(Adnkronos) - È il tarassaco, pianta spontanea dalle mille virtù e risorse, il protagonista della puntata odierna de Il Gusto della Salute, la rubrica online ideata e coordinata dall'immunologo Mauro Minelli referente per il Sud Italia della Fondazione per la Medicina Personalizzata, in collaborazione con Adnkronos Salute. "Già i nativi americani sfruttavano le sue qualità per curare malattie del fegato o facilitare i processi digestivi- ricorda Marco Renna esperto di cultura popolare - e gli arabi ancor prima, al pari dei cinesi, lo usavano per elaborate particolari medicamenti. Da noi, fino a non molto tempo fa, il tarassaco era considerato il piatto dei poveri e, per questo, servito nelle tavole delle famiglie più modeste anche in occasioni importanti come, ad esempio, una promessa di matrimonio” L'analisi nutrizionale è affidata alla biologa nutrizionista Ilaria Vergallo che ricorda le proprietà gastronomiche e salutari del tarassaco contenente fibre, molta acqua e zuccheri, oltre ai carotenoidi, pigmenti vegetali dal forte potere antiossidante. “Questa pianta è anche ricca di vitamine del gruppo A, C e B ed è interamente commestibile. Le foglie - avverte - più grandi possono essere mangiate cotte, mentre quelle interne e più piccole servono ad arricchire le insalate. Il fiore, invece, può servire per preparare marmellate e tisane. Le radici essiccate, infine, sono utilizzate per creare dei decotti depurativi”. A Mauro Minelli il compito di inquadrare il tarassaco dal punto di vista salutistico, considerando che le sue qualità, dapprima valutate sulla base di dati empirici o esperienziali, sono state poidocumentate anche sul piano scientifico. “Almeno 10 i punti nei quali l’immunologo riassume le principali caratteristiche e funzioni del tarassaco, a partire dalla capacità di supportare il microbiota intestinale grazie al suo contenuto di inulina e fruttoligosaccaridi che hanno indiscusse proprietà prebiotiche. Ma l’inulina - ricorda Minelli - è anche in grado di facilitare le funzioni intestinali, regolando il transito e dunque conferendo alla pianta di cui è parte una discreta capacità lassativa. Al terzo punto Minelli colloca l’azione diuretica che il tarassaco svolge grazie al suo contenuto in potassio che aiuta l'organismo a liberarsi dei liquidi in eccesso.C’è poi la funzione depurativa e protettiva del fegato perché,soprattutto nelle radici della pianta, sono presenti tarasserolo e tarassicina, sostanze bioattive fortemente epato-protettive. Ancora, il tarassaco agisce sui livelli di colesterolo nel sangue grazie ad inulina e fitosteroli che favoriscono l'eliminazione del colesterolo attraverso la bile e ne inibiscono il riassorbimento in circolo a livello intestinale. Ma ha pure capacità ipoglicemizzanti, contribuendo a tenere sotto controllo i livelli della glicemia nei diabetici”. “Nel tarassaco sono presenti lattoni sesquiterpenici che sono sostanze amare in grado di stimolare l’appetito e favorire le funzioni digestive. Ben note anche le capacità immunostimolanti che conferiscono al tarassaco la capacità di aiutare l'organismo a contrastare alcune infezioni batteriche”, sottolinea l’immunologo. Gli ultimi due punti del suo decalogo, Minelli li dedica alle interferenze farmacologiche “del tarassaco con antibiotici, litio, diuretici o altri medicamenti soprattutto metabolizzati dal fegato, e agli eventuali effetti collaterali come dermatiti allergiche o irritazioni della pelle che possono insorgere per via del contatto del tarassaco con la superficie cutanea di soggetti particolarmente sensibili”, conclude.
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00:00 I like to tell this new episode of "Gusto della Salute", our 70th episode,
00:06 starting with the scientific name of its protagonist, the Taraxacum officinalis,
00:11 a name that is already quite evocative, deriving the term "Taraxacum"
00:17 from the fusion and synthesis of two Greek words, which are "Taraxis",
00:22 which means inflammatory state, morbid state, pathological condition,
00:26 and "Achaeomai", which means to cure, heal, in fact.
00:31 Taraxacum has always been known as a medicinal plant used to treat various problems
00:38 due to its many therapeutic properties, its many beneficial properties,
00:43 among which perhaps one is the best known, that is its ability to promote diuresis,
00:49 to promote the elimination of liquids,
00:51 which is why this plant has earned the popular name of "Piscialetto".
00:58 But let's go step by step, let's start with our opening.
01:01 [Music]
01:26 Once it was considered the dish of the poor, so called because in the popular tradition
01:32 the availability of Taraxacum was available to everyone,
01:36 so much so that it was not demanding on the economic level.
01:40 A dish of boiled or prepared vegetables with aromas could be worth an invitation to dinner for the fiancé
01:48 who wanted to ask for the hand of a young woman.
01:51 And it happened that the dish was honored to the end, even if it did not meet the taste of the young man.
01:59 Taraxacum, in the dialectal language of some areas of southern Italy, is called "Zangune",
02:05 said of a person by the appearance, perhaps disliked, or always between the feet.
