HEALTH BENEFITS OF DRUMSTICK

The drumstick is a fairly common vegetable grown all over India and Pakistan. It is valued mainly for the tender pod. It is antibacterial and a wonderful cleanser. The drumstick tree is perennial, erect, slender, medium sized with many arching branches. It is mostly grown as a backyard tree in most of the South Indian homes. It has drumstick like fruits, small white flowers and small and round leaves which are cooked and eaten as vegetable.

Food Value of Drumstick

Nutritionally, drumstick pods and leaves are of great value as sources of acrotene, calcium, phosphorus and vitamin C. The leaves, flowers and fruits of drumstick which are used as vegetable have great nutritional value. The tender fruit is used in samber and most dishes in South Indian homes. The leaves and flowers are used to prepare curry and cake.
Natural Benefits and Curative Properties of Drumstick

Almost all parts of the drumstick tree have therapeutic value. The leaves are especially beneficial in the treatment of many ailments due to their various medicinal properties and their rich iron content. They are used as food also.
Tonic for Children :- The leaves serve as a tonic for infants and growing children. For better results, juice should be extracted from leaves, filtered and mixed with milk. This mixture becomes an excellent tonic for healthy and strong bones and for purifying bloodstream.
Pregnancy and Lactation :- Taking this tonic regularly by expectant mothers will provide them with necessary calcium, iron and vitamins. It will also help them overcome sluggishness of the uterus, facilitate easy delivery and reduce post delivery complications. A vegetable prepared from leaves increases breast milk after child birth. The vegetable is prepared by boiling the leaves with salt and water. The water is then drained off and they are smeared with ghee and eaten.
Respiratory Disorder :- A soup prepared from drumstick leaves is highly beneficial in the treatment of respiratory diseases like asthma, bronchitis and tuberculosis. This soup is prepared by adding a handful of leaves to 80 ml. of water and is allowed to boil for five minutes. It should then be allowed to cool. A little salt, pepper and lime juice may be added to this soup
Infections :- Drumstick soup made with leaves and flowers as well as boiled drumsticks are highly valuable in preventing infections of all kinds such as that of the throat, chest and skin. This is because drumstick has antibacterial properties very much like penicillin and other antibiotics.
Sexual Disorders :- A soup made with drumstick flowers boiled in milk is very useful as a sexual tonic in the treatment of sexual debility. It is also useful in functional sterility in both males and females. The powder of the dry bark is valuable in impotency, premature ejaculation and thinness of semen. About 120 gm. of the powder of the dry bark should be boiled in 600 ml. of water for about half an hour and 30 ml. of this. mixed with a table spoonful of honey, should be taken three times daily for a month to cure these conditions.
Digestive Disorders :- Drumstick is also valuable in digestive disorders. A teaspoonful of fresh leaf juice, mixed with honey and a glassful of tender coconut water, is given two or three times as a herbal medicine during the treatment of cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, colitis and jaundice.
Urinary Disorders :- A tablespoonful of coagulated fresh leaf juice, mixed with a glass of fresh juice of cucumber or carrot, is an effective medicine for scanty urination and constant burning in urethra due to high acidity of urine. A teaspoonful of the juice with 10 gm. of rock salt once daily, is used to cure excessive urination of non diabetics.
Beauty-Aid :- Fresh leaf juice applied with lime juice is useful in the treatment of pimples, black heads and keeps one's face fresh