Fox Nuts/Makhana & Its Benefits

“The Greatest Wealth is Health.” In recent decades, life style is an important factor of health. According to WHO, 60% of related factors to individual health and quality of life are correlated to lifestyle. Millions of people follow an unhealthy lifestyle. Hence, they encounter illness, disability and even death. Problems like metabolic diseases, joint and skeletal problems, cardiovascular diseases, hypertension, overweight, violence and so on, can be caused by an unhealthy lifestyle. The relationship of lifestyle and health should be highly considered.

Today, wide changes have occurred in life of all people. Malnutrition, unhealthy diet, smoking, alcohol consuming, drug abuse, stress and so on, are the presentations of unhealthy lifestyle that they are used as dominant form of lifestyle. Besides, the lives of citizens face with new challenges. For instance, emerging new technologies within IT such as the internet and virtual communication networks, lead our world to a major challenge that threatens the physical and mental health of individuals. The challenge is the overuse and misuse of the technology. Therefore, according to the existing studies, it can be said that: lifestyle has a significant influence on physical and mental health of human being. With like most of the adults working these days, they usually tend to ignore the need of proper nourishment for their body and end up being undernourished. According to NCBI (National Center for Biotechnology Information) a survey was done in 2006 in India which showed the prevalence of pain in bones and joints was found to be 19.3% . There was a higher prevalence in females (25.2%). Pain prevalence increased steeply beyond the age of 65 years old. There was a significant impact of pain on work and daily function. There is a products that has many beneficial properties.

Makhana or Gorgon nut : Euryale ferox Salisb is an important crop, belonging to family Nymphaeaceae. It is commonly known as Makhana, Gorgon nut or Fox Nut and is grown in stagnant perennial water bodies like ponds, Oxbow lakes, and swamps. Makhana seeds are popularly called as Black Diamond as raw and famously known as white ball when it popped

Benefits:

Fox Nuts have several health benefits. Fox Nuts are gluten-free and rich in protein, carbohydrates, calcium, magnesium, and antioxidants. It also has a low glycemic index and low in calorie and fat content. These factors make it an ideal food product for people suffering from high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic inflammation, and body stress It is also good for sugar patient and developing child as it contains the maximum calcium and other nutrients. The seeds of fox nut are used in ayurvedic preparations. Foxnut is the major source of protein carbohydrates, unsaturated fats. It contains appreciable amount of Ca, Mg, and other micronutrients. It is also a fair source of dietary fiber and act against constipation of seizarian baby. It is nice food for controlling B.P. Sugar, heart diseases and anemia and thereby increases fertility of men and women.

There are different products that can be made using makhana to combat protein and calcium malnutrition.