It’s one of the strangest foods your grocer sells… But its health benefits make it worth getting familiar with. Here are five reasons to eat more eggplant.

Five Reasons to Eat More Eggplant

In All Health Watch, Cancer, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Diet and Nutrition, Featured Article, Heart and Cardiovascular, Nootropics and Brain Support, Top 5's

Aubergine… Garden egg… Eggplant. Call it what you will. Regardless, the health benefits remain the same. And they’re not a food you’ll want to skip.

Here are five reasons to eat more eggplant:

1. Boosts Brainpower: Eggplant skin is a good source of nasunin. It’s a potent antioxidant that helps protect your brain cells from oxidative stress and free radical damage. It even helps transport the waste out of brain cells.12 Having a healthy brain may also help you live longer. Even mild cognitive decline can increase death risk by as much as 80%.

2. Controls Cholesterol: Animal studies show that eggplant juice reduces weight. It also helps lowers LDL and overall triglyceride levels. The juice only takes about a month to work.3 And chlorogenic acid may be the reason why. It’s one of the most powerful free radical killers in any plant tissues.4 One study found that it can lower fasting cholesterol levels in rats by 44%. It may even help prevent fat from building up around your liver.5

3. Helps Your Heart: You know by now that eggplants are a good source of antioxidants… But one group of them—anthocyanins—plays a direct role in heart disease risk. One study found that people who ate three or more servings on anthocyanin-rich foods a week were 34% less likely to have heart disease over 18 years.6 These compounds may also help you keep your blood pressure in check. The fiber in eggplants can help lower your risk for heart disease. Every seven grams of fiber you eat in a day may help drop your risk by up to 9%.

4. Curbs Cancer: Polyphenols have serious anti-cancer power. They can help prevent free radical damage and inflammation that raise your risk. But eggplant has unique compounds in it that may be even more impressive when it comes to skin cancer:  solasodine rhamnosyl glycosides (SRGs). One study found that SRG-rich eggplant extract cream helped shrink—and eventually eliminate—basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma tumors. In just 14 weeks, they were gone… And they didn’t come back.7

5. Banish High Blood Sugar: Eggplants are low in carbs…and high in fiber. It’s a great combination for lowering blood sugar. This also helps keep diabetes at bay.8 Eating a high-fiber diet may reduce your diabetes risk by over 20%.9 And that’s from studies using inflammatory whole grains. Using eggplant in their place may give you even more impressive results. Eggplant also gives you a good amount of natural vitamin K. And getting enough of this vitamin may help lower your diabetes risk an additional 20% over the next decade.10

Eggplant is a delicious addition to any meal. Just make sure not to fry it or cover it in cheese. Try baking or even grilling it instead. And it doesn’t have to be your main course… Adding some baked eggplant to your salad or serving it alongside wild-caught salmon adds flavor—and extra health benefits—to your meal.

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References:
1http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10962130
2http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FBJN%2FBJN104_S3%2FS0007114510003934a.pdf&code=e641be08b492bb68d36eebf438633b36
3http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9659714
4http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/jan04/skin0104.htm
5http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ecam/2013/801457/
6http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/127/2/188.full
7http://file.scirp.org/Html/20-2100171_7563.htm
8http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17706416
9http://jn.nutrition.org/content/138/3/439.long
10http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/05/27/us-vitamin-k-idUSTRE64Q69420100527