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Mesquite pods contain a soluble gum called galactomannan. It slows down the absorption of sugar and starch in the intestines. The Pima Indians of the American Southwest ground these pods for meal as a staple food for thousands of years. Now they eat modern foods and most of the tribe has diabetes.
Star and I decide to try some of these marvelous galactomannan-bearing seed pods while we build a canoe from the tree's branches.
Star and I decide to try some of these marvelous galactomannan-bearing seed pods while we build a canoe from the tree's branches.
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Signing UpStep 1Galactomannan and other Soluble Fiber Gums - the Research
Scientists are doing a lot of research on mesquite and similar plant products as treatments for diabetes. It turns out such substances are traditional treatments for diabetes in Asia.
Plasma glucose and insulin responses to traditional Pima Indian meals. JC Brand, BJ Snow, GP Nabhan and AS Truswell says:
"Mesquite (P ve/utina), the Pimas most important wild food, contains a viscous galactomannan in its seeds and pods, which has been shown to lower glycemic responses (25)." See the table below.
Sara K. Swanston-Flatt, Peter R. Flatt, Caroline Day and Clifford J Bailey (1991). Traditional dietary adjuncts for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 50 , p 643
"The bridge between traditional treatment, dietary supplement and pharmaceutical entity is illustrated by guar gum, a galactomannan fibre extracted from the seeds of the Indian cluster bean,
Cyamopsis tetragonolobus. The seeds and the pods of this plant are used as a traditional
treatment for diabetes in Asia (Pillai et al. 1980)."
Follow the citations of those papers to find the rest of the research on galactomannan and diabetes.
Plasma glucose and insulin responses to traditional Pima Indian meals. JC Brand, BJ Snow, GP Nabhan and AS Truswell says:
"Mesquite (P ve/utina), the Pimas most important wild food, contains a viscous galactomannan in its seeds and pods, which has been shown to lower glycemic responses (25)." See the table below.
Sara K. Swanston-Flatt, Peter R. Flatt, Caroline Day and Clifford J Bailey (1991). Traditional dietary adjuncts for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 50 , p 643
"The bridge between traditional treatment, dietary supplement and pharmaceutical entity is illustrated by guar gum, a galactomannan fibre extracted from the seeds of the Indian cluster bean,
Cyamopsis tetragonolobus. The seeds and the pods of this plant are used as a traditional
treatment for diabetes in Asia (Pillai et al. 1980)."
Follow the citations of those papers to find the rest of the research on galactomannan and diabetes.
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Are the mesquite trees in Hawaii the same (or close enough) to the ones in Arizona? Thx!
Weeds are actually a forgotten source of food fibre, nutrients and curative properties. For example, it is strange that we yank the dandelions from our lawns and yet go and buy expensive organic ones from the health food store.
Great instructable!
Eric hipped me to how to boolean groups. Here's "food" and "outdoors"
http://www.instructables.com/tag/type:id/category:food/category:outdoors/
it's a bunch of tasty outdoorsy projects!