Jaggery (Gur) – Benefits, Nutrition Value, Facts & Side Effects

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Are you a sweet tooth person? Do you consume sugary items regularly? Did you know, overeating sugar can cause heart or liver diseases, tooth decay, high blood pressure, obesity, or weight gain?

Do not worry. Just replace the sugar with jaggery. Jaggery is the boiled sugarcane juice, date palm, or Palmyra, with a lower glycemic index than sugar. Also, sugar only provides you calories, but jaggery has minerals and nutrients.

Now, let us study jaggery in detail. This article will discuss the benefits, nutrition value, facts, and side-effects of jaggery.

 

Benefits of jaggery

Benefits of jaggery 

To know the benefits, you must know about the minerals and nutrients present in jaggery. The minerals in it are calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, and Vitamin B. Let us see how these minerals and nutrients of jaggery will benefit you.

1. Detox body

The minerals, namely, potassium, magnesium, vitamins, and the high amount of fiber in jaggery, helps to remove the toxins from your body.

See how easy it is to clean your body from the inside. Just take a bite of jaggery, a natural cleansing agent. It will cleanse and detoxify the liver by flushing out toxic chemicals from your bloodstream.

 

2. Boosts immunity

Increases immunity levels

The antioxidant properties, zinc, and selenium present in jaggery activate around 300 enzymes in your body. And this, as a result, boosts immunity in you. It also prevents free-radical damage that increases the infection tolerance of the body.

 

3. Purifies blood

Jaggery is said to have blood purifying ability. It has a high level of iron which increases the hemoglobin level in your body. And as said before, it is a detoxifying agent, which keeps your blood purified.

 

4. Boosts energy

Jaggery helps in preventing weakness and fatigue. How? It is a complex carbohydrate that produces heat and energy in the body by energizing you when you consume the natural sweetener, jaggery.

 

5. Relieves from joint pain

It helps in reducing bone and joint pains

Consume jaggery with ginger or drink a glass of milk with added jaggery regularly to relieve pains and aches in joints. Jaggery will strengthen the bones and will soothe inflammation taking place in joints.

 

6. Relieve menstrual pains

Consumption of jaggery releases endorphins in the body, which help you get relief from all the symptoms you face during periods. Have warm milk with mixed jaggery powder to relieve cramps, mood swings, or other PMS symptoms.

 

7. Prevent Anemia

You know what Anemia is. Right? It is a condition when the hemoglobin concentration or the level of red blood cells in the body is lower than usual. Therefore, it is better to add jaggery to your diet if you deal with such a problem. Iron-rich jaggery may prevent Anemia by boosting up the hemoglobin count in the body.

 

8. Keep intestine healthy

Jaggery has magnesium which may contribute to keeping your intestine healthy. 10-gram jaggery has 16 mg of magnesium. Consume its quantity according to your requirement.

 

9. Prevent urinary problems

Urinary Symptoms

Jaggery reduces inflammation in the bladder, aids in the smooth flow of urine, and stimulates urine, as it has diuretic properties.

 

10. Improves digestion

Improves Digestion

As you know, jaggery activates enzymes in your body when consumed and has a laxative property that together stimulates the bowels and aids the release of digestive enzymes.

 

11. Prevent constipation

Jaggery stimulates bowel movements which provide you relief from constipation. Just make a smooth paste of a tsp powdered or crushed jaggery and clarified butter (ghee) and consume it after a meal.

 

12. Help in weight loss

Helps in weight loss

Jaggery has potassium that balances electrolytes in your body, which increases metabolism and helps build up muscles resulting in weight loss. In turn, it manages water retention, because of which you may get rid of extra kilos in your body.

 

13. Prevent respiratory issues

Jaggery may help prevent respiratory issues when consumed with some sesame seeds. It could stop asthma, bronchitis, and many other breathing-related problems.

 

14. Control high BP

Regulates Blood Pressure

Those who have high blood pressure or hypertension can include jaggery in their diet. Why? Because jaggery dilates blood vessels which results in smooth blood flow with a decline in blood pressure.

