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Japanese Knotweed: From the heart to the bowels
What is Japanese Knotweed?
Japanese Knotweed is famous as Fallopia japonica (a member of the family Polygonaceae) in hardcore botany. The plant is large, herbaceous and perennial by category and grows almost everywhere in the East of Asia. So what does this weed in Japan have to do with Resveratrol you ask? Well Japanese Knotweed has one of the highest concentrations of naturally occuring resveratrol of any plant species that's why. However, despite its health benefits, Japan, China, Korea, North America and Europe has declared Japanese Knotweed an invasive plant species as crazy as that sounds.
How it looks:
Japanese knotweed’s hollow stems and distinct, raised nodes make it almost a bamboo (only visually; they are not related at all). The stems are between 3 to 4 meters in length and they grow in clusters. Cracks in the pavements are where they can be found most commonly and need frequent cut-downs. Broad, oval and with a truncated base, the leaves are between 7 and 14 cm long and 5 to 12 cm across. Often have small, cream/white flowers that bloom in late summers to early autumn.
Other English names:
Distinguishing feature:
Old stems of Japanese knotweed are not replaced when new growths appear.
Important facts:
- Japanese Knotweed has high levels of oxalic acid and is not advised to be consumed raw for rheumatic patients, those with arthritis and/or gout and with kidney stones or suffering from hyperacidity. Cooked (steamed, fried, baked) Japanese knotweed has the oxalic acid levels lowered to harmless levels.
- Japanese knotweed comprises concentrated Resveratrol, so far collected only from the skins of red grapes. Resveratrol is as an antioxidant, an anti-cancer agent and also a phyto-estrogen with gene-repairing abilities.
- Japanese knotweed also comprises Emodin, an agent that regulates bowel motility, making it an excellent, mild and natural laxative.
- Methanol extracts of the roots are rich in alkaloids, phenolics and sterol/terpenes that enhance and restore oral health. They reduce Streptococcus mutans (bacterium) found in nearly all humans and the leading cause of dental caries), inhibit sucrose-dependent adherences, glucan and glycolytic acid formation and increase acid tolerance.
In Conclusion:
Japanese knotweed is a problem when it grows wild and creates invasive nuisances; equally, when it poses a health risk due to an abundance of oxalic acid. It is a part of the same system of the plant’s self-defense, which recently has found health applications for humans.
Resveratrol and Japanese Knotweed
Resveratrol, the anti-aging nutrient finds a more economical source from Japanese knotweed; besides, it is also as edible as asparagus, only that the taste resembles rhubarb. However, the Oxalic Acid content might pose problems when Japanese Knotweed is eaten raw. Oxalic acid is a chelating agent that binds to metals like calcium and iron and stops their absorption in the body and deposits them in the joints and kidneys. So patients of arthritis and gout or those who have had kidney stones or have problems with acidic environments being created in the body stay away from it unless you are ready to light stir-fry or steam or cook properly the plant. This will bring down the oxalic acid content to a healthy level.