02:11 [Music]
02:18 It has always been known as an infesting plant, in fact we find it in the fields, in the meadows,
02:24 but not only, we can also find it in the cracks of the sidewalks and along the streets.
02:28 It belongs to the family of the Asteraceae, the same family of which the lettuce and the root are also part.
02:34 It has very important gastronomic properties, but above all healthy, due to its components.
02:40 Considering the nutritional values, in 100 grams we have about 45 calories.
02:45 It contains a high amount of water, in 100 grams we have about 86.7 grams of water.
02:51 There are sugars, above all we have a large amount of fiber and also proteins.
02:56 But above all there are carotenoids, which are vegetal pigments with a strong antioxidant power,
03:01 and phytosterols, or chemical vegetable compounds, which have an important property of benzene hypocholesterol.
03:08 It contains, above all, important amounts of vitamins, mainly vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E and vitamin B group.
03:15 The whole plant is edible.
03:17 The outer leaves, the larger ones, are those with the bitterest taste, which can be used mainly cooked,
03:25 while the inner ones, the smaller ones, can also be used in salad.
03:29 From the flowers you can prepare jam and herbal teas.
03:33 The dried root is used to create decorative decots.
03:37 Or macerated and powdered can become a coffee sorghum.
03:41 I was mentioning at the beginning the many precious therapeutic properties of tarasco, known since antiquity.
03:56 In fact, the Native Americans, for example, used the leaves and the roots of tarasco
04:02 to prepare infusions and curative decots for liver, stomach and digestive disorders.
04:10 But even before that, the Arab doctors, between the 10th and 11th centuries,
04:14 used tarasco extracts to cure diseases of the milt and liver,
04:21 as well as the ancient Chinese medicine, which used tarasco,
04:25 if ever mixed with other herbs, to prepare particular medicines
04:33 useful for treating hepatitis, for example, or to prevent respiratory infections.
04:40 This is due to the presumed ability of tarasco to stimulate immune defenses.
04:45 Tarasco, among other things, was also used as a diuretic, as a laxative, as an antidiabetic.
04:53 So, the beneficial properties of tarasco are many and different.
04:58 Initially, they were proposed on the basis of empirical data, on the basis of experimental data,
05:04 but then also scientifically documented.
05:07 And so, let's try to list, in a way, the highlights of this official plant.
05:18 I would start, as the first point of our decalogue, by considering that tarasco contains
05:25 in its interior, first of all, inulin, which is a soluble fiber, and also the so-called fructooligosaccharides,
05:32 also known as FOS.
05:34 Now, both inulin and fructooligosaccharides are known to have important prebiotic properties,
05:42 so, substances capable, in some way, of stimulating growth, development of bifidobacteria,
05:49 that is, good bacteria of our intestinal microbiota.
05:53 The inulin contained in tarasco is also able to favor the overall functions of the intestines,
06:01 regulating the intestinal transit, stimulating it for the stools, increasing the fecal mass,
06:07 so we can say that tarasco also has a good laxative action.
06:12 Due to its abundant potassium content, tarasco is able to favor the elimination of excess liquids
06:21 from our body, so diuretic action, action of hydric retention,
06:27 action of edema formation, and, secondarily, action of blood pressure regulation.
06:35 Especially in the root of tarasco, there are bioactive substances,
06:41 among which I would like to mention, in particular, tarasserol and tarassacin,
06:46 substances that have choleretic collagogic properties,
06:51 which means that these substances are able to stimulate the production of bile
06:56 and to favor the deflux of bile from the liver to the intestine,
07:00 so we can say, for this reason, that tarasso has a purifying action on the liver,
07:05 so much so that tarasso extracts are used as co-adjuvants
07:10 in the therapy of liver failure, of the liver, of bile calculus.
07:16 Tarasso is able to regulate the hematic levels of cholesterol,
07:23 and this for two reasons. First, because it favors the elimination of excess cholesterol
07:27 through bile, and then because, above all, thanks to inulin and phytosterols
07:33 it contains, it is also able to inhibit the reabsorption of cholesterol in the liver
07:38 at the intestinal level.
07:41 In addition to favoring the metabolism of fats, tarasso has also shown to have
07:48 hypoglycemic abilities, and therefore it is useful to keep under control
07:53 the levels of glycemia in diabetics.
07:57 Tarasso leaves contain sesquiterpenic lactones, which are bitter substances
08:05 able to favor digestive functions, because they stimulate the production
08:10 of digestive enzymes, but they also stimulate appetite.
08:14 Some polysaccharide molecules extracted from the root and flower of tarasso
08:22 have immunomodulating and immunostimulating abilities, and therefore
08:26 they have proven to be particularly useful in preventing and fighting
08:30 some bacterial infections.
08:33 Tarasso does not have particular side effects, where the fact is excluded
08:40 that contact with the plant may eventually generate allergic dermatitis
08:45 or skin irritation, mainly due to those sesquiterpenic lactones
08:50 present in the leaves of this plant, which we have discussed in the previous point.
08:55 Tarasso may interfere with the pharmacological action of antibiotics,
09:03 lithium, diuretics and some drugs, especially metabolized by the liver.
09:08 I remind you, as always, that these indications are maximum and will always be
09:13 compared with the opinion of the doctors of trust.
09:17 [Explosion]
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