Why do Indians eat saunf, paan or elaichi after dinner?

Many people eat cardamom, amla or even mishri after meals for better digestion. Here's how it works.

Read this in Hindi.

Digestion is a process of breaking down food particles into individual nutrients so that they can be absorbed into our blood plasma. However, things can go wrong at any stage of the digestive process. The result can be anything bloating, acidity, abdominal distention, discomfort, constipation, diarrhoea. Before opting for medication, why not try home remedies. The following spices and herb can act as digestive aids. Use these after your meals as they serve the dual purpose of digestive aids as well as mouth fresheners.

1. Cardamom (Ellatariacardamomum) (Elaichi)Cardamom is commonly used in Indian cuisine for flavours. The spice has numerous health benefits, the most well-known being aiding in digestion.

It contains volatile oils that help prevent gas and bloating. Cineole, the major active component of cardamom oil, is a potent antiseptic that is known to kill bacteria producing bad breath and other infections. It also acts against Helicobacter pylori, which are the primary reason for stomach ulcers.Cardamom also helps increase gastric secretion which in turn aids digestion thus preventing delayed digestion problems such as bloating, acid reflux, heartburn, etc. This they do by stimulating the nerves that control digestion and saliva production. [1]

For best effects chew on the seeds after your meals. You can also drink elaichi tea if you have stomach upsets. It s simple to prepare. Lightly crush one-two pods of cardamom, add to water and bring it to a boil. Then follow your usual method of preparing tea.

2. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) (Saunf) Fennel seeds are rich in flavonoids and essential oils, especially anethole. It is a carminative, which means it relieves flatulence. The volatile oils in fennel increase gastric emptying. They mildly irritate the stomach lining so that peristalsis (muscular contractions in the gut) is increased, thereby relieving cramping and expelling gas from the digestive tract.

Apart from being carminative, fennel also acts as a mouth freshener. It reduces halitosis by killing the bad-breath producing bacteria.

Fennel seeds are also rich in dietary fibre most of which is insoluble fibre. Insoluble fibre helps increase bulk of the food by absorbing water throughout the digestive system and easing constipation problems. Since 100g of seeds provide 39.8g of fibre, if you take half a teaspoon of fennel seeds right after meals, you will get nearly 4g of fibre.

Use dry fennel for digestive purposes. In many parts of India, roasted fennel seeds are consumed asmukhwas(mouth freshener) and as a digestive aid.

3. Carom seeds (Trachyspermumammi) (ajwain, Bishop s weed) What we call the carom seed is actually the fruit pod of the plant. Because it is a rich source of volatile oils, especially thymol, carom is carminative, anti-flatulent, digestive stimulant, antifungal, and antimicrobial. Further it also helps lower blood sugar levels.

Ajwain has been found to increase the secretion of gastric acid by nearly four times and also increase the amount of gastric acid. Further studies [2] on experimental animals revealed that ajwain seeds could

• Reduce food transit time
• Enhance the activity of digestive enzymes
• Cause a higher secretion of bile acids

Consume one-two grams/ day of carom seeds mixed with a pinch of black salt, right after your meal, to aid digestion.

Do not take ajwain if you have stomach ulcer, mouth ulcer, ulcerative colitis, and internal bleeding. This spice could exacerbate these conditions.

4. Ginger (Zingiberofficinale) (Adrak)Ginger has long been used in India to treat a number of medical conditions, including those affecting the digestive tract, such as flatulence, heartburn, nausea and abdominal pain. You experience these symptoms when the food stays too long in the stomach and passes to the intestine very slowly. Food that stays in the stomach for too long can ferment causing heartburn and bloating. The food can also harden into a solid mass of indigestible material causing a blockage and therefore the pain and nausea. Ginger increases the frequency of antral (lower part of the stomach that does not produce gastric acid) contractions and accelerates gastric emptying. [3]

Use one gram of ginger per day, in divided doses, for nausea, gas, or indigestion.

5. Indian gooseberry(Emblica officinalis) (Amla) Amlakitablets or in the form of chyavanprash is probably one of the best digestive aids, especially after an Indian meal. With a very high concentration of vitamin C, which is not destroyed even through processing, amla not only improves the immune system and promotes vitality, it also supports healthy metabolism, digestion, and elimination.

