Beet root (Beta vulgaris) - The red beet, commonly known as garden beet, is a juicy root vegetable. Beets have several varieties, which are grouped according to their shapes. They can be flat, short-top shaped, deep oblate to round, globular to oval, or half long to long.
Beet root has been cultivated for about 4,000 years. Early Greeks and Romans used the root for its medicinal properties and the leaves as vegetables. Since Roman, times Beet root juice has also been considered an aphrodisiac. The scientific explanation for that belief is that the beet is rich in the mineral boron, which plays an important role in the production of human sex hormones. The Greek doctor Hippocrates (460-377 BC), often called "the Father of Medicine," advocated the use of beet leaves as bindings for wounds. Beet root held an important place in Renaissance (14th-16th century) medicine and was often used for illnesses relating to digestion and the blood. In medieval England, Beet root juice or broth was recommended as an easily digested food for the aged, weak, or infirm. Culpepper notes in his seventeenth century Herbal that “the red beet is good to stay the bloody flux, woman’s courses and the whites, and to help the yellow jaundice.” In mythology, Aphrodite is said to have eaten beets to retain her beauty. In folk magic, if a woman and man eat from the same beet, they will fall in love. In Africa, beets are used as an antidote to cyanide poisoning.
Rich in an abundance of minerals: potassium, phosphorus, calcium, sulphur, iodine, iron, manganese, chlorine, and copper, as well as traces of the rare metals rubidium and caesium; vitamins B1, B2, niacin, B6, B12, C, P, and beta carotene; flavonoids; natural sugar, and a good quality and quantity of amino acids.
The part of the beet used medicinally is the root. Beet root contains anti-tumor, emollient, nutritive, rejuvenative, stimulating, resistance-enhancing properties. Beet root helps normalize the ph balance of the body and build the blood. It also increases the uptake of oxygen by as much as 400 percent. Beet root has been used as a supportive therapy in diseases of the liver and fatty liver. It supports and stimulates the liver, gallbladder, kidney, and spleen and increases the flow of bile. Beets have been used successfully in conditions of acne, anemia, cancer, diverticulitis, dysmenorrhea, hepatitis, jaundice, nausea, hypoglycemia, leukemia, poor circulation, diarrhea, constipation, hemorrhoids, and dysentery. Beet root helps combat acidosis and aids the natural process of elimination and detoxification. The beet juice, being an excellent solvent for inorganic calcium deposits, is valuable in the treatment of hypertension, arteriosclerosis, heart trouble, and varicose veins.
Available in capsules and bulk powder
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