CURRY LEAF
CURRY LEAF [KARI VEPPILAI] [Kan: kari soppu ][ Hindi:kadi patttha]
Botanically named Murraya koenigii, in honour of Jonathan Gerhard Konig, who for a long times in India and is among celebrities in the field. The plant can be a big shrub with leaves resembling those of Margosa [Neem] hence veppilai and ‘kari’ refers to its utility in culinary additives.
Besides its value in
cooking, the curry leaf offers abundant medicinal benefits to humans.
The rich and inimitable
aroma of the stuff is from the glycosides, Phenolics and Alkaloids that abound the
leaves. In view of a range of such components these leaves are able to deliver ‘anti-oxidants’
that neutralize wasteful oxidations within by scavenging potent oxidants that
promote cellular level disorders.
Startling revelations
from animal studies indicate that the leaf extract helps to suppress disorders
in Kidney, heart and brain.
The leaf extracts are
rich in ‘Mahanimbine’ that ably handles lipid[fat] related problems and helps
elimination of fat-related disorders.
Potent anti-ALZHEIMER’S
activity of curry leaves is ascribed to specific substances like Glutathione
peroxidase, Glutathione reductase and Superoxide dismutase in them.
Memory
functions in animal systems are also said to get stabilized by a steady use of
these leaves by restricting the steps leading to ‘dementia’.
Laboratory
experiments have shown ‘anti-cancer activity’ of curry leaf extracts in cancer
cells of cervix and breast in humans.
The
alkaloid ‘Grinimbine’ OF CURRY LEAVES is said to inhibit colon cancer in
laboratory studies
Anti
bacterial activity of these leaves in handling Corynebacterium and Streptococcus
is known.
From now
on at least do not use them the ‘proverbial way’ by throwing them off; instead
chew them well keeping in mind the range of benefits that can accrue from appropriate use of curry leaf.
Prof. K. Raman
Usually curry leaves are added to many preparations but people who eat , selectively eliminate these leaves.There is a saying that some are used as curry leaf in the sense only for necessity some people are used but they get nothing out of it.
ReplyDeleteCurry leaves are added to many preparations but the leaves are selectively eliminated out of the eating plate.
I convert the excess curry leaves as chutney and it is said to contain VIT. C.
Without curry leaves and coriander leaves your rasam preparation becomes stale.
K. Venkataraman