A popular health drink, “roselle juice”, has become popular again because it is claimed to be good for your health in many ways. But in reality, the Department of Health recommends that you should eat roselle normally because soaking it and drinking only the juice can cause the loss of vitamins.

Okra is  a popular local herb that is native to West Africa, Sudan. It has many local names, such as okra, kratad, makhua thaway, makhua mon, and thua leh. And It grows well in tropical and warm regions, so it can be grown in every region of Thailand all year round. สนใจสมัคร? คลิกที่นี่เพื่อเริ่มต้น It is popularly eaten raw or boiled and dipped in chili paste or okra curry.

Nutritional value

100 grams of okra provides 33 kilocalories of energy. It contains 7.45 grams of carbohydrates, 1.48 grams of sugar, and 3.2 grams of dietary fiber.

It contains many beneficial nutrients such as vitamin B2, vitamin C, vitamin E, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc.  

Benefits of okra

Raw okra

• It has a mucus similar to clear latex and contains dietary fiber that is very beneficial to the digestive system. It fights diabetes, controls blood sugar levels and keeps blood pressure normal, treats clogged blood vessels, removes fat, lowers cholesterol, is a mild laxative, contains pectin and gum, helps coat ulcers in the stomach and intestines, prevents the spread of ulcers, and also helps inhibit bacteria that are the main cause of stomach ulcers. It helps the digestive system to be more efficient.

Ripe okra fruit

• Boil water to drink to cure dysentery, stomachache, and gastritis. Boil salt water to drink to cure acid reflux, helps with urination, is high in folate, nourishes red blood cells, cures colds and stuffy noses, kills pinworms, and nourishes fetal development. Young leaves or shoots help with sweating, cures canker sores, when old they turn brown and have a tough texture, so they are not popular to eat.

Is it really good to drink roselle juice?

The current viral trend on social media is probably okra juice, which is easy to make. Just cut the okra and soak it in plain water overnight before filtering it and drinking only the mucus that comes out of the okra. This raises the question of whether okra juice is good or not .

The Nutrition Division, Department of Health, stated that okra contains many beneficial nutrients, such as vitamin B2, which prevents canker sores, folate helps create red blood cells, potassium helps balance water and acidity-alkalinity in the body, calcium helps maintain bone strength and shape, is an antioxidant, helps strengthen the immune system, and reduces the risk of various diseases, such as some types of cancer, obesity, etc.

But it is recommended that you eat fresh okra in order to get beneficial nutrients, not just drinking the water that the okra has been soaked in, which does not provide the benefits and nutrients mentioned. By cutting the okra into small pieces and soaking it in water overnight, it causes vitamin C, vitamin B, and folate (vitamin B9) to disappear, because these vitamins are water-soluble vitamins that are easily destroyed when exposed to heat, sunlight, or soaking in water for a long time.

Precautions for eating okra

• Okra contains oxalate, which prevents calcium absorption and can lead to kidney stones.
• Diabetic patients taking metformin, a blood sugar control drug, must be careful not to eat more okra than recommended each day because the dietary fiber in okra inhibits the drug’s action.
• Okra from some sources contains a lot of toxic chemical residues. It must be washed thoroughly before consuming.