Health benefits of cassava

Cassava is a household  name in tropical regions of the world. Food prepared from cassava flour can be found on dining tables of both the rich and poor in all the continents. The cultivation of cassava requires little or no human efforts to grow, the fact that it can grow and do very well in […]

Cassava is a household  name in tropical regions of the world. Food prepared from cassava flour can be found on dining tables of both the rich and poor in all the continents.
The cultivation of cassava requires little or no human efforts to grow, the fact that it can grow and do very well in the bush without human effort. This food crop regarded as animal food was used for the feeding of animals before, has today become raw materials in the manufacture of importable and exportable packaged foods in many industries.
Today, cassava is used in the manufacture of petroleum products and medicine for the treatment of man and animal.
Researchers are making daily efforts to discover more uses of cassava and cassava farmers are also making good efforts in increasing manpower in the production of more cassava as demand for this food product is higher than supply.
Cassava, known as Manihot esculent belongs to the Euphorbiaceae family in the field of natural medicine. Cassava or Manihot esculenta is used for the treatment of gonorrhea, toothache, ulcer, schitosomiasis, eye problems and many deadly diseases. No part of Manihot esculenta is useless in the healing of man or animal because the bark, stem, tubers and leaves are all used either for food, medicine, petroleum or as factory raw material.
Textile industries rely on the starch from Manihot esculenta in finishing their products. Garri, common food in many homes is made from Manihot esculenta. Garri is loaded with fibre.
Gonorrhoea can be treated with infusion made from Manihot esculenta by incorporating  the leaves, stem and bark in the preparation, while ulcer patients have found the white liquid extracted from Manihot esculenta plant helpful in the treatment of both external and internal ulcer. White liquid from manihot esculenta plan is the national treatment of toothache.
 Preparation made from this plant is not suitable for pregnant women because of its abortifacient nature. Leaves and stem can be used as purgative.
 Written by Okafor Christiana Chinweoke, Federal Polytechnic, Bida.