• Researchers have showed that amla improves liver function and prevents liver toxicity. [4]
• Amla helps flush out toxins from the system.
• Amla also prevents an increase in blood sugar levels. [5]
• It reduces acidity.
• It helps the body absorb nutrients from the foods we eat.

Truly it is a wonderberry!

6. Betel leaf and nut (Piper betle) (Paan, Tambula) Ever noticed how your grandma would set out to assemble a paan after a sumptuous meal? The betel quid consists of betel leaf, areca nut, slaked lime, and some go on to add fennel, cardamom or other carminatives. This age-old tradition of chewing paan has many benefits. First off, the betel leaf, classified as cool in Ayurveda, and areca nut (hot) complement each other and are therefore in harmony. So, they help to maintain balance in the body. Second, the quid is a great mouth-freshener as it destroys bacteria that cause bad-breath (halitosis). Third, [6] it aids digestion by

• Improving glucose metabolism, that is, it significantly lowers blood glucose levels
• Reducing liver toxicity
• Stimulating intestinal digestive enzymes for better digestion

But then there is a huge scientific evidence, including a warning by World Health Organization, that betel quid containing areca nut and tobacco cause cancer, cardiovascular damage, oxidative stress leading to neuronal injury, increased blood pressure, thyroid problems and a host of other problems. [7]

So, don t make it a habit of popping a betel quid after every meal. But an occasional use, especially after a heavy or rich meal, will sure help you.

7. Rock sugar (Mishri) Also known as rock sugar or rock sugar candy, mishri is nothing but large sugar crystals. Mishri is used as an ingredient in mukhwas as after-meal digestive aid and breath freshener. Here are a few mukhwas that you can try with rock sugar:

• Fennel seeds + rock sugar + peppermint oil
• Roasted fennel seeds + rock sugar
• This is the formula for anAyurvedicmukhwa. Dry roast (one-fourth cup each) seeds of fennel, cumin, white sesame, and split coriander seeds. Crush rock salt and rock sugar to a powder. Mix it with the roasted seeds. Your mukhwa is ready!

Use this formulation (Talisadi Churna) is a warming digestive aid if you are prone to breathing problems or catch cold quickly. The ingredients are rock sugar + bamboo manna (solidified white fluid inside bamboo) + long pepper (pipali) + black pepper + Abieswebbiana (Talisipatra) + ginger. [8]

You may also like to read

• Add curry leaves to your food to improve digestion
• 9 home remedies for better digestion
• Eat this fruit to improve your digestion
• Top 6 foods with probiotics that help digestion

Photo source: Shutterstock

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References:

1. Aggarwal B, Yost D. Healing Spices: How to Use 50 Everyday and Exotic Spices to Boost Health and Beat Disease. New York: Sterling Pub. Co.; 2011.

2. Bairwa R, Sodha RS, Rajawat BS. Trachyspermumammi. Pharmacognosy Reviews. 2012;6(11):56-60. doi:10.4103/0973-7847.95871.

3. Hu M-L, Rayner CK, Wu K-L, et al. Effect of ginger on gastric motility and symptoms of functional dyspepsia. World Journal of Gastroenterology : WJG. 2011;17(1):105-110. doi:10.3748/wjg.v17.i1.105.

4. Thilakchand KR, Mathai RT, Simon P, Ravi RT, Baliga-Rao MP, Baliga MS. Hepatoprotective properties of the Indian gooseberry (Emblica officinalis Gaertn): a review. Food & Function. 2013;4:1431 41.

5. D'Souza JJ, D'Souza PP, Fazal F, Kumar A, Bhat HP, Baliga MS. Anti-diabetic effects of the indian indigenous fruit Emblica officinalis gaertn: Active constituents and modes of action. Food & Function. 2014;5:635-644.

6. Kumar N, Mishra P, et al. Piper betle Linn. a maligned Pan-Asiatic plant with an array of pharmacological activities and prospects for drug discovery. Current Science. 2010;99(7, 10th October 2010):922-932.

7. Garg A, Chaturvedi P, Gupta PC. A review of the systemic adverse effects of areca nut or betel nut. Indian Journal of Medical and Paediatric Oncology : Official Journal of Indian Society of Medical & Paediatric Oncology. 2014;35(1):3-9. doi:10.4103/0971-5851.133702.
8. Karta Purkh Singh Khalsa& Michael Tierra.The Way of Ayurvedic Herbs. Lotus Press. 2008.