Health Benefits of Alligator Pepper (Atare)
Category: Health & Physical Fitness
Alligator pepper, (Aframomum melegueta), is a member
of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae), used for years in medicine and
traditional practices.
It is called Grains of paradise (Europeans), Atare (Yoruba), Chitta (Hausa),
or Guinea pepper.
When babies are born in Yoruba culture, they are normally given a small
taste of alligator pepper (Atare) shortly after birth as part of the
routine baby-welcoming process, and it is also used as an ingredient at
traditional meet-and-greets.
Alligator pepper is widely used by many ethnic groups in Nigeria for various
purposes. It is served along with Kolanuts to guests for entertainment, as
communion and used for religious rites by diviners for invoking spirits. It
is a common ingredient for preparing pepper soup, a spicy delight in most
parts of West Africa.
The extracts of its seeds has been used for years against intestinal
infections, infestations, haemorrhoids, to calm indigestion and heart-burn.
Also See:
Health Benefits of Coconut Water
It is an effective herb for the treatment of snake bite. The medicinal
uses of alligator pepper dates back into ages and recently scientists in a
new study corroborate its usefulness in lowering blood sugar under
laboratory conditions.
Alligator pepper is reputedly aphrodisiacs, worm expellant, stimulants
and diuretics as well as useful in the treatment of measles, leprosy, low
breast milk production and excessive bleeding after child birth.
It is used in the Surinam cuisine to flavour dishes such as vegetables
(okra and tomatoes recipes), soups (lentil and chicken) and fish
recipes.
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In Cameroon, traditional practitioners use medicinal plant materials to
treat male factors (erectile impotence, disorders of ejaculation and
oligozoospermia) responsible for male infertility, including the seeds of
Aframomum melegueta (Alligator Pepper, Atare).
In West African folk medicine, grains of paradise are valued for their
warming and digestive properties. A report has it that in Ghana, the seeds
of alligator pepper are chewed to cure dysentery, as a sedative against
toothache, anti-rheumatism, migraine and to cure fever.
Iwu M. (1993) in the book entitled Handbook of African Medicinal Plants
confirmed uses of alligator pepper for the treatment of leprosy, taken for
excessive lactation and post partum hemorrhage, galactogogue and as a worm
expeller.
According to the Medicinal Plants of Nigeria- South West Nigeria Volume 1
compiled and published by Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency
(NNMDA), Victoria Island, Lagos, alligator pepper seeds are chewed to
improve sperm count in men. Also its leaf juice is used to improve fertility
in women and also to regulate menstrual flow.
Some health benefits of Alligator pepper includes:
- Treatment For Malaria, Fever (the leaves)
- Treatment For Wounds and prevent infection (the seeds)
- Improve state of drunkenness (the seeds)
- Helps For Quick Digestion (the seeds)
- Treatment of disorders in Male Fertility; like erectile impotence, disorders of ejaculation, and toxic effects on the testes and accessory sex organs.
- Alligator Pepper, dried roots are chewed and the sap is swallowed for appetite stimulation, stomach pain, and body pain, dysentery, gonorrhea, post-partum bleeding, asthma in children, and to stop vomiting.
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