Food Value
This vegetable is chiefly valuable for its high mineral and vitamin content and
alkaline salts. This vegetable can be used raw in the form of salad. It can also be
steamed, boiled or cooked. It should be eaten raw for best results as in cooking its
valuable nutrients are largely lost. The raw cabbage is also more easily digested than the
cooked one. The longer the cabbage is cooked the less digestible it becomes. It can be
rectified by adding some asafoetida. The cabbage with green leaves is especially valuable because of
its high vitamin A content.
Natural Benefits and Curative Properties
The cabbage has wonderful cleansing and reducing properties. Its most valuable
properties are the high sulphur and chlorine content and the relatively large per cent of iodine. The
combination of the sulphur and chlorine causes a cleansing of the mucus membranes of the stomach and
intestinal tract, but this only applies when cabbage or its juice is taken in its raw state without the addition of
salt.
However, cabbage and cabbage juice should never be taken as a main part of the diet. Very excessive intakes have been known
to cause the thyroid disease called goitre. It is only in normal amounts that cabbage is valuable nutritionally and that its juice,
which is bitter and not delicious, constitutes an important part of the natural treatment of infection, ulcers and other
disorders of the digestive system.
Constipation
The cabbage provides the roughage i.e. indigestible material which is essential to stimulate intestines for the proper
action of the bowels. A meal of raw cabbage is an excellent remedy for constipation. It acts immediately without any
adverse after-effects. This meal can be prepared by adding a little salt, black pepper and lemon juice to finely chopped raw cabbage.
Stomach Ulcers
Duodenal ulcers have responded almost miraculously to the drinking of cabbage juice. The juice contains the antiulcer factor, vitamin U. This vitamin is destroyed by cooking. The treatment
consists of taking 90 to 180 gm. of cabbage juice for three times daily followed by a natural diet.
Obesity
Recent research has discovered in cabbage a valuable content called tartronic acid which inhibits the
conversion of sugar and other carbohydrates into fat. Hence, it is of great value in weight reduction. Taking cabbage salad
would be the simplest way to stay slim, a painless way of dieting.
A 100 gms. of cabbage yields only 27 kilocalories of energy while the same quantity of wheat bread will yield about 240 calories. Cabbage is found to posses the
maximum biological value with minimum calorific value. Moreover, it gives a lasting feeling of fullness in the stomach and is easily digestible.
Skin Disorders
The cabbage leaves have been successfully used in the form of compresses in healing ulcers, infected sores, blisters and skin eruptions, including psoriasis. They
are also valuable in burns and carbuncles. The thickest and greenest outer leaves are most effective for use as compresses. They should be thoroughly washed in warm water and dried with a towel. The whole
leaves should be used for large compresses.
Premature Ageing
Research has shown that cabbage contains several elements and factors which enhance the immunity of the human body and arrests its premature ageing. The vegetable is of great value for
persons of advancing age. Some of the elements help prevent the formation of patches on the walls of blood vessels and stones in the gall bladder.
It has been found that a combination of vitamin P and C in cabbage lends strength to the blood vessels.
