Bitter Kola for Osteoarthritis: No Side Effect Home Remedy you can Use to Treat Osteoarthritis

by Randy Bright

Garcinia kola (bitter kola), also known as African wonder nut, belongs to the family guttiferae and grows in coastal rainforests in the South-Western and South-Eastern parts of Nigeria. Traditionally, the nuts of bitter kola are chewed as masticatory substance to stimulate the flow of saliva. The kernels of the nuts are widely traded and eaten as a stimulant. Bitter kola is also highly valued because of its medicinal benefits. The nuts are chewed for aphrodisiac effects or used to cure cough-dysentery or chest cold in herbal medicine. In this present day, new initiatives in pharmaceutical and also livestock industries are seeking to promote the use of alternative materials that combine the effects of nutritional and medicinal properties, simultaneously. This is expected among others benefits to reduce the high cost of production in the livestock industry as a result of the reduction in dual costs of feed and drugs. Further research was made into indigenous fruits trees or plants that possesses both nutritional and medicinal properties. Bitter kola been a plant that possesses both medicinal and nutritive value and every more was emerged, and further investigations based on its current information in relation to its nutritional and medicinal properties has been aggregated. This seeks to aggregate current information on the characteristics of bitter kola based on its history and origin as an indigenous medicinal plant in the rain forest of central and western African. Its botanical and agronomical characteristics are also discussed further; the bitter kola tree produces reddish yellowish or orange coloured fruit with each fruit containing two or four yellow seeds and a sour tasting pulp. During cultivation of bitter kola, it is either cultivated by seeds or by cutting, by the preparation of a suitable seed bed for planting and germination or by cutting from very tender branches and stems with young healthy leaves. The nutrient and chemical composition of bitter kola as reported were also illustrated based on their various constituents. The moisture content, protein, fiber, ash and nitrogen free extracts have various amount of percentage dry matter and they are 14.60% 0.58%, 0.10%, 5.00%, 91.32% and 57.54% respectively and the vitamins as well as mineral composition also have various dry weight basis. The phytochemicals constituents of bitter kola as described are phenols (0.11 mg/100g), Alkaloids (0.36mg/100g), tannins (0.26mg/100g) and flavonoids (1.98mg/100g). Bitter kola basically performs various other functions like medicinal uses e.g helps in weight loss, treats arthritics, anti-poison, diabetes, malaria etc.

24 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 8, 2020