"Corn silk water can 'diuretic and blood pressure', and can also 'lower blood sugar'."
It is rumored on the Internet that corn silk water can "diuretic and blood pressure" and "lower blood sugar".
Myth analysis
Not really.
It is not reliable to boil corn silk to lower blood pressure and blood sugar, and improper operation may aggravate the condition.
It is rumored on the Internet that corn silk water can "diuretic and blood pressure" and "lower blood sugar", which attracted everyone to start buying corn and boiling water with corn silk to drink. However, some people have found that after drinking corn silk water for several days, they have not found that their blood pressure has dropped, and there is even a tendency to rise. What the hell is going on?
Corn silk water lowers blood pressure and blood sugar
Is it really credible?
It is rumored that corn silk water can lower blood pressure, mainly from the perspective of traditional medicine. Corn whisker is a traditional Chinese medicine, because of its golden color, fragrant smell, also known as "dragon whisker". In some traditional medical classics, there are records about the efficacy and application of corn silk, and it is generally believed that corn silk is "good in nature", has the effect of "diuretic and heat-clearing", and can reduce blood pressure by promoting urine discharge.
However, these records also emphasize that corn silk water has a weak antihypertensive effect and can only be used as an adjunct in combination with other drugs. In fact, this is very understandable, even if corn silk can really achieve the purpose of lowering blood pressure through diuresis, but the cause of hypertension is complex, and diuresis alone cannot solve all problems.
Some nutritional studies have found that corn silk is rich in phytochemicals, such as corn polysaccharides, flavonoids, saponins, amino acids, etc. However, there is not enough evidence that corn silk can lower blood pressure. What's more, it is not known how much of these wholesome phytochemicals can be dissolved in corn silk water and used by the human body.
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As for the statement that corn silk water lowers blood sugar, it is also from a similar source. For example, there is a record in the "Lingnan Herb Collection" about the use of corn silk decoction to treat thirst (i.e., diabetes).
At present, although there are some results of animal experiments on the hypoglycemic nature of corn silk, animal experiments have found that flavonoids and saponins in corn silk may have a certain hypoglycemic effect. However, the number of studies is not large, and the results of animal experiments do not directly confirm that corn silk water has a similar effect on the regulation of blood sugar in humans.
It can be seen that it is undesirable and unreliable to use corn whisker water as a "miracle drug" to lower blood pressure and blood sugar.
Once you are superstitious about the "miraculous curative effect" of corn whisker water, ignore the attention to diet and lifestyle, eat and drink, go to bed late and get up late, be happy and sad, and even stop taking antihypertensive and hypoglycemic drugs regularly, it may cause violent fluctuations in blood pressure and blood sugar, aggravate the damage to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular and other organs, and cause endless harm.
Another issue that is easy to overlook is whether the good corn that is free of pests and diseases is carefully selected before boiling the corn whiskers, and the corn whiskers are fully washed. When the cleaning is not thorough, the dust, insect eggs and other harmful substances in the corn silk may enter the corn silk water and affect human health.
Understand the basic logic of blood pressure and blood sugar reduction
Eating like this can really come down
If you want to lower blood pressure by diet, you must first understand the pathogenesis of hypertension in general before you can have a target.
To put it simply, the occurrence of hypertension is due to the poor elasticity of the blood vessel wall and insufficient contraction and relaxation, resulting in an increase in pressure during blood flow; On the one hand, there is an increase in blood flow, which puts more pressure on the walls of the blood vessels. At present, the most advocated way to lower blood pressure in clinical practice is timely and regular medication for patients with hypertension - various antihypertensive drugs can not only provide targeted choices for patients with different etiologies, but also have a complete evaluation of safety and are very reliable.
In other words, dietary therapy can only assist in lowering blood pressure at best. What we can do by modifying our diet is: avoiding excessive sodium intake (the main source is table salt); and reducing dietary fat and total calories.
Like high blood pressure, there are congenital and acquired factors in the development of diabetes.
When the body's insulin secretion is absolutely or relatively insufficient, or when insulin utilization is impaired, the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats will be disordered, and a series of symptoms such as high blood sugar will manifest. The main aspects that we can improve through diet are to reduce the amount of carbohydrates in the diet, and at the same time, we should also pay attention to controlling the intake of fat and total calories, so as not to increase the risk of diabetes and its complications due to obesity, hyperlipidemia and other diseases.
