Gond Katira (Tragacanth Gum): Top 12 Benefits, Side Effects, More
Gond Katira, famous for cooling you down during hot summers, is one of the best energy and immunity boosters as well. This is a dissolvable gum that is mixed with lemonades or milkshakes to curb the heat off and avoid heatstroke or sunstroke.
Let's discover the Gond Katira benefits, uses and potential side effects in detail and how it can aid you in many ways.
What is Gond Katira (Tragacanth Gum)?
Gond Katira or Tragacanth Gum is a natural gum obtained from the sap of the locoweed plant. It grows in a solid white crystalline form and becomes softer and gooey on being dissolved in water.
Gond Katira Nutrition Value
The nutritional value of 100 g of Gond Katira is as follows:
- Calories in Gond Katira - 70 kcal
- Carbohydrates - 35g
- Fibre - 30g
- Hydrates - 5g
- Fats - 0g
- Sodium - 9g
Gond Katira Benefits
There are numerous Gond Katira benefits for health which makes it a recommended medicine in Ayurveda. The health benefits of Gond Katira are as follows:
1) Gond Katira for Weight Loss
Gond Katira helps flush out toxins from your body and improves metabolism. The high-fibre content of Gond Katira benefits your body by keeping you full for a longer time and improving your gut health.
2) Gond Katira Benefits for Skin
Gond Katira has anti-ageing and anti-inflammatory properties that work on fine lines and wrinkles. Gond Katira benefits for pimples include wound healing and spot reduction. It also helps get rid of acne, breakouts, skin pigmentation, and burns.
Pro tip: Use this gum in face masks or face packs for best results.
3) Gond Katira Benefits for Hair
Gond Katira benefits your hair health by adding more volume and strengthening it. It helps in case of hair loss issues due to its rich calcium and protein content.
Pro tip: Mix Tragacanth gum, water, Christ’s thorn jujube that is dried and ground together. Using it in shampoo can bring a difference after the first wash. It can help with hair fall issues.
4) Gond Katira for Bones
Gond Katira benefits your bone health due to its rich calcium and magnesium content. It helps you regain your strength. It also lubricates your joints and helps develop strong bones.
5) Gond Katira for Digestion
The benefits of Gond Katira for gut health and digestion include laxative effects that help in preventing constipation. The enzymes present in this gum promote digestion and regularise bowel movements.
6) Gond Katira for Urinary Incontinence
Gond Katira has numerous benefits for urinary incontinence or involuntary urination. This gum helps calm your urinary muscles that become tense due to inflammation of the urinary tract or blockage of urine.
7) Gond Katira for Immunity
Gond Katira helps prevent cough, cold, and flu as it stimulates your immune system, and fights foreign pathogen invaders in the body.
8) Gond Katira for Pain Relief
Tragacanth gum acts as an effective analgesic and helps reduce all types of pain. It also acts on your nervous system and reduces the sensation of pain.
Additional Gond Katira Benefits for Female
Gond Katira is known to boost immunity and overall health. Women tend to feel more tired and at a loss of energy post-pregnancy. Gond Katira benefits postpartum women by helping them regain their strength.
Gond Katira also helps increase milk production in lactating mothers. It is rich in calcium and protein, essential for new mothers. It allows new moms to handle themselves while caring for their babies. It also regulates blood flow and is beneficial to both mother and child.
Gond Katira with Milk Benefits
Both milk and Gond Katira are rich in calcium that is beneficial for your bone health. Having Gond Katira with milk benefits your body by cooling and hydrating it. Mixing this gum plant with lukewarm milk improves fertility and increases sperm count.
You can drink Gond Katira with milk to get rid of headaches, for an immunity boost, and improve gut health.
Pro tip:
If you can not sleep at night, try drinking Gond Katira with some warm milk at night. This helps your body relax, and you can sleep peacefully.
