Mustard seeds are the small round seeds of various mustard plants and may be colored from yellowish white to black. These seeds are indeed very rich in phytonutrients, minerals, vitamins, and anti-oxidants.
Conserving its presence from almost around 5,000 years ago, mustard seeds are generally grown in Argentina, Canada, Chile, Denmark, India, United Kingdom, United States, and some European countries.
Asians, Africans, Greeks, and Romans have integrated Mustard seeds for the most part in their daily cuisines.
In spite of the small size of the mustard seeds, they possess many amazing health benefits.
1. Reduces Risk of Heart Attack
Mustard oil is used to reduce the risk of a heart attack. It is also the best choice when it comes to picking a cooking oil. The presence of omega-3 fatty acids in mustard helps you to keep your heart in a healthy condition. The presence of copper and iron assist in the formation of red blood cell formation in your body and prevents anemia.
2. Assist Red Blood Cell Formation
The presence of copper and iron in mustard seeds assist in the formation of red blood cell formation in your body and prevents anemia.
3. Improves Bones Strength
The presence of selenium in large quantities in Mustard helps to strengthen your bones. It also strengthens the hair, nails, and teeth. This essential nutrient helps you to get rid of free radicals from the body.
4. Reduces Sleep Disorders
Mustard helps you reduce sleep disorders due to the presence of high magnesium content. It helps you to improve the quality of your sleep, tranquility, and duration of sleep. It also regulates metabolism and helps you to stay away from a sleep disorder like insomnia.
5. Fights Against Psoriasis
The mustard seeds are actually effective in curing inflammation associated with psoriasis. They also help you to stimulate the activities of enzymes like catalase and superoxide dismutase which promotes healing action in psoriasis.
6. Promotes Healthy Hair and Skin
The application of mustard oil or mustard paste on your skin helps in making the skin soft and soothes the symptoms associated with the skin problems. The presence of vitamin A, vitamin E, Omega- 3 and Omega -6 fatty acid are helpful to stimulate hair growth and strengthens the hair.
7. Cures Aches
The presence of myrosinase and glucosinolates in mustard seeds prevent the growth of cancer cells. Selenium content provides excellent resistance to the body against the formation of cancer cells. It also helps to slow down the development of cancer cells.
8. Prevents Cancer
The presence of compounds like myrosinase and glucosinolates in mustard seeds prevent the growth of cancer cells. Selenium content provides excellent resistance to the body against the formation of cancer cells. It also helps to slow down the development of cancer cells.
9. Controls Diabetes
The presence of anti-oxidant protects you against the problems caused by oxidative stress in diabetics. Mustard oil maintains the levels of serum glucose and glycosylated proteins. It also reduces lipid peroxidation and triggers glucose metabolism.
10. Treats Cold and Fever
Mustard exhibit calefacient properties that cause great sweating, which is beneficial to lowering fever by reducing body temperature. It aids ejecting the poison from the body and has been beneficial in flu and cold too.
11. Provides Respiratory Reliefs
The Mustard seeds provide relief from many respiratory ailments, especially during winter days. The vapors of steamed mustard seeds help you decongest blocked nasal passages. Mustard has heating properties to aid respiration during asthma and the presence of iron, magnesium, selenium, and copper prevents you from an asthma attack. It actually acts as nasal decongestant and expectorant.
12. Poison Repulsion
Mustard seeds have some emetic qualities which make you resist the effects of poison on the body. Decoction syrup made using mustard seeds are really helpful in cleansing the toxic in the body, especially if the poison is caused by an excess intake of alcohol, sleeping pills, soporific drug, etc.
Uses of Mustard
- Mustard is used as a flavoring agent and provides a nice taste to your salads, dips, and mayonnaise.
- You can add some mustard seeds, honey, and other seasonings to make a sweet dip.
- They are also used as a condiment, it adds a nice flavor to the pickles, dips, and sauce.
- They are used to prepare a mustard sauce that is widely used by many people all over the world in sandwiches and hotdogs.
- Yellow mustard flour has stabilizing qualities that are great for sausage preparation.
- They are used in soups, snacks, salads, sandwiches, curries, barbeque and mayonnaise sauce.
- It is used to prevent the meat from getting spoiled and used to add flavor.
Precautions
- People allergic to mustard should avoid taking it.
- Extreme use of mustard can cause gastric irritation and sometimes stomach bleeding.
- Avoid excessive use of mustard seeds.
- A strong mustard can sting your tongue, throat, and palates.