Why You Should Add Bitter Kola to Your Daily Diet
In this part of the world, Bitter kola is believed by many youngsters to be the fruit for only the ‘elders.’ This is, however, a wrong belief. It, alongside kola nut and alligator pepper, has indeed served a lot of purposes in the openings of family meetings and the gathering of ‘elders.’ Still, by making the chewing of this fruit a habit during their ‘important’ meetings, the elders have unknowingly prolonged their lives. In blog write-up, I will explain why you should join the ‘elders’ in eating this spectacular fruit and even adding it to your daily diet.
If you have always asked yourself what usefulness this hard, dry, brown-looking fruit is to your health, you are in the right place. Here, I will take you through the health benefits, its nutrients, and the adverse effects and prolonged usage.
Bitter kola is known in the Igbo language as ‘Akilu,’ in Yoruba land, they call it ‘Orogbo,’ while it is called ‘Miji Goro’ in the Hausa language. As the name implies, the taste of the fruit is awful, and as a staunch lover of sweet things, the taste is the first thing that would put you off. However, courageously overlooking its taste will extend the number of years you have to spend on earth. If you love life as much as I do, you would obviously believe me on this that if eating this bitter fruit will contribute to my long life, then I will take it all the days of my life, but in moderate amounts.
The nutrients and health benefits this underrated fruit carries is beyond what you expect. It is just like having a three-year-old child who solves algebra on his own! Stay with me through this article and watch me unravel the nutritional benefits of this fruit you have always left for only your ‘village elders’ to eat.
Bitter kola contains;
Health Benefits of Bitter kola
The fruit and bark of the bitter kola tree have proven to be medicinal over the years. It helps improve health conditions and cure some other ones completely. Before we move further into the health benefits of bitter kola, please, I want you to erase the belief that bitter kola is meant for traditional people or ‘elders’ alone, from your mind first.
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Immune System Booster
Are you still looking for an immune system booster when you have bitter cola lying around your dining table? Search no more, what you seek is right under your nose. Bitter kola provides the immune system with all that it needs to combat every form of anti-agents in your body. It boosts and strengthens weak immune systems. Chewing it helps you ward off unwanted health condition, which is the basis of all that will be discussed here today.
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Strengthens the Lungs
Bitter kola, when consumed in reasonable amounts, can not only help in the strengthening of the lungs to improve functionality but can also help prevent the counter functioning of the lungs. It contains antioxidants that help create a shield that guards your lung. So if you are a smoker, do not be too far from bitter cola.
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Osteoarthritis
This illness is a form of arthritis. It happens when the cartilage and the bone in your knee begin to degenerate and cause your knee to be stiff, thereby giving you a heartbreaking kind of pain. According to a medical record, Bitter kola has been discovered to increase the movement of joints and reduce pain. If you already feel soreness in your bones as an aged person, try this natural goodness and get your joints running like normal again.
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Cures Impotence
Taking bitter kola in a considerable amount would help boost sexual performance in men. Research also holds that bitter kola helps to improve sperm counts and male fertility. It also raises the testosterone levels as well as your libido. As a man, you need to try out bitter kola, while you sit back and watch your sex life improve.
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Weight Loss
Are you overweight? Do you eat like you can run down Nigeria’s agricultural sector and food bank alone in one month with your mouth? Have you grown tired of searching for what to use to censor and control the way you eat? You have come to the right place. Bitter kola is the answer, it is a great hunger suppressant. If you are on a weight loss diet, do well to add bitter kola to it, your express weight loss journey would become more comfortable and faster with it.
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Fights Glaucoma
Glaucoma is an eye defect. It is a situation where excessive pressure is placed on your eyeballs, making you lose your sight. The medical record holds that if you eat bitter kola at least twice a day, there is a higher possibility that the pressure on your eyes would reduce.
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Controls Sugar Level
Type 2 diabetes is an avoidable kind of diabetes, and bitter kola can help you prevent type 2 diabetes and place your sugar level under check. The bitterness you have always detested can reduce your blood sugar; this means that it is efficient in the treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes.
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Enhances Cancer Treatment
Bitter kola has been found to reduce and kill tumors, and cancerous cells.it has also been discovered that bitter kola extract can execute prostate cancer cells‘ development.
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Helps You Stay Awake
Do you read and assimilate faster in the night but find it challenging to stay awake? Do you use chemical products that are harmful to your health to keep you awake throughout the night? Put a stop today and try out bitter kola. Bitter kola is a natural remedy for you. It can help you stay awake for as long as you want. It contains healthy caffeine in reasonable amounts that can keep you awake without affecting your health.
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Malaria Treatment
Bitter kola is said to have anti-malarial properties. It contains natural antioxidants and anti-inflammatory phytochemicals that have great anti-malarial ingredients.
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Cures Food Poisoning
Bitter kola contains properties that help to detoxify the blood during food poisoning. To prevent or treat food poisoning, chew two to three bitter kolas. Repeat this every day until you get your desired results.
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Cures Cough
Bitter kola, when chewed, is very useful for curing cough. It is one of the most significant treatments herbalists used and still uses in most rural areas to cure different coughs, ranging from the least severe to the most severe kinds of coughs.
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Snake Repellant
Do you dread snakes as much as I do? Do you know that you may live with a snake in your house? As scary as it sounds, a study has shown that some snakes species can successfully get themselves through any hole or opening they see. So, it is possible that, while your door was a little bit open, a snake may have crept in and have started living with you without your knowledge and permission.
I would recommend that to get rid of snakes both in your house and around your home, throw some bitter kola portion everywhere within and without the house.
Side Effects, And The Risks Of Prolonged Usage Of Bitter Kola
As the saying goes, too much of everything is bad. Bitter kola contains caffeine, and excessive intake of bitter kola which contains caffeine is hazardous to the health
The side effects of bitter kola include;
- Insomnia; lack of sleep. Using bitter kola excessively can make your body accustomed to sleeplessness, which can be very bad for your health. This can also result in headaches.
- Bitter cola reduces blood sugar levels, which is suitable for diabetic patients. However, taking too much of it can lower your blood sugar level and make it dangerously lower than average.
- If bitter kola is eaten in substantial amounts, it will slow down blood clotting. This means, if you have a wound, bitter kola could worsen it because your blood might not clot, and this would make it difficult for you to stop bleeding and for your injury to heal fast. It is also advised to avoid bitter kola before or after surgery, no matter how minor the operation might be.
- Bitter kola surprisingly has been found to heighten psychological problems such as anxiety, if taken excessively.
- Pregnant women who take over 200mg of bitter kola per day are exposed to high risk of miscarriage, early birth, or stillbirth. Pregnant women are advised to avoid it.
- Bitter kola can also interfere with the functions of medications. It alters the functions of medicines like anti-depressants and other drugs.
- Taking bitter kola with alcohol or cocaine is a terrible combination, so try to avoid it. Bitter kola has caffeine, while alcohol decreases the speed at which the body breaks down caffeine, thereby the body retains excess caffeine, which is injurious to the health.
Now That You Know;
Would you still be reluctant to add this natural beauty to your diet even after seeing all that it offers, at little or no cost? The medicinal value of bitter kola has been tested and proven over centuries, and the good news is, it is still as potent as in the days of your great grand-father, and on no account has it lost its value. However, as beneficial as it is to your general well-being, taking too much of it can negatively affect your health. So it is better to eat it in reasonable proportions, to enjoy its benefits and prevent its side effects.
