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Useful properties and contraindications of white currant for human health

Deciduous shrub with colorless transparent berries is much less common in suburban areas than closest relatives. The plant has powerful roots, the height of the shoots covered with jagged leaves reaches 2 meters. In place of small flowers with yellow petals, hanging clusters of berries appear, which, when ripe, acquire a sweet and sour taste. For some reason, they do not attach much importance to the beneficial properties and contraindications of white currant, and the shrub is not as in demand as other plants from the Gooseberry family.

Chemical composition

Many summer residents and gardeners prefer crops with larger and sweeter fruits, because they do not know and are not interested in what vitamins are present in white currants, and there are many of them:

Ascorbic acid strengthens the immune system, fights microbes, improves the endocrine system.
Tocopherol acts as an antioxidant, accelerates blood circulation, and prevents cell destruction by free radicals.
Vitamin P maintains normal blood pressure levels.
Rutin reduces the fragility of blood vessels, increases the content of collagen in tissues, and promotes the processing of fats.

The berries of the plant are rich in pectin. Thanks to this polysaccharide, toxic and toxic substances are removed from the body, the microflora in the stomach is restored. Folic acid is involved in DNA synthesis, prevents the formation of cancerous tumors. Vitamin B4 restores nerves, improves fat processing. Oxycoumarins have a beneficial effect on the heart, thin the blood.

White berries contain phosphorus and potassium, sodium and iron, dietary fiber, fructose, and other monosaccharides.

The greatest ratio of useful components in currants is observed at the time of ripening. Green and overripe berries have a lot of water and fewer minerals.

The nutritional value

When choosing foods for a diet, people are interested in how many calories they contain. All types of currants contain carbohydrates, almost no fat, but there are vegetable proteins. When 100 g of white berries are consumed, the human body receives 42 kcal, black - 44, at a rate of about 2 thousand per day.

Currants will not harm people prone to rapid weight gain; they are given to babies without fear of allergies.

What can be consumed

Not only the fruits of the bush have healing properties, nature has not deprived of useful components both the leaves and shoots of the plant.

Berries

White currants are put in compotes, jelly along with other fruits, eaten fresh, which allows you to raise the immune system, being saturated with ascorbic acid. Drink decoction of berries:

with extreme heat;
with anemia;
for coughs and colds.

The juice squeezed from currant fruits improves appetite, restores the functions of the digestive organs, normalizes blood composition, and helps to reduce harmful cholesterol.

The benefits and rules of using leaves

Even seeds located in berries have healing properties. They are rich in essential oils that are added to cosmetic creams and lotions.

How to use black currants, every housewife knows who rolls cucumbers or tomatoes for the winter. So that the banks do not swell, the brine does not ferment, leaves are put along with the umbrellas, the entire aerial part of the white currant bush has the same bactericidal effect.

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The crushed greens, along with nourishing masks and anti-aging scrubs, are applied to the skin of the face. Decoctions from them saturate the body with vitamin C, promote the elimination of radionuclides, acids and toxins, prevent the occurrence of cystitis.

Useful properties of currant branches, rich in essential oils, flavonoids, have been used in the preparation of tinctures, extracts and tea for the treatment of dermatitis, scurvy, kidney disease, conjunctivitis, diathesis.

Norm and features of food intake

To protect the body from the formation of cancerous tumors, the development of diabetes and cataracts, an adult and a child over 4 years old need to eat at least 100 g of fruit and the same amount of berries every day. Not everyone can use white currants in such an amount, then compote or jelly is cooked from it, and the rate increases to 0.5 kg. Elderly people, as well as workers in hazardous workshops, must definitely eat at least 20 or 30 pieces of fresh or frozen berries.

Health benefits and harms

In addition to vitamins and minerals, white currants are rich in organic acids, which contribute to the normalization of vision, have a positive effect on the reproductive system, and increase the resistance of the human body to microbes and viruses.

Male

Currant berries wash the bladder, fight infection in the genital tract, improve kidney function, increase blood flow, which ultimately leads to increased potency, preservation of male health.

Female

White currants are added to masks and scrubs, which the beautiful half applies to the skin of the face to restore its elasticity, slow down fading, get rid of spots and acne. Women looking to lose weight include low-calorie berries in their diet. Currant fruits contribute to the excretion of salts, excess liquid, and with them a few kilograms go away.

For kids

For many babies, strawberries and other brightly colored fruits cause allergies or diathesis. There are no dyes in the white currant; fresh berries can be fed to children under one year old. Natural vitamins are necessary for a fragile body.

