Jerusalem Artichoke

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Benefits Jerusalem Artichoke
Jerusalem artichokes, sunchokes are a root vegetable with a tough dark skin, white and starchy-tasting inside and a flavour that closely matches potato. Sunchokes are superstars when it comes to intestinal health. These little roots are packed with inulin, a non-digestible dietary fibre with strong prebiotic properties. Inulin contains fructans, which are food for beneficial bacteria in the gut. By feeding the good intestinal soldiers, it's possible to inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria. Sunchokes also play a role in the prevention of colon cancer. Studies show that the byproducts created during the fermentation process of the dietary fibre inulin, suppress and block cancerous tumour cell growth in the colon. Part of the anti-cancer benefit of sunchokes could be that it promotes healthy and regular bowel activity. The high levels of non-digestible inulin creates bulk, and increases the water content in stool, keeping our bowels regular and healthy.

Sunchokes can help to lower blood pressure.
High levels of inulin bypasses digestion and reaches the lower gut to feed the good bacteria that resides there. Studies show that feeding the indigenous micro flora and warding off bad bacteria is an important part of the treatment and prevention of hypertension.

Sunchokes are high in potassium.
A one cup serving of sunchokes contains 643 mg of potassium, which is essential for overall health and can help to reduce heart disease. Increasing your dietary potassium, in addition to reducing excess sodium, is especially beneficial for people at risk for high blood pressure.

Sunchokes can decrease blood cholesterol. Along with normalizing blood triglyceride levels, these small vegetables affect the way that the body metabolizes fats thanks to their high levels of probiotics.
Sunchokes provides you with a quarter of your daily iron! You would have to eat three ounces of red meat to get the same amount of iron. The sunchoke is a great way to increase your iron intake especially since it has no fat and only 109 calories per cup. Iron is an essential component of the proteins involved in the delivery of oxygen to each and every cell in your body. A deficiency of iron limits the delivery of oxygen to the cells resulting in fatigue and decreased immunity.

Sunchokes are high in protein. Not only does this wonderful root contain more protein than most other root vegetables, it's particularly high in the sulfur-containing essential amino acids taurine, methionine, homocysteine and cysteine. These sulfur-containing amino acids are essential for maintaining the flexibility of connective tissue as well as allowing the liver carry out detoxification.

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