Blokesblogin

Murraya Koenigii

I was extremely surprised to read an article in the Times of India ( web edition), under the Health and sciences section about the ubiquitous curry leaf- M. koenigii. We South Indians dont know to cook without those leaves and just last week appa was teasing me by calling it the million dollar plant. How true! Researchers in the UK have discovered the capability of the curry leaf to phase the break down of starch to glucose in our digestive tract, by making the work of insulin more effective. Result- no DIABETES!

One thing I have come to graciously acknowledge is that those old grannies knew what they were doing, cooking all those dishes. In the typical South Indian plate, if spinach is made, then a strong tamarind based soup is not served. Reason- the iron in the spinach would get chaelated by the tamarind. Rasam, the thin, lentil soup used to be made in lead vessels to allow the tamarind to use up all its chaelating power on the lead atoms and allow the absorption of iron which would be provided by the "tadka"/ "chaunk"/ "thaalippu"/ "vagaar" from an iron ladle. The other day I was shocked to see a bottle of Curcumin supplement being sold in pill form for about $40 to prevent artheritis! Curcumin, the direct derivative from turmeric or haldhi has been found to be most effective in preventing the inflamation of cartilage tissues sandwiched between bones! Researchers working on bioamplifiers ( a substance that can "amplify" the effect of a drug multifold when taken in very small doses) found that Go-mutram (cow's urine, as prescribed in the sastras) is the most easily available bioamplifier! This, they hope would reduce dosage of cancer drugs that have terrible side effects when consumed in high doses.

UK and US researchers are going after all those "gramma" remedies still used in Asian and African cultures to understand "scientifically" the reason for their effectiveness. In the process they will spend billions of dollars that shall later be earned back in the form of patents and product sales. A few generations later, Indians themselves will be buying Curcumin supplements as they dont stain clothes as turmeric does!
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