Amazing Health Benefits of Herbs Suggested by Grill Heat Aid

Herbs are a fantastic way to add flavor and color to any sort of dish or drink, whether sweet or savory, without adding fat, salt, or sugars. In addition to flavor and color, they each also tend to have their own set of health-promoting properties. Generally, fresh herbs are delicately flavored, so if adding them to your cooking, do so in the last few minutes. Tasting your dish as you go along will help you tell if you’ve added enough. If not enough herbs are used, then little difference will be made to the flavor of the dish, but if too many herbs are added, their flavor will overpower other ingredients.

Consuming herbs may help to prevent and manage heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. It may also help to reduce blood clots and provide anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor properties. Research is ongoing but studies have shown that: 

• Garlic, linseed, fenugreek, and lemongrass may help lower cholesterol.
• Garlic is useful for people with mildly elevated blood pressure.
• Fenugreek can help control blood sugar and insulin activity (as can linseed, flaxseed, and cinnamon).
• Garlic, onions, chives, leeks, mint, basil, oregano, sage, and many other herbs can help protect against cancer.
• Herbs are rich in antioxidants, especially cloves, cinnamon, sage, oregano, and thyme, by helping to reduce low-density lipoproteins (‘bad’ cholesterol).

Fresh herbs often contain higher antioxidant levels compared to processed or dried herbs but if you are using herbs in order to harness their health-promoting aspects first and foremost, aim to add your fresh herbs at the end of cooking or as you serve to preserve these properties.

Boost brain power with rosemary: Here’s a great reason to keep a pot of fragrant rosemary in your kitchen: Recently, scientists at the Brain, Performance, and Nutrition Research Centre in the U.K. reported that having higher blood levels of one of this herb’s main chemical compounds-absorbed from its aroma-was linked to the speed and accuracy of study participants’ cognitive performance. The higher the level of the compound in the blood, the better the outcome.

Anti-inflammatory: The NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) a branch of the National Institutes of Health, has sponsored multiple research projects on herbs and spices and which ones are known to help treat or prevent cancer. Their findings include garlic, saffron, onion, black pepper, piperine, black seed oil, turmeric, and curcumin.

Prevent breast cancer with parsley: Toss parsley into salads for its high levels of apigenin. A study in Cancer Prevention Research showed that when rats with a certain type of breast cancer were exposed to apigenin, they developed fewer tumors and had delays in tumor formation compared to rats not exposed. Apigenin blocked the creation of new blood vessels required for tumors to grow and multiply.

Soothe your colon with peppermint: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects up to 20 percent of Canadians and many more women than men. Last year, scientists at the University of Adelaide in Australia showed how peppermint helps to relieve IBS by activating an anti-pain channel in the colon. It reduced pain-sensing fibers, particularly those activated by eating chili and mustard.

Fight inflammation with oregano: Research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that when mice with inflamed paws were treated with oregano’s active ingredient-beta-caryophyllin (E-BCP)-the swelling subsided in 70 percent of cases. E-BCP links to structures in a cell’s membrane, inhibiting the production of substances that signal inflammation. Make this healthy homemade pizza crust and add oregano.

Get your antioxidants from fresh thyme: Sprinkle fresh thyme on salmon or chicken that’s headed for the grill: Among fresh herbs, thyme has the second-highest amount of antioxidants, according to its oxygen radical absorbance capacity-a measure of a food’s ability to fight off disease-causing free radicals in our body. Thyme is also a very good source of vitamins A and C, as well as iron and dietary fiber.

Health Benefits of Basil: Studies show that basil helps to normalize cortisol levels and has anti-stress effects. Antioxidant compounds protect chromosomes from free radicals, and its volatile oils have anti-bacterial and analgesic properties.

Health Benefits of Rosemary​​: Rosemary contains a special blend of antioxidants (rosemarinic acid, carsonic acid, and carnosol) and has a more potent antioxidant power than man-made antioxidants. Studies have shown that rosemary can lower cortisol levels when inhaled and improve memory. It also helps to decrease the carcinogenic heterocyclic amines created by high-temperature cooking when used as a marinade or added to meats.

Gastrointestinal treatments: Oftentimes, people with digestive and stomach complaints become intolerant to medical interventions because the stomach flora is already compromised and drugs can literally tear up the mucosal lining. An in-depth analysis of all the studies evaluating curcumin’s ability to manage inflammatory bowel disease found that many patients were able to stop taking their prescribed corticosteroids because their condition improved so dramatically by taking curcumin.

Anti-inflammatories: Arguably, the most powerful aspect of curcumin is its ability to control inflammation. The journal Oncogene published the results of a study that evaluated several anti-inflammatory compounds and found that aspirin and ibuprofen are least effective, while curcumin, is among the most effective anti-inflammatory compounds in the world.