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After this analysis, if you want to lower blood pressure and blood sugar, there are these methods on the diet that can be referred to:
1. Keep your diet light, with less salt, less oil, and less sugar
This is very effective in controlling both blood pressure and blood sugar.
A light diet can not only prevent hypertension and diabetes by directly reducing the intake of sugar, salt and oil, but also reduce the total calories to achieve the purpose of regulating the three highs, which is beneficial to reducing the incidence of various chronic metabolic diseases.
Don't worry about the light diet becoming unpalatable, as long as you make good use of cooking tools such as steamers, microwave ovens, air fryers, ovens, etc., and take steaming, boiling, cold dressing, oil-free baking, microwave less oil or oil-free cooking, etc., and then match with onions, garlic and coriander and other seasoning dishes, as well as a variety of healthy seasoning sauces, such as seafood sauce, Guizhou sour soup, hot and sour sauce, etc., the deliciousness of the food itself can be restored to the greatest extent.
2. Increase the proportion of coarse grains and whole grains in staple foods
Whole grains and whole grains are generally higher in dietary fiber, B vitamins and minerals than white rice and white flour, which can not only help control blood sugar fluctuations after meals, but also increase satiety and reduce total calorie intake, which is also important for maintaining stable blood pressure.
If you are not accustomed to eating coarse grains, you can replace the fine staple food from less to more, from old to new, such as replacing 1/5~1/4 of rice with pumpkin, potato, sweet potato, corn, and then gradually increasing to 1/3~1/2, and the variety can also be extended to quinoa, buckwheat, oats, brown rice, chickpeas and other categories that are not often eaten.
3. The variety of food should be more diverse, and vegetables and fruits should be abundant
Increasing the variety of meals can ensure a more balanced nutrient intake and increase the intake of vegetables and fruits for modern people. You should know that whole grains, potatoes, vegetables and fruits are rich in potassium, such as potatoes, buckwheat, quinoa, edamame, lilies, kale, fresh dates, and bananas are all high-potassium foods. Potassium plays a key role in the regulation of blood pressure, and the inclusion of these types of foods in daily diets can achieve the purpose of potassium supplementation and blood pressure reduction.
Eating fruits about the size of an adult's fist, a large handful of green leafy vegetables (before cooking) and a small handful of nuts can basically meet our potassium needs every day.
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Corn is right
It can really "lower blood sugar"
Having said that, although corn whisker water lowers blood pressure and blood sugar is not so reliable, corn is indeed a healthy food, and eating it right can really play a role in lowering blood sugar!
First, replace some of the staple foods with corn.
The carbohydrate content of corn is not low, even sweet corn can reach 17.8 g/100 g, which is not much different from rice (25.9 g/100 g); Corn has 16 times more dietary fibre (4.7g/100g) than rice (0.3g/100g). Replacing staple foods with corn not only keeps you full, but also controls postprandial blood sugar fluctuations and lowers total calorie intake.
Secondly, give preference to sweet corn.
Sweet corn has only 60% of the calories and half the carbohydrate content of waxy corn (33.4 g/100 g). Moreover, waxy corn has a higher proportion of easily digestible amylopectin, which is easy to cause blood sugar to rise rapidly after being eaten hot. Therefore, choosing sweet corn when eating corn will not only help you lose weight, but also control your blood sugar levels. But also pay attention to your intake, it is better not to exceed one stick (200 grams) at a time.
Third, no matter how good corn is, there are some people who are not suitable to eat it often and eat more. For example, the elderly with weak gastrointestinal function, or people with frequent diarrhea are not suitable. It is recommended that everyone pay more attention to the gastrointestinal state after eating corn, and reduce the intake in time if there is any discomfort.
Finally, I sincerely suggest that if you want to prevent and cure diseases and promote health, you must listen to doctors and professional nutritionists, and do not believe in rumors and superstitions about a certain "miracle food". Achieving scientific combination of diet, life rules, and healthy mentality is the real health preservation.
According to the "rumor" mirror
We can't be superstitious about a certain kind of "magic food", and we can't use food instead of medicine to treat diseases.
Planning and production
Author丨Wang Lu is a registered dietitian
Review丨Zhang Yu, Researcher/Ph.D., Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, National Health Science Popularization Expert
Planning丨Yang Yaping
Editor丨Yang Yaping
Reviewer丨Xu Lai Linlin