11 Health Benefits of Sesame Seeds and How You Can Eat Them
Seeds are GREAT for your health. Especially sesame. You can add them to your salads or bake them with bread. You can sprinkle on your oatmeal bowl or eat with yogurt and smoothies. But what makes them so great? In this post, we will be discussing the 11 health benefits of sesame seeds.
Do they help relieve knee pain? Strengthen your bones? What about their impact on your blood sugar levels? We’ll be talking about all of these and more…
Bye Bye Knee Pain
Knee pain is exhausting. It significantly lowers your quality of life. And all you can do is wish away the pain. I don’t know about you, but the thought of knee replacement surgery scares me out of my wits. Just the word “surgery” itself sends a chill down my spine.
But if you eat sesame seeds daily, there’s a high chance you’ll get rid of your knee pain. Sesame seeds have a specific compound that reduces inflammation and protects your bone cartilage.
Usually, arthritis is the root cause of knee pain. There’s cartilage that cushions your joints, like your knees. Inflammation causes damage to this cartilage, resulting in joint pain. But sesame seeds successfully fight this off.
In a study, people with knee arthritis were given five tablespoons of sesame seed powder every day for two months. This was accompanied by drug therapy. The group that ate sesame seeds along with drug therapy experienced 63% reduction in pain. The group that relied only on drug therapy experienced 22% reduction.
Sesame seeds also improve your mobility! Have you ever felt pain in your knees or joints? What was it like and how did it get better? Share your experience comments below.
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Protein Power – 11 Health Benefits of Sesame Seeds
If you’re a vegan or vegetarian, and you feel like you’re not getting protein, have no fear… Plant-based proteins to the rescue! Sesame seeds are a wonderful source of nutritious plant proteins. Just a 30 gram serving of sesame seeds gives you 5 grams of protein.
We don’t need to tell you how important protein is for your health. They’re the building blocks of your body cells. You need them for almost everything. For stronger muscles, healthy skin, hair and hormones!
Kidney beans and chickpeas are also great sources of plant-based proteins. But sesame seeds are rich in two types of amino acids that legumes don’t provide much of.
So the bottom line is to keep your plate full of different plant-based proteins. Pair sesame seeds with legumes! Before you buy just any type of sesame seed, there’s something you need to know.
Hulled roasted sesame seeds are the best! That’s because hulling and roasting removes compounds that mess with the digestion and absorption of protein. Read to know more 20 Best Foods High in Protein.
Lower Triglycerides and Cholesterol
Triglycerides and cholesterol levels deeply impact your health. If you don’t want to die of a heart attack, you need to keep them in check. You can do this by eating sesame seeds! Studies have found if you eat sesame seeds regularly, it will help decrease your high triglyceride and cholesterol levels.
But why is that? Because sesame seeds are loaded with healthy fats. To be precise, sesame seeds have 41% polyunsaturated fats and 39% monounsaturated. This is in contrast to the 15% saturated fats they offer. This makes the seeds that much more special.
Having more mono and polyunsaturated fats than saturated ones makes sesame seeds more powerful in reducing your high cholesterol. That’s like giving you ninja powers! Wait, there’s more. Sesame seeds have two specific types of compounds that have cholesterol-lowering effects.
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Better Digestion – 11 Health Benefits of Sesame Seeds
If you’re eating sesame seeds on a regular, your digestion is in good hands. They’re filled with dietary fiber. Fiber binds with food in your digestive tract and helps add bulk. Not only do you absorb nutrients, you also have better bowel movements.
Delightful! This means no irregular blood sugar spikes. And no sudden hunger pangs! Evidence even suggests fiber reduces your risk of certain cancers, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Not to mention how it prevents you from gaining weight by curbing your cravings.
Lower Blood Pressure
Besides lowering your cholesterol, sesame seeds are great for your blood pressure as well. All thanks to their high levels of magnesium. Magnesium is an important nutrient that reduces your blood pressure levels.
Not just that, sesame seeds are also high in antioxidants and vitamin E. All of which reduce plaque buildup in your arteries. This automatically keeps your blood pressure levels in check.
Reduced Inflammation
We all are guilty of underestimating the challenges inflammation poses. Even low-level inflammation in the body can be harmful over time. These health issues pop up in the form of kidney and heart disease. Even cancer! But sesame seeds can save you.
Sesame seeds are loaded with antioxidants that fight off free radicals. These free radicals cause inflammation in your body. You can even use sesame seed oil. It’s very effective in reducing inflammation. Pair it up with other seeds to see the dramatic benefits. For example, scientists made people with kidney disease eat a seed mix daily for 3 months. This seed mix contained 6 grams of sesame seeds, 6 grams of pumpkin seeds, and 18 grams of flax seeds.
After 3 months, it was found that the inflammatory markers for these people reduced by 51 to 79%. Amazing, right? Before we move ahead, here is another video you might like. Read and learn more about the 7 natural ways to boost your immunity.
Stronger Bones – 11 Health Benefits of Sesame Seeds
Both hulled and unhulled sesame seeds are rich in bone-strengthening nutrients like calcium, zinc, and magnesium. 30 grams of unhulled sesame seeds will meet 22% of your daily recommended calcium needs, 25% of your daily magnesium requirements, and 21% of your zinc needs.
There is a slight catch though. Sesame seeds also contain compounds that mess with the absorption of these minerals. But don’t worry, there is a way to prevent this.
Eat sesame seeds after soaking or roasting them. You can even try both. You can also sprout them! Sprouting reduces these troublesome compounds by 50%.
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Boost Blood Cell Formation
Suffering from low hemoglobin? Need to increase your iron intake? Have some sesame seeds. They’re loaded with nutrients that boost the formation of red blood cells in your body. 30 grams of unhulled sesame seeds will give you 136% of your daily copper.
This helps make hemoglobin. That’s not all. You will also get 24% of your daily iron. But just like getting calcium requires sprouting, roasting or soaking, you need to do the same if you want better iron and copper absorption. Both these nutrients are crucial for your hemoglobin.
Stronger Immunity – 11 Health Benefits of Sesame Seeds
Sesame seeds are loaded with lots of nutrients. They give you important vitamins like Vitamins B1, B3, and B6. These are important for your cell functioning and metabolism. You also get nutrients like selenium, zinc, iron, copper and vitamin E. Guess how all of these nutrients impact your body… By strengthening your immunity! They help with essential functions and fight foreign microbes.
The Magical Power of Antioxidants
We’ve been talking about antioxidants throughout this article. But how exactly do sesame seeds help? Are they really this good? The short answer is YES. Eating sesame seeds increases antioxidant activity in your blood. This
is very good for your health because they fight off chemical reactions that damage your cells.
When these chemical reactions go on unhindered, your risk of chronic disease is VERY HIGH.
Better Blood Sugar Levels
There is something about sesame seeds that makes them everybody’s favorite. Of course, their nutty flavor plays a big role. But so do the health benefits they provide. One of them is their ability to keep your blood sugar levels in check.
So how do sesame seeds help? First of all, they’re loaded with healthy fats, fiber and protein. At the same time,
they’re low on carbs. This makes them great for stopping blood sugar spikes.
Sesame seeds are also rich in a specific compound that stops maltase. This digestive enzyme breaks down the sugar commonly used to sweeten foods. You also produce it in your gut as a result of digesting pasta and bread.
In short, by inhibiting this enzyme, these compounds help lower your blood sugar levels. Sesame seeds are definitely great for you, but what about others? Are there more healthy seeds? Which ones should you eat, and which should you avoid? Let us know in the comments below!
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