Blood Pressure-Lowering and Cancer-Preventing Kiwifruit
Blood Pressure-Lowering and Cancer-Preventing Kiwifruit
Kiwifruit, also known as "vine fruit," originated in China. It is highly nutritious, containing proteins, fats, sugars, calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfur, beta-carotene, and medicinal value. Traditional Chinese medicine considers kiwifruit cold in nature and sweet-sour in taste, effective for moistening the middle energizer, regulating qi, generating body fluids, moisturizing dryness, clearing heat, quenching thirst, promoting urination, and relieving urinary discomfort. It is suitable for indigestion, poor appetite, vomiting, and vitamin deficiency. Modern medical studies show that regular consumption of kiwifruit and its juice lowers cholesterol and triglycerides, inhibits formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines, and offers preventive and auxiliary treatment benefits for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, hepatitis, coronary heart disease, and urinary tract stones.
The root of kiwifruit is a valuable traditional Chinese medicine called "Tengliyao," with a bitter-astringent taste and cold nature. It clears heat and detoxifies, activates blood circulation to reduce swelling, dispels wind-dampness. Used for injuries from falls, boils, edema, acute hepatitis, rheumatic arthritis, tuberculosis, and insufficient lactation. Wash kiwifruit leaves, mix with alcohol and brown sugar, mash into a paste, apply externally while warm to treat mastitis.
However, kiwifruit is cold in nature and may damage spleen yang, potentially causing diarrhea. Therefore, it should not be eaten in excess. Those with spleen-stomach deficiency cold should consume cautiously; individuals with loose stools should avoid it. Contraindicated for threatened abortion, excessive menstruation, and frequent urination.