with them.