Nuances when used during pregnancy and lactation

Both berries and fruits should be present in the diet of a future and nursing mother, but they should be consumed in moderation, starting with a few pieces. Although white currant does not cause allergies, it is easily absorbed, it is not known what reaction the baby's body may have to an excess of vitamin C. It is necessary to accustom the child to new foods gradually.

For what diseases is it recommended to use

Although the beneficial components are best absorbed from fresh berries, the healing properties are preserved both during heat treatment and after freezing. White currant helps to eliminate vitamin deficiency, cure colds, restore the functioning of the nervous and endocrine systems.

In any form

Jelly, marmalade and jams are made from white currants, which quickly freeze due to the presence of pectin. Compotes are prepared from berries, canned for the winter, rubbing with sugar. It is useful to drink decoctions from dried fruits for people suffering from hypertension, fresh currants are recommended to be used for anemia, rheumatism, after a serious illness.

Juice and fruit drink

The acids that are present in the berries kill bacteria that cause intestinal pathology. In case of problems with the stomach, liver, with a decrease in immunity, it is useful to use juice or fruit drink, where vitamins and organic acids are preserved. Such drinks stimulate the intestines, reduce cholesterol, improve appetite, and quench thirst.

Fresh berries

Freshly plucked from the bush, currant fruits treat colds, coughs, anemia. Doctors advise including them in the diet of diabetics, people with heart pathologies.

White currant is useful for residents of megacities, as it cleanses the body of exhaust gases, cigarette smoke.

The pulp of fresh berries restores the skin, restores its elasticity, and accelerates cell regeneration.Puree is made from currants, which is applied to the face area for 15 or 20 minutes. To remove acne, the fruit gruel is mixed with blue clay.

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Is it possible to freeze and dry berries for the winter

When processing white currants into preserves and jams, not all useful components are preserved, fresh fruits will not last until spring, so summer residents dry the berries in the oven or in the air. Compotes and decoctions are prepared from them in winter. The currants can be rinsed and frozen. Both vitamins and organic acids are preserved in this form.

Healing recipes

Not everyone likes the fruits of the bush, but they go well with different products, and many housewives believe that it is better to make a dietary but tasty dish from berries and vegetables.

White currant and turnip salad

Adults and kids will like this unusual light dessert, it will not spoil the figure, although it will improve appetite and saturate the body with useful substances. To prepare currant salad, you need to take:

200 g turnips;
1 tbsp. l. honey;
2 tablespoons of sour cream and lemon juice;
80 grams of berries.

The washed and peeled root vegetable is cut into strips, add a little salt and mix gently. Put sour cream in a bowl and combine it with juice. The currants are sorted out, separated from the twigs and added to the turnip, the dressing and honey are poured. The salad is garnished with berries and fresh mint to make it flavorful.

White currant and grapefruit jam

From berries in less than an hour, you can prepare for the winter a real delicacy of a pleasant sweet and sour taste with a delicate aroma and light bitterness. The process consists of several steps:

Two glasses of white currants are peeled and washed. Dried berries are ground with a spoon to soften.
Peel off the grapefruit, divide the fruit into slices.
Combine both ingredients and mix with 2 cups of fine sugar.
Put on the stove and boil for 45 minutes, until the mass thickens, making sure that it does not stick to the bowl and does not burn.

Dessert should be placed in sterilized jars. The treat keeps well even at room temperature.

Boiled jelly

Any variety of white currant is canned by grinding with sugar. In this form, the berry does not lose pectin. The workpiece has a thick consistency. Compotes are cooked from it, marmalade is made, put into the dough as a filling for pies.

For jelly take:

berries - 1 kg;
water - 1 glass;
sugar - 300 g

Pour the currants into a saucepan, grind by hand to get a homogeneous mass. It is combined with water and put on fire. After the composition boils, the workpiece is mixed with sugar, boiled for about a quarter of an hour. When the product takes the form of jelly, it is packaged in cans.

When is it worth giving up white currant

Although shrub berries are used to treat diseases, strengthen immunity, and rejuvenate the skin, they are not suitable for everyone and can be harmful.

You can not use white currant with intolerance to any of the components, and the composition of the product is diverse.

Vitamin K, present in berries, accelerates blood coagulation in case of venous thrombophlebitis. When using currants, the level of acidity in the stomach increases, with gastritis and ulcers, it is better to refuse such a product. Patients with hemophilia and hepatitis A should not get carried away with berries.

Doctors advise healthy people to consume the fruits of the bush in small portions so as not to provoke irritation of the gastric mucosa. You can not eat berries for people who have suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. Do not feed them to babies under 8 months old. A high concentration of vitamins can harm a child's body.