By Liliana Usvat
Blog 206-365
Have you planted a tree in your life?
What about this year?
Have you considered a fruit tree in your vicinity, or in your back yard?
Do you get a lift from a carbonated soda? The large kola trees of tropical West Africa, the West Indies, and South America are responsible. Their dried seeds, which contain much caffeine, provide the stimulant in some medicines. But they also provide an energizing ingredient in many soft drinks.
Kola nut is a caffeine-containing nut of evergreen trees of the genus Cola, primarily the species Cola acuminata and Cola nitida.
Medicinal Uses
History
The use of the kola nut, like the coffee berry and tea leaf, appears to have ancient origins. It is chewed in many West African cultures, individually or in a social setting, to restore vitality and ease hunger pains. Kola nuts are an important part of the traditional spiritual practice of culture and religion in West Africa, particularly Nigeria.
Kola nuts are used as a religious object and sacred offering during prayers, ancestor veneration, and significant life events, such as naming ceremonies, weddings, and funerals. They are also used in a traditional divination system called Obi divination. For this use, only kola nuts divided into four lobes are suitable.
They are cast upon a special wooden board and the resulting patterns are read by a trained diviner. This ancient practice is currently enjoying increased growth within the United States and Caribbean.
In the 1800s, a pharmacist in Georgia, John Pemberton, took extracts of kola and coca and mixed them with sugar, other ingredients, and carbonated water to invent the first cola soft drink. His accountant tasted it and called it "Coca-Cola". Cocaine (not the other extracts from the Peruvian coca leaf) was prohibited from soft drinks in the U.S. after 1904, and Coca-Cola no longer uses kola nor cocaine in its original recipe.
Curiosities
Kola nut consumption was compared to alcohol consumption for its potential neural effects.
Cola acuminata and Cola nitida and crude extract of kola nut may stimulate gastric acid secretion
Blog 206-365
Have you planted a tree in your life?
What about this year?
Have you considered a fruit tree in your vicinity, or in your back yard?
Do you get a lift from a carbonated soda? The large kola trees of tropical West Africa, the West Indies, and South America are responsible. Their dried seeds, which contain much caffeine, provide the stimulant in some medicines. But they also provide an energizing ingredient in many soft drinks.
Kola nut is a caffeine-containing nut of evergreen trees of the genus Cola, primarily the species Cola acuminata and Cola nitida.
Medicinal Uses
- Chewing kola nut can ease hunger pangs. Kola nuts are often used to treat whooping cough and asthma.
- The caffeine present acts as a bronchodilator, expanding the bronchial air passages.
- Phosphorus: A study on the mineral content of kola nut (Cola nitida) suggested that Cola nitida has a high content of phosphorus (411.43mg/kg); theoretically, concurrent use may increase levels of phosphorus in the blood.
- : , kola nut may interact with monoamine oxidase inhibitors
- Dietarypotassium: A study on the mineral content of kola nut (Cola nitida) suggested that Cola nitida has a high content of potassium (3,484.67mg/kg) (22); theoretically, concurrent use may increase levels of potassium in the blood.
- Sedatives- kola nut may cause insomnia, anxiety, and nervousness. Preliminary research reported prolonged sleep latencies and suppression of REM and stages 3 and 4 sleep
- Ma huang- a combination of ma huang and kola nut may have additive weight loss effects
- Hormonal agents : Animal research has demonstrated that stem bark from Cola nitida decreased gonadotropin release, both luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), causing ovulation . Another animal study on the pituitary cells of rats demonstrated that Cola nitida inhibited LH release and had no effect on either FSH or rat pituitary cells. According to animal evidence, Cola nitida may compete with natural estrogen and/or progesterone by binding to steroid receptors
- Antineoplastics: Kola nut has been shown to contain phytoestrogenic compounds that may dose-dependently exert cytotoxic effects against breast cancer cells in vitro
History
The use of the kola nut, like the coffee berry and tea leaf, appears to have ancient origins. It is chewed in many West African cultures, individually or in a social setting, to restore vitality and ease hunger pains. Kola nuts are an important part of the traditional spiritual practice of culture and religion in West Africa, particularly Nigeria.
Kola nuts are used as a religious object and sacred offering during prayers, ancestor veneration, and significant life events, such as naming ceremonies, weddings, and funerals. They are also used in a traditional divination system called Obi divination. For this use, only kola nuts divided into four lobes are suitable.
They are cast upon a special wooden board and the resulting patterns are read by a trained diviner. This ancient practice is currently enjoying increased growth within the United States and Caribbean.
In the 1800s, a pharmacist in Georgia, John Pemberton, took extracts of kola and coca and mixed them with sugar, other ingredients, and carbonated water to invent the first cola soft drink. His accountant tasted it and called it "Coca-Cola". Cocaine (not the other extracts from the Peruvian coca leaf) was prohibited from soft drinks in the U.S. after 1904, and Coca-Cola no longer uses kola nor cocaine in its original recipe.
Curiosities
Kola nut consumption was compared to alcohol consumption for its potential neural effects.
Cola acuminata and Cola nitida and crude extract of kola nut may stimulate gastric acid secretion
