What is Duckweed?
Duckweed, also known as watermeal, bina, is a type of herbaceous plant, the Duckweed Family, originating from the Middle East of China.
This type of vegetable has an egg-shaped pointed head, the leaf face appears 3 veins that look like duck feet, the leaf edge has a sparse sawtooth shape.
Like other leafy vegetables, duckweed contains many nutrients such as vitamins, fiber, and some abundant minerals, so it is often used to process many nutritious dishes, beneficial to health.
Nowadays, duckweed is widely cultivated in Southeast Asian and Southwest Asian countries. In Vietnam, this type of vegetable is most commonly grown in Dalat and some northern provinces such as Quang Ninh, Ha Nam, Hanoi,…
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Watermeal – Nutritious and helps prevent some diseases
It is not by chance that filmmakers construct the image of Popeyes the sailor becoming powerful and extraordinary every time he eats duckweed. This is because the manufacturer is based on the characteristics of duckweed, a high-nutrient vegetable that enhances human health.
According to Associate Professor Nguyen Xuan Ninh – Deputy Institute Director of Vietnam Applied Medicine Institute: Duckweed belongs to the group of daily vegetables with good and nutritional properties, helping to supplement some nutrients.
The nutritional composition of duckweed contains a lot of vitamins and minerals such as: Vitamin A, vitamin B2-B6, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K (60 times more than duck eggs); iron, manganese, magnesium, calcium, folic acid (3 times the content in broccoli). At the same time, the amount of calories, sugar, and fat in duckweed is very low, so it is considered very good for health. For those who follow a weight-loss regime, this is one of the extremely useful foods, emphasized by Associate Professor Nguyen Xuan Ninh.
The high content of vitamins A, C, K in duckweed helps protect the cardiovascular system, prevent the risk of heart failure, arteriosclerosis, and high blood pressure. Calcium, vitamin D and K in duckweed help promote a healthy bones and joints system, especially, for children who regularly eat duckweed is also a way to support height gain, and for the elderly, duckweed helps prevent bone and joint diseases, osteoporosis.
The fiber content in duckweed is not small, accordingly, the vegetable effectively supports the stimulation of digestive system activity, helps treat constipation, limit indigestion symptoms.
In the composition of duckweed, there are many carotenoids and lutein, helping to prevent and improve eye-related diseases: Dry eyes, macular ulcers, at the same time support vision enhancement… The high content of carotenoids in duckweed also has an effect against free radicals causing cancer.
In addition, the components in duckweed also have anti-inflammatory effects and help external wounds heal quickly.
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Notes when using
People with kidney disease or gout should not eat a lot of duckweed because the oxalate and purine content in the vegetable can have a negative impact on the condition.
Because duckweed contains a lot of calcium, it should not be used together with zinc-containing foods or taking zinc supplements when eating duckweed.
Duckweed should not be processed with seafood, it will cause loss of zinc content in seafood. At the same time, when processing, try to limit the heat used to avoid losing the nutrients in the vegetable.