"Fennel Seeds to Improve Athletic Performance"
Dozens of studies now suggest that the nitrates in vegetables,
such as beets and green leafy vegetables, may help
both sick people as a low-cost prevention and treatment intervention
for patients suffering from blood flow disorders such as high blood pressure
and peripheral vascular disease, as well as healthy people as an effective,
natural performance-enhancing aid for athletes.
Most of the studies were done on beet juice,
which is why I was so delighted to see the study on whole beets
as I reported before, showing the same benefit.
But what about studies on whole green leafy vegetables?
There was this study awhile ago suggesting that one of the reasons
that at the age many Americans and Europeans are dying,
the Okinawan Japanese are looking forward to many more years
of good health -- at least they were --
is all the nitrate in their green leafy vegetables, which tended to bring down
blood pressures when put to the test.
The reason I didn't report on it at the time is because I never heard
of these vegetables. I know what chrysanthemum flowers are, but I didn't
think most of my viewers would be able to find these at the local store.
What about good old American, red, white, and blue greens,
like frozen spinach. It hadn't been tested -- until now.
They wanted to test the immediate effects on our arteries
of a single meal containing a cooked box of frozen spinach
for both arterial stiffness and blood pressure.
First they needed a meal to increase artery stiffness and pressure,
so they gave people a chicken and cheese sandwich,
which lowered the elasticity of their arteries within hours of eating,
but add the spinach and the opposite happens.
After chicken and cheese, the force the heart has to pump
goes up within minutes, but the spinach keeps things level.
So, a meal with lots of spinach can lower blood pressure
and improve measures of arterial stiffness.
That's great for day-to-day cardiovascular health,
but if you want a whole food source that can improve your performance
when you're out hiking or something?
Beets and spinach aren't the most convenient of foods.
Is there anything we can just add to our trail mix?
Well, if you look at the list of high nitrate vegetables,
you'll see there isn't much you can just stick in your pocket --
unless fennel seeds have a lot, which are actually not seeds at all,
but the whole little fruits of the fennel plant. Let's find out.
Fennel seeds are often used as mouth fresheners after a meal
in both the Indian sub-continent and around the world.
You'll typically see a bowl of candy coated fennel seeds
as you walk out of Indian restaurants.
And when you chew fennel seeds you can get a significant bump
in nitric oxide production, which has the predictable vasodilatory effect
of opening up blood vessels, making them a cheap, easy way
to carry a light-weight, nonperishable source of nitrates.
They single out mountaineers, thinking chewing fennel seeds
could help maintain oxygen levels at high altitudes
and help prevent H.A.P.E. (high altitude pulmonary edema),
one of the leading killers of mountain climbers
once you get more than like a mile and a half above sea level.
Not to be confused with H.A.F.E caused by the expansion of gas at high altitudes,
a condition known as High Altitude Flatus Expulsion,
known to veteran back-packers as Rocky Mountain barking spiders.
But fennel seeds may help with that too,
as traditionally they've been used as a carminative,
meaning a remedy for intestinal gas.
Fennel has also shown anti-hirsutism activity, combatting excessive
hair growth in women, the so-called bearded woman syndrome,
but applying a little fennel seed cream can significantly reduce it.
But if fennel seeds have such a strong hormonal effect,
should we be worried about chewing them?
Well, there have been cases reported of premature breast development among
young girls drinking fennel seed tea a couple times a day for several months.
Their estrogen levels were elevated, but after stopping the tea
their chests and hormone levels went back to normal.
Current guidelines recommend against prolonged use in vulnerable groups,
children under 12, pregnant and breastfeeding women,
and perhaps your pet rat, as rodents metabolize a compound in fennel
called estragole into a carcinogen, but but our cells appear able to detoxify it.