Known for its antivenom activity against snake bite and scorpion sting, sea holly ( Eryngium Maritimum) is an important herbal plant in the traditional Greco-Arab medicine. It is a spiny perenial plant that at most can grow up to 50 cm in height. It has erect branched stem systems, with sessile leaves that are palmately divided into 3-8 prickly lobes.
Sea holly is known by different names in different countries. In Palestine, Eryngium Maritimum is known as Qors Aanneh, and Charchevina–Makchila in Hebrew.
Health benefits of sea holly
Herbal medicine has always had a strong presence throughout humankind history, playing a fundamental role in human welfare as a first-line health support for patients with any type of condition, and it still is of utmost importance in many cultures today. Eryngium Maritimum is one of the many herbs around the globe is fortified with several bioactive compounds, which make it beneficial for the treatment of several ill healths.
Sea holly possess antipoison compounds
Snake bite is one of the global problem that have limited treatment agents. For this reason, there have been several studies in the use of herbal medicines for the treatment of snake bite and scorpion sting.
When youre been bitten by a snake, the venom proteases would quickly travel through your blood carpillaries, destroying the internal membranes of the capillary vessels, and causing internal bleeding. In most cases, the proteases would attack and activate the coagulation factor V, causing the blood to clot around the circulatory system and blocking capillary vessels.
When this happens, the individual may suffer instant stroke or heart attack. Luckily, sea holly bioactive compound has the ability to inhibit those snake venom proteases. This activity protects you from the deadly effects of snake and scorpion toxins.
Sea holly prevents the formation of kidney stone
Kidney stones are formed when minerals build up inside the kidneys, and causes pains when they are being passed through the ureter. When left to continue accumulating in the kidney, the stones may cause severe health implications, which may cost fortune to treat.
This is because some of the stone, such as lead can cause acute toxic effect on the kidney and may over time reault in kidney failure. However, there are some herbal remedies such as watercress juice which disslove tbose stones and make it easier for them to be excreted out of the body. Sea holly is one of such herbs that dissolves kidney stones and protect your kidneys from toxicity.
Sea holly lowers blood sugar level
Whenever your blood sugar level is high, it is important that you see your doctor. Sometimes, this may be as a result of onset of diabetes mellitus. Also, it can be a risk factor for obesity. To reduce your blood sugar, you should food that are low in calories, but some times this is not actually easy as said. Most of our daily foods are loaded with carbohydrates, which when broken down yields more sugars.
You can however lower your blood sugar by drinking herbal teas capable of lowering your sugar level. This plant is such a herb for this. A regular intake of tea made witb sea holly will surely keep you in shape and at normal sugar level.
Sea holly benefits for lowering cholesterol
Aside the ability to lower your blood sugar level, sea holly can also lower your lipid profile level. This property of sea holly is as a result of its bioactive cpmpound, D-mannitol which has antihypercbolesterolemia effect. According to some studies, this hopecholesterolemic effect is mediated by ABCG5/ABCG8 intestinal transporters.
One good thing about the cholesterol lowering activity of sea horse is that the active compound, D-mannitol is compared to the activity of ezetimibe, and it does not cause any damage to the liver, and also, does not affect the level of HDL cholesterol, otherwise known as the good cholesterol.
HDL cholesterol is termed a good cholesterol because it mops up LDL cholesterol, which is the bad one and usually accumulate and form plaques on the arterial walls. LDL is a risk factor for atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular disease.
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Sea holly benefits your liver health
Sea holly is fortified with antioxidants and antimutagenic agents, which protect your heart from toxic substances. Being the central processing unit for every food, drugs and nanoparticles, including poisons, the liver is usually at danger of hepatocarcingenic and toxic agents. These agents usually perform their attacks by dealising excessive free radicals into the cells. This cause cell apoptosis, DNA damage and mutagenesis, and eventually leads to cancer of the liver.
But the good news is that sea holly is equiped with bioactive compounds that suppress oxidativd stress and scavenge free radicals off your body systems. By so doing, sea holly protects your liver and improve its functionality.
Improve your heart health
Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading cause of death globally. One of the risk factor of cardiovascular disease is hyperlipidemia and obesity. Obesity in itself is caused by hyperglycemia. If you don’t keep your blood cholesterol level low, chances are that you might develop atherosclerosis, which is the leading risk factor of cardiovascular disease and ischemic stroke.
The hypolipidemic and hypoglycemic activity of sea holly protect your heart from myocardial infaction and stroke. The bioactive compound, D-mannitol has a great cholesterol lowering activity; it does not affect the the liver negatively, and also, does not affect the HDL cholesterol level. This makes sea holly a good home remedy for maintaining normal cbolesterol and blood sugar levels.
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Sea holly possess antiaging benefits
Sea holly is parked with polyphenolic compounds and flavonoids that revitalizes the skin. The anrioxidants mop up free radicals that usually attack the skin cells and cause cellular apoptosis and eventual skin aging. The stem cells of sea holly also stimulate collagen and elastin production, thereby keeping your skin young and healthy.
Sea holly is antibacteria
Sea holly possess antibacteria avtivity against several bacterial infections. This was proved by sseveral studies on the antibacteria activity of sea holly against both gram negative and gram positive bacteria. It was found, according to one of the studies, that the extracts of sea holly can inhibit the growth of staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus vulgaris, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
This studies proved the traditional use of Eryngium maritimum in the treatment of urinary tract infections and sexually transmitted diseases.
Conclusion
Both the aerial and root parts of the plant are used traditionally for the treatment of certain ailments. Being edible, sea holly can be cooked as a vegetable, or made into a powder form.
Some custmetic industries also use sea holly as an anti-aging agent. In body cream formulations.
References
Ali-Shtayeh, M.S., Abu Ghdeib, S.I., 1999. Antifungal activity of plant extracts against dermatophytes. Mycoses 42, 665–672.
Ali-Shtayeh, M.S., Yaghmour, R.M.-R., Faidi, Y.R., Salem, K., Al-Nuri, M.A., 1998. Antimicrobial activity of 20 plants used in folkloric medicine in the Palestinian area. J. Ethnopharmacol. 60, 265–271.
