Jaggery – Health Benefits

Jaggery is a natural and viable alternative for Sugar. Sugar is manufactured by chemical processes where as jaggery is obtained from sugarcane juice. It is the safest and the purest form of sugar and the process of obtaining jaggery does not involve any chemicals. The manufacturing process of jaggery is very hygienic and requires no human intervention. It is full of proteins, mineral salts not present in refined sugar and vitamins and is extremely nutritious and delicious. In fact, it has all the nutritional values present in a sugarcane. It is used in many Indian dishes in place of sugar. Let us take a look at few of its many health benefits:

• diabetic people are often advised to replace sugar with jaggery
• purifies the blood
• extremely beneficial for anemic people as it is rich in iron
• helps maintain blood pressure levels due to low amounts of sodium
• reduces water retention in the body so controls weight of the body
• is rich in anti-oxidants so helps in fighting the free radicals in the body
• strengthens the nervous system
• helps control indigestion and constipation problems
• extremely beneficial for throat and lung infections
• helps in preventing breathing problems and asthma
• helps fight pollution by allowing people to breathe easily in higher levels of pollution and smoke
• is rich in magnesium so helpful in relieving fatigue and relaxes muscles and nerves
• prevents rheumatism

So, looking at the subset of the health benefits, I would certainly recommend daily consumption of jaggery in the morning breakfast and afternoon lunch.