Prickly pear cactus is the name of a very useful plant. It is the plant that is consumed in the Mexican American and Mexican cultures. However, only the young prickly pear cactus that is consumed because they are soft. The older plants are simply too tough. The prickly pear cactus is processed to a number of food including candies and jellies. Another use of the plant is for medicine.
There are researches conducted to study this specific benefit and most of the researches were conducted in Mexico as the plant is more commonly found there. There are so many diseases that can be treated by the prickly pear cactus. Among those illnesses are the high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, alcohol hangover, obesity, diarrhea, colitis, viral infections and also the benign prostatic hypertrophy.
The prickly pear cactus has high content of pectin and fiber. The two can decrease the level of blood glucose because they decrease the absorption of the sugar in the intestine and stomach. A single dose of the prickly pear cactus can decrease the blood sugar by 17% to 46%. However, the long term use of the cactus is not known. There may be any side effects to the use and studies need to confirm whether or not it can consistently decrease the blood sugar level when consumed daily. The note would be that for type 2 diabetes, only this species will work, those other species even from the same family would not give the same effect and the crude or raw stems do not work either. If you have the low blood sugar issue, then you should not consume the prickly pear cactus as food.
We know that hangover can be so annoying. To avoid this uncomfortable feeling, you need to take the prickly pear cactus before consuming alcoholic drinks. The symptoms of hangover such as the dry mouth, headache, anorexia, dizziness and nausea that comes the next day will be reduced. As for the problem of enlarged prostate, there has been no study to support this plant species has the ability to treat it but as it has no side effect, you can actually try the recipe. Use the powdered prickly pear cactus flowers to reduce the symptoms. The prickly pear cactus is labeled likely safe to be consumed as food. However, the level of possibly safe apply to the stems, leaves, fruits, flowers and standardized extracts when used as medication for a short period of time.
