Medicinal and Health Benefits of Cape Gooseberry

Cape Gooseberry is a natural herb, which was named after the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa (It was first cultivated here). The botanical name of the Cape Gooseberry is Physalis Peruviana and it belongs to the Solanaceae family. Other names of cape gooseberry are husky cherry, pok pok, uvilla, and Peruvian ground cherry. The herb is filled with fiber, protein, phosphorous, niacin, pectin, carotenoids, Vitamin A and Vitamin C and the medicinal actions, associated with cape gooseberry are diuretic, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, purgative, laxative and anti-hepatotoxic.

Medicinal Uses of the herb Cape Gooseberry

Cape gooseberry is being used for a number of years for the medicinal purposes and a few of them are:

• In Zulu tribes, the abdominal conditions are treated by using the leaves of cape gooseberry.
• Cape gooseberry is used to treat bronchitis.
• Gooseberry leaves are used as poultices for several inflammations in South Africa.
• In Columbia, the cape gooseberry is used as diuretics.

Health Benefits of the Cape Gooseberry

Cape gooseberry has a number of health benefits as well and a few of them are listed below:

• The abundant potassium content of the cape gooseberries can help in controlling the blood pressure.
• Due to the high content of Vitamin C, cape gooseberry is a good antioxidant.
• Cape Gooseberry is a yellow colored fruit and thus like other yellow colored fruits, it is good for the heart, can improve the vision and helps to heal several types of cancer.
• It can improve the immunity system due to its Vitamin C content.
• Cape Gooseberries contain soluble fibers and are less in calories, so are used to maintain the calories.
• Cape gooseberry is also considered as a good and effective herb to treat cancer.
• In South Africa, the juice of cape gooseberry is used to treat the skin inflammation and it can improve bone health and treat rheumatism and dermatitis.

Other Benefits

People of different cultures use cape gooseberry to treat different types of health ailments. Mainly the herb is associated with the treatment of the macular degeneration, neuro-degenerative diseases, for abdominal discomfort, earaches and it is also used to treat asthma, cataracts, hepatitis and many other diseases.

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