Uses of Gond Katira
Gond Katira has wonderful health benefits, and it also has a great demand in various other industries. The adhesive attributes of the Gond Katira have helped several industries to advance and thrive. The uses of Gond Katira are as mentioned:
- In burn treatment, Gondh Katira is made into a paste and used due to its cooling properties.
- The cooling properties and being colourless and odourless is why Gond katira is used in drinks, processed cheese, salad coverings, food dressings, and different puddings.
- In the food industry, It's used as a stabiliser, texture additive and emulsifier, as well as a thickener in sauces, confections, salad coverings, ice cream, etc.
- In the cosmetics industry, Gond Katira is used as an edge slicker and a polishing compound.
- It is used as a binder in several industries like incense and paper manufacturing.
- It's used as an ingredient in the manufacture of glues, watercolours, pastels, etc.
- It acts as a thickening agent in manufacturing dyes for calico printing, textile dyes, etc.
Gond Katira Powder
The roots of the Astragalus plant are tapped for the Gond Katira gum. The gum is drained out of the roots in the form of thin sheets like flakes or twisted ribbons. This is allowed to dry and powdered into the commercial Gond Katira powder available in the markets.
Gond Katira powder uses include:
- Used as soaked and fluffy Gond Katira in summer cooling drinks like lemonade, chaas, sattu, or traditional sharbets.
- Salad dressings, thick chutneys, and dips all use Gond Katira powder in the making.
- Desserts like puddings, jellies, kheer, etc., are also made using this powder.
Gond Katira Side Effects
As many as the health benefits this plant has, there are numerous Gond Katira side effects. Although using Tragacanth gum is considered safe, consumption of this gum can cause certain side effects as follows.
- Gond Katira can cause choking or blockage of your intestines if not taken with adequate water. So, try to increase your water intake whenever you eat Gond Katira in any form.
- If you are allergic to this plant, then it is best to avoid using it. Gond Katira side effects for allergic people can be dangerous as it contains noxious glycosides. Before you start taking this plant, try a small test amount to check for any allergies.
- People who are sensitive to gum should not consume this in food or as a medicine. It can bring about allergic reactions for such people.
- Gond Katira side effects also include breathing problems in some individuals. If you have a breathing disorder or complain of breathing trouble occasionally, avoid taking this plant in any form.
Summing Up on Gond Katira (Tragacanth Gum)
Gond Katira is a great cooling agent, helps relieve constipation, is used as an analgesic in pain control, heals mouth ulcers, and helps with urinary leakage.
Along with the above-mentioned benefits, Gond Katira is famous for serving several purposes in different industries like textiles as a stiffener, culture medium in laboratories, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
When Should I Take Gond Katira?
This gum can be consumed in any season as it has both cooling and warming properties.
Can We Take Gond Katira With Water?
Yes, Gond Katira can be consumed with water. Being odourless and colourless, it is best consumed when added to lemonades, sherbet, and several other drinks as a summer cooling drink.
Can We Take Gond With Milk?
Yes, consume by adding 2 tbsp of fluffed Gond Katira to a glass of chilled milk. You can add sugar and rose syrup for additional taste and flavours.
Can We Take Gond Katira in Pregnancy?
Yes, Gond Katira is often touted as beneficial for pregnancy. Gond katira, being rich in calcium, protein, etc., is consumed as sweet ladoos during the third trimester of pregnancy. However, due to its mild laxative property, it is not consumed in the early pregnancy stages.
Is Gond Katira for Liver Good?
Yes, Gond Katira is good for liver-related issues. Gond Katira has high medicinal benefits like hepatic, cardiovascular, and detoxification properties and is hence used in the treatment of dehydration, liver cirrhosis, heart strokes, and even cancer.
References
https://www.herzindagi.com/diet-nutrition/know-some-amazing-benefits-of-gond-katira-article-179249
https://www.lybrate.com/topic/gond-katira-tragacanth-gum-benefits
https://www.magzter.com/news/1060/3358/122019/3kuju