 

15. Lower risk of diseases

Jaggery has anti-inflammatory properties that reduce the risk of cancer, dementia, and premature aging by neutralizing harmful free radicals.

 

16. Fight cold and flu

Jaggery controls the temperature of the body and also increases immunity. It has a warming effect on your body.

 

17. Cools body in summer

The minerals zinc, iron, and selenium in jaggery can provide you with a cooling effect in hot weather. Just mix it with water and consume it in the summers to keep your tummy cool.

 

18. Benefits hair and skin

Skin And Hair Benefits

Jaggery has iron that prevents hair fall, and if you use it as a hair mask, it may give smoothness to your hair. And the anti-aging properties of jaggery help prevent wrinkles, and the glycolic acid in it smooths your skin texture.

 

Nutrition value of jaggery

Nutritional value of jaggery

Jaggery has no fat, but it has sugar. Therefore, an overdose of jaggery is not good for diabetic patients. They can eat 10-15 grams of jaggery a day. Therefore switch to jaggery for a sweet tooth, which has a lot of nutrients.

The molasses present in jaggery makes it a nutrient-rich product. Molasses or black treacle is a syrup formed by refining sugarcane into sugar. Now, how much of its nutrients will you get? If you intake 100 grams of jaggery, it may contain,

Nutrient Amount
Sodium, Na 250g
Protein 0g
Carbohydrate 100g
Sugars 100g
Net carbs 100g
Fat 0g

Source: https://www.nutritionvalue.org/

As mentioned above, you also experience many jaggery benefits with these nutrients. But, it is also important to note the quantity of jaggery to which you must not exceed. So, let us dive deeper into the side effects of the intake of exceeded amounts of jaggery.

 

Side-effects of jaggery

Too much glucose and fructose intake can cause insulin resistance, leading to many other problems. And as jaggery is full of glucose and fructose, you must not consume jaggery in a large quantity together. It can cause,

1. Food allergies

Sometimes excess jaggery can cause stomach aches, vomiting, cold, cough, headache, and nausea—all the symptoms of food allergies.

People sensitive to eating sugar should keep this in mind and control their craving for sweet food. They must intake a limited amount of jaggery at a time.

 

2. Weight gain

As jaggery has fat and protein, too much of it may increase weight. It has less fat than refined sugar, but extended intake also extends the number of calories.

 

3. Increase in blood sugar

Jaggery has hyperglycemia that spikes up blood sugar levels. This elevation of blood sugar is dangerous for diabetic people. Therefore, it is better if diabetic people avoid jaggery or any sugary item.

 

4. Constipation

Excessive jaggery intake might disturb your bowel movements, resulting in difficulty digesting food, leading to constipation. It is said that fresh jaggery is more prone to cause indigestion.

Tip: Buy a good and ensured quality jaggery. Because if jaggery has impurities, it may cause parasitic infections; that is, it can increase the risk of getting intestinal parasites and worms.

 

Conclusion

Jaggery is a nutrient-rich product that provides you with many benefits. But with good also comes bad. Therefore, it also has side effects if consumed in a large quantity.

Jaggery benefits your hair, skin, respiratory function, Anemia, intestinal health, and urinary problems. It also helps in weight loss, relieves menstrual pains, digestion problems, and much more. But, if you overeat jaggery, it may cause overweight, constipation, food allergies, and increased blood sugar levels.

We hope you found this article helpful. Do share your experience of reading this article with us in the comment section below.

 

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6046027/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8314846/

https://apeda.gov.in/apedawebsite/SubHead_Products/Jaggery_and_Confectionary.htm

https://www.indiaperspectives.gov.in/en_US/pure-sweetness-2/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339908838_The_benefit_of_Indian_jaggery_over_sugar_on_human_health

https://iisr.icar.gov.in/iisr/download/publications/report/policypaper_gangwar.pdf

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