Dandelion for Health

Delighting children with their bright yellow flowers and large white seed-balls, dandelions are seen as a weed by many; the bane of a pristine green lawn. April 5^th is National Dandelion Day. You may be wondering why we need an entire day devoted to something that most people spend a fair amount of time trying to eradicate from their lawn, but the truth of the matter is that dandelions are actually quite good for us.

Dandelions are becoming more visible as more grocery stores are starting to carry the greens in their produce section. These leaves are an excellent, healthful way to add another leafy green to your diet. More nutritious than spinach, they are tasty and can be cooked in a wide variety of recipes, substituting easily for any other leafy green. Nutritionally dandelions are a powerhouse with just one cup of chopped greens providing over 500% of your daily requirement for vitamin K (also known as Phylloquinone which promotes good blood clotting properties) and over 100% of your vitamin A. Dandelions also provide a good amount vitamin C, calcium, iron, and manganese as well as smaller amounts of potassium, zinc, copper, vitamin E, and some of the B vitamins.

According to herbal medicine, dandelion is a good blood purifier and diuretic, helpful for balancing blood salts, beneficial for those with anemia, and an excellent liver cleanser. It is also believed to help keep the pancreas and spleen healthy and to help treat diseases of the skin such as acne. Dandelion is currently being studied for it's many health benefits such as it's ability to help increase antioxidant activity in the body and to reduce cholesterol. A study published in the January 2010 International Journal of Molecular Sciences reported that "Our results show that treatment with dandelion root and leaf positively changed plasma antioxidant enzyme activities and lipid profiles in cholesterol-fed rabbits" and concluded "Dandelion root and leaf could protect against oxidative stress linked atherosclerosis."

In addition to eating fresh dandelion greens, the flowers are also edible (be sure when eating the fresh greens or flowes that you are only eating pesticide free dandelions). Dandelion wine is made from the blossoms. Something that people have heard of; perhaps not too many have tasted it as it is a homemade concoction and not typically sold commercially. The flowers can also be turned into fritters or brewed to make tea which many people find to be helpful for treating headaches.

Continuing on, the roots of the dandelion are also edible. They are used in Japanese cooking or roasted as a coffee type beverage. If you don't want to dig up and roast your own dandelion roots it is possible to purchase dried dandelion root or capsules of dried dandelion root (usually available at health food stores) in order to take advantage of the healthful benefits of the dandelion. And we're not done yet, the inside of the stems contains a milky liquid that that is soothing for burns or stings.

In otherwords, dandelion is an all-around useful plant. Celebrate National Dandelion Day by trying some.

Sources:

NutritionData.com
PubMed.gov
BulkHerbStore.com