What are the health
benefits of Buckwheat?
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What is buckwheat?

Buckwheat has been grown since 1000 BC or earlier in China. It has many
varieties and Fagopyrum esculentum Moemch (common buckwheat or
sweet buckwheat) is one of the most common buckwheat. Buckwheat has
been used in various food products and some researches have been done
with the common buckwheat. It contains proteins, flavonoids, flavones,
phytosterols, thiamin-binding proteins, and other rare compounds in its
seeds. It has been speculated that buckwheat may benefit people with
cholesterol issues, hypertension and constipation. [1]

The Potential Health Benefits of Buckwheat

Buckwheat sprout was found to contain quercetin, I-ascorbic acid, oxalic,
malic, tartaric, and citric acids, rutin, and gamma-aminobutyric acid. Animal /
cell studies suggest that buckwheat may have benefits of anti-cancer,
cholesterol lowering, triglyceride lowering and anti-oxidative activities. [4,6]

Extracts of buckwheat spouts were found to have anti-inflammatory activities
in a study of lipopolysaccharide-treated mice. After the intake of
lipopolysaccharide, the inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin 6 and
tumor necrosis factor alpha were markedly up-regulated in the spleen and
liver. [2] While, buckwheat hull extract was shown to have neurological
protection against trimethyltin in a study of rats. [3]

In a study of Syrian hamsters, animals were fed with high fat high
cholesterol meals. Low seed meal was found to reduce serum total
cholesterol levels, high seed and sprout meals reduced the serum
triglyceride levels. And all buckwheat meals suppressed LDL cholesterol. [4]
Korean researchers even found that germinated buckwheat has potent
anti-fatty liver activities in an animal study. When an ethanol extract of
germinated buckwheat was fed daily to mice at 100 or 200 mg/kg body wt,
along with a high-fat diet, oral administration of germinated buckwheat
caused significant reductions in triglyceride and total cholesterol levels in
the liver after 8 weeks. Oral administration of germinated buckwheat also
down-regulated mRNA expressions of PPARgamma and C/EBPalpha in
hepatocytes, in a dose-dependent manner. [5]

Reference

[1] Li SQ, Zhang QH. Advances in the development of functional foods from
buckwheat. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2001 Sep;41(6):451-64. [2] Ishii S,
Katsumura T, Shiozuka C, Ooyauchi K, Kawasaki K, Takigawa S,
Fukushima T, Tokuji Y, Kinoshita M, Ohnishi M, Kawahara M, Ohba
K.Anti-inflammatory effect of buckwheat sprouts in
lipopolysaccharide-activated human colon cancer cells and mice. Biosci
Biotechnol Biochem. 2008 Dec;72(12):3148-57. Epub 2008 Dec 7. [3] Koda
T, Kuroda Y, Ueno Y, Kitadate K, Imai H. Protective Effects of Buckwheat
Hull Extract against Experimental Hippocampus Injury Induced by
Trimethyltin in Rats. Nippon Eiseigaku Zasshi. 2008 Jul;63(4):711-6. [4] Lin
LY, Peng CC, Yang YL, Peng RY. Optimization of bioactive compounds in
buckwheat sprouts and their effect on blood cholesterol in hamsters. J Agric
Food Chem. 2008 Feb 27;56(4):1216-23. Epub 2008 Jan 24. [5] Choi I,
Seog H, Park Y, Kim Y, Choi H. Suppressive effects of germinated
buckwheat on development of fatty liver in mice fed with high-fat diet.
Phytomedicine. 2007 Aug;14(7-8):563-7. Epub 2007 Jun 29. [6] Gao L, Li
YY, Zhang Z, Wang ZH, Wang HW, Zhang L, Zhu L. Apoptosis of HL-60
cells induced by recombinant common Buckwheat trypsin inhibitor
Zhongguo Shi Yan Xue Ye Xue Za Zhi. 2007 Feb;15(1):59-62.