During the New Yam Festival in Delta State where I am from, we look forward to the Egusi soup.
It comes with so much animals (protein) in the soup and the children of the hunters enjoy the most.
We love to visit them, because we know that in their Egusi soup, you will have different kinds of bush meat.
In fact, on the day of the festival, the aroma in the air, could awaken a fainted man. It smells of food, with this soup toping the chart.
If you have a sensitive nose, this is usually a time to use it to detect where the best soup is. Funny but people move food around a lot on that day.
Because of this festive Egusi soup, I hardly love to eat Egusi afterwards. I hate to spoil the good memory that the festive soup brings.
One thing that is popular about this festive Egusi soup often prepared with bitter leaf as the vegetable, is that it contains lots of oil.
The oil you see on the soup could cook another soup. If you are from Delta State or the east, you can relate.
While we enjoyed this soup back then, we hardly knew anything about the benefits it offers.
Egusi has some health benefits, yet, it could be a source of health issues if abused and prepared wrongly.
Health Benefits Of Egusi Soup
There are different studies on Egusi (Colocynthis citrullus L.) and its health benefits.
Here are what the studies highlight as the nutrients that are in Egusi.
Egusi contains 52.0% oil, 28.4% protein (60% in defatted flour), 2.7% fiber, 3.6% ash, and 8.2% carbohydrate.
It is also a good sources of essential amino acids, especially arginine, tryptophan and methionine.
Also, Egusi is a great source of vitamins B1, B2, and niacin, and sulphur, calcium, magnesium, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, iron and zinc.
According to a study, the oil of Egusi contains mostly oleic (15.9%) and linoleic (62.8%) acids (1).
As a result of the above nutrients in Egusi, it offers you the under listed benefits.
1. Great For Heart Health
Egusi contains monounsaturated fats that are good for your health in several ways.
First, it helps in lowering your LDL (bad) cholesterol level.
Cholesterol is a soft, waxy substance that has been linked to heart issues. This is because it can lead to clogging of arteries (blood vessels).
Keeping your LDL level low reduces your risk for heart disease and stroke.
Also, Egusi is rich in potassium which is also a mineral that promotes heart health.
According to studies, increased potassium and magnesium intake could reduced blood pressure by a reasonable amount (2) (3).
2. Could Aid Weight Management
Egusi contains fibre and this makes it okay for people who want to lose weight.
One of the reasons people gain weight is unused energy or calories. Interestingly, fibre helps to clean your system and stop the fat from sneaking into your blood stream.
It helps you stay full and you have less craving for food.
Also, vitamin B in Egusi can help your body metabolise carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.
It helps your body use stored energy in food.
In fact, a study says vitamin B deficiency could lead to obesity or excess weight gain (4).
A person who wants to lose weight and consumes Egusi soup the way we will recommend here will get better benefits from it.
3. May Help Lower Inflammation
Egusi is also rich in magnesium which propels over 600 reactions in your body.
It aids in energy creation, protein formation, gene maintenance, muscle movements and nervous system.
Above all, magnesium helps lower inflammation which drives aging in your body (4).
Eating Egusi soup the right way will help lower inflation and slow down aging.
Notice we said the right way and there is a reason for this which we will explain later.
4. Helps You Fight Depression
Also, magnesium, which is in Egusi, plays an important role in how your brain functions. It can regulate your mode.
The truth is that low levels of magnesium in your body could increase your risk of falling into a depressive mood (6).
5. Could Boost Immune System
Egusi also contains iron which is beneficial in many ways.
Iron helps you build energy and maintain focus. It is also great for your immune system.
The truth is that a combination of all the nutrients that you get from Egusi soup when you prepare it the right way would help keep your system strong even to your bone.
For instance, Egusi contains calcium which is also a good nutrient that your bone needs to stay healthy and strong.
6. Egusi Soup Could Lower Risk Of Diabetes If Rightly Prepared
Magnesium is another mineral that could be of help in lowering your risk of diabetes.
According to a study, a good level of magnesium in your blood can help insulin function better and keep sugar level under control.
The study says low levels of magnesium have been associated with a number of chronic diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cardiovascular disease (e.g., stroke), migraine headaches, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (7).
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While Egusi contains these amazing benefits, you could change the end result when you prepare your Egusi soup.
Mistakes You Make When Cooking Egusi Soup
There are mistakes that people make when they prepare the soup.
Even in those days of New Yam Festival highlighted above, Egusi is often prepared on such special days.
They eat it once in a while and this is because they understand that eating it too much could make it a trouble rather than a benefit.
Egusi soup is never an every month soup for our parents. One of the mistakes you will make is making Egusi a regular soup.
Sadly, this will amount to abuse or excessive consumption that would result in issues.
Egusi also contains saturated fat and that presents the need to eat with caution and the right way.
Egusi soup is rich in oil, but most persons will fry their Egusi with so much oil that you can scoop and prepare another soup.
You don’t need so much oil to prepare your soup. You should even prepare it without oil sometimes. But this is not even the issue.
A study found that preparing your Egusi with high temperature (heat) lowers the nutrition composition greatly (8).
This means that when you fry, your soup loses nutrients that it should give you and it would increase your cholesterol level instead of reducing it.