About Pirandai Plant
Pirandai is a creeper that has numerous medicinal uses and health benefits. Pirandai also called "Adamant Creeper | Devil's BackBone | Veldt Grape" in English and its scientific name Cissus quadrangularis is a perennial plant of the grape family. The Pirandai plant grows everywhere mostly found naturally in forests and can be very easily grown in pots at home as well. Aathirai facility located in a natural mango garden surrounded by natural forest. During my morning walk in the forest, I have taken all the Pirandai pictures shown in this blog. Pirandi does not grow in large quantities without the support and it requires the support of a tree or plant or rock or man-made support like shown in the below picture.
Health Benefits of Pirandai Plant | Veldt Grape
1. For Diabetics:
Pirandai is really good for diabetics. It helps to reduce blood sugar levels and prevent many of the complications associated with diabetes. Pirandai regulates the activity of carbohydrate metabolizing enzymes thus reducing the blood glucose levels. If you are diabetic suffering from high blood sugars, eating Pirandai regularly will help you maintain stable blood sugar levels and read the study that supports this claim here.
2. For Weight Loss:
Pirandai is used for reducing excessive weight. Through regular exercise and a healthy diet is the key to lasting weight loss, consuming Pirandai greatly aids weight loss and speed up the process. If you eat Pirandai regularly, it will help reduce weight, and it not only helps reduce weight and helps lower LDL cholesterol and triglycerides.
3. Promote Bone Health:
Traditionally Pirandai has been used for bone healing for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine in India especially in Tamil Nadu. Both external application and internal consumption help with healing bone fractures. Here we apply Pirandai poultice and we also consume it internally. It is so effective due to the presence of high amounts of phytoestrogenic steroids, calcium and phosphorus, which helps with fast bone healing. Animal and human studies found that Pirandai helps reduce bone loss, speed the healing of fractures and joint pains.
4. Antioxidant Properties:
Pirandai has antioxidant properties and great help reduce free radicals that are responsible for the premature ageing of our skin and body. The antioxidant property is attributed mainly due to the presence of a high amount of beta carotene in Pirandi.
5. Prevents Osteoporosis:
Pirandai has an important benefit of Pirandai is it greatly helps with bone growth. This is very significant as more and more women are suffering from osteoporosis. In fact, Pirandai has been shown to help in fetal bone development if pregnant women consume Pirandai and you can read the study that supports this claim here.
6. Anti Ulcer Properties:
Another interesting use of Pirandai is it helps heal ulcers really well. If you are a person who is suffering from ulcers, I would suggest including Pirandai in your diet regularly. The reason it is so effective for treating ulcers is due to the presence of sitosterol and triterpenoids found in Pirandai. You can read the study that supports this claim here.
7. For Menopausal Women:
Many older women suffer from menopause symptoms like joint pain, hot flashes, etc. One of the treatments suggested for it is hormone replacement therapy which helps balance the estrogen and progesterone levels. But though hormone replacement therapy is effective in relieving the symptoms of menopause, it also comes with a lot of side effects like bloating, headache, nausea, etc. But there are herbs like Pirandai which have estrogenic properties but without any side effects and you can read the study that proves it here.
How to get rid of Pirandai Itching?
Many hesitate to use pirandai because of its itchy nature, but if we properly handle pirandai, we can prevent itchiness in our hands. First always try to pick tender pirandai, young pirandai can be easily broken with hands and as the pirandai ages it thickens. To prevent itching in the hands, smear your hands with a bit of sesame oil before handling pirandai. After collecting pirandai, wash it well and break it at the nodes and remove the nodes too. If the pirandai is tender, you can break it with your hands easily into two and pull the fibers apart, like we do for peeling drumsticks. If the pirandai is a bit aged, after breaking at the nodes, take a peeler and remove the sharp edges like we do for ridged gourd, now the prandai is ready to be used. Pirandai chutney or thogayal is very famous in my place and if you have young children at home who don't eat well, try giving this pirandai chutney weekly twice. Even people who complain of indigestion often can include pirandai at least weekly twice in their diet. Poultice made of pirandai is also used extensively for treating sprains in my place. I don't grow pirandai in my garden, as it is found plenty in the farm, I always collect fresh, tender pirandai which easily break for use. My elders have always followed the famous adage that prevention is better than cure, so if we include these kinds of medicinal plants weekly once or twice in our diet, we can prevent many diseases.