Garden egg is in the family of eggplant used as a food crop in several countries in Africa. It is a small, white fruit with a teardrop or roundish shape that is valued for its bitterness.

Botanically, garden egg is known as Solanum melongena of the Solanaceae family and locally called Igba among the Yoruba of Southwest Nigeria and nya among Akwa Ibom people.  The fruit remains a delight for researchers as the effects of garden egg are not only nutritional but significantly of health benefits as the tree that bearers them.

In the past, garden eggs were only available in China and India. They were later introduced to Africa and Europe. The following are the types of garden egg and their characteristics. Solanum melongena: Pear shaped, purple and 9 inches long. Indian eggplant: These are small, purple and have a green calyx. White varieties: These garden eggs are white and are round. Japanese garden egg: long, light purple, have a purple calyx and a very tender skin. Ghostbuster: Is white skinned and sweeter than the ones that appear in purple. These are just but a few types of garden eggs or egg plants. Their skins can appear in light or dark pure, white, gold or striped. Moreover, the length and size varies. Egg plants usually grow in hot areas with consistent moisture and can be destroyed by frost.

Nutritional Value of