Eggplant aubergine or brinjal is a vegetable that belongs to the nightshade family Solanaceae.
The vegetable is grown worldwide for its edible fruit and it is most commonly purple.
This spongy, absorbent fruit is used in several cuisines. Some persons use it as a vegetable in cooking and by botanical definition, it is a berry.
Interestingly, you can find eggplant in shopping malls and vegetables market in your location.
Types Of Eggplant
Eggplant comes in different varieties:
Dusky or classic – the most familiar eggplant shape with shiny purple skin
Easter egg — small, oval. It comes in white, orange, yellow, or green colour
Epic — teardrop-shaped with purple-black skin
Black bell — pear-shaped with glossy black skin
Ghostbuster — long, white, oval
Ichiban — long, thin, purple
Slim Jim — thin, bright purple
One of the important things about these colours is that they come with different nutrient levels.
We have observed that, in most cases, the darker the colour of fruits, vegetables or grains, the higher the nutrient. We also think that this talks about ageing.
Also, we can say that the higher our age gets, the closer we get to the dark days, when we leave this earth.
This should guide our diet. We should move towards darker side of grains, fruits and vegetables as we age.
That said, eggplant is one of such plants that hold great nutrients for you, as you age.
Regeneration Of Cells
Interestingly, one of the things about vegetables is that they help you regenerate your cells.
You see, everyday, cells die in your body, but the amount of nutrient you feed your body will slow the pace at which you lose them.
You should know that plants are foods that will help keep you healthy.
In this article the purple shade of eggplant is the one in focus.
Eggplant has a similar texture to tomatoes and this makes it great for preparation of sauce, stew and for garnishing of other meals.
Aside from the flavour that eggplant brings to a meal, it has huge health benefits.
We will list few of them.
Eggplant Nutritional Fact
Indeed, vegetables supply various minerals, vitamins, dietary fibers along with important phytochemicals.
These help in balancing your diet and nutrition.
Each vegetable contains a unique amount of various nutrients that are strongly linked with the protection from different health diseases (1).
A 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving of eggplant has 25 calories, 1 gram of protein, 0.2 grams of fat, 6 grams of carbohydrates, and 3 grams of fibre.
In one serving you will get:
Vitamin A: 23 IUs
Vitamin C: 2.2 milligrams
Folate: 22 micrograms
Vitamin K: 3.5 micrograms
Calcium: 9 milligrams
Iron: 0.23 milligrams
Magnesium: 14 milligrams
Phosphorus: 24 milligrams
Potassium: 229 milligrams
The phytochemical analysis of eggplant shows that it is a rich source of various essential compounds – aspartic acid, tropane and flavonoids.
Also, it is rich in lanosterol, gramisterol, steroid alkaloids, glycoalkaloids, histidine, nasunin, oxalic acid, solasodine, ascorbic acid and tryptophan that are present in fruits and leaves (2).
With these nutrients, eggplant offers the under-listed health benefits.
1. Aids Digestion
Eggplant has high fibre content and this is vital when it comes to digestion of food.
In fact a study says dry eggplants are beneficial in the treatment of stomach bloating, gas and piles (3).
If you have stomach issues you should add egg plant to your diet. It contains antioxidants that aid digestion.
The fibre in this vegetable helps every food you eat move smoothly through the intestine.
2. Boost Fertility And Helps During Pregnancy
One of the areas this vegetable provides benefit to a woman is when she wants to conceive.
Adding eggplants to your diet could improve the chance of conception.
This vegetable contains folate and it is a rich source of magnesium, manganese, potassium, and copper.
These are important minerals for healthy bones and they provide other nutrients that the foetus will draw when conception happens.
Also, the iron chelator in eggplant is particularly helpful to pregnant females, lactating mothers and teenage females specifically.
3. Relief For Premenstrual Syndrome
You see, iron is also very important for women who still menstruate.
Iron in this vegetable has the ability to pact with pre-menstrual syndrome, amenorrhea, and antenatal anemia (4).
4. A Good Source Of Vitamins And Minerals
Eggplant is rich in vitamin C, K and B6.
Also, as said earlier, it is a good source of thiamine, niacin, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, copper, fiber, folic acid, potassium, and more.
It also provides you so many other vitamins and minerals that you need for proper functioning of your organs.
5. Eggplant Improves Heart Health
Furthermore, the fiber-rich plant does more than just aid digestion.
A 2018 study says this vegetable contains phenolic compound that serves as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent (5).
Also, it has cardio-protective and anti-obesity properties. This is important because being overweight could increase your risk of heart disease.
But when you eat this vegetable, the fiber reduces the amount of cholesterol that your body absorbs.
It binds the cholesterol with your digestive system’s bile so that your body naturally gets rid of it.
When added to your diet, anthocyanins, which is found in eggplant, seem to have a role in preventing obesity.
Basically, this compound reduces serum triglyceride and bad cholesterol and increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (6).
6. Improves Bone Health
As you get older, your bone also ages and becomes weak, especially if you do not exercise often.
You need a healthy bone. However, your body will not produce what the bone needs to stay strong when you don’t feed it the right food.
Calcium and iron-rich foods are great for your bones. Eggplant is rich in these nutrients.
Here, the colour of the eggplant you eat plays a role in the nutrients you get.
The natural plant compounds that create this purple coloration have been linked to reduced osteoporosis, stronger bones, and even increased bone density.
Eggplants are a rich source of magnesium, manganese, potassium, and copper that are important for healthy bones (7).
7. Prevents Anemia
Anemia is characterised with a general feeling of tiredness and weakness.
This happens because there is not enough healthy red blood cells to carry oxygen through the body.
Not getting enough iron in your diet can be very dangerous to your health.
However, adding eggplant to your meal could reduce the deficiency.
See Why You Need Enough Iron
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This vegetable is rich in nutrients that could help you address anemia occurs as a result of vitamin A deficiency.
8. Eggplant May Prevent Cancer
The components responsible for the purple colour of eggplant are Anthocyanins.
Aside from colouring, they also help to prevent neuronal diseases, cardiovascular illnesses, cancer, diabetes, inflammation, and many other medical conditions.
The health-promoting effects of anthocyanins are mostly related to their antioxidant activity.
A study says chlorogenic acid in this plant also shows anticarcinogenic functions. This compound causes the death of cancer cells, such as leukemia and lung cancer cells (8).
Antioxidants are one of the human body’s best defenses against diseases like cancer, as well as many other potential infections.
One of the many benefits of eating eggplant is that you are also ingesting the natural antioxidant, manganese.
Manganese will help ensure that your organs are protected.
9. Lowers Blood Sugar Level
Diabetes is also another health issue that eggplant helps in preventing.
Also, it can help lower blood sugar level.
This is the function of the Anthocyanins in this plant.
According to a study, anthocyanins may increase insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake in vital organs such as the muscles and adipose tissues (9).
As a result, it can ameliorate insulin resistance under diabetic condition.
10. Eggplant Increases Brain Function
You see, your brain is one thing that you need to be able to relate well with your world.
Sometimes, our daily activities and stress could affect the capacity of our brain.
But eggplant is rich in natural phytonutrients. This are chemicals that improve mental health.
In addition, the phytonutrients present in eggplant protect cell membranes and boost the memory function of the brain.
It maintains brain health via protecting its cell contrary to the obliteration of free radical cells.
Compounds present in the eggplant have also the ability to avoid brain tumor (10).
This components also help ensure an increased blood flow throughout the body and into the brain.
Finally, these compounds delivers more blood to the brain, with phytonutrients helping to boost memory by stimulating your neural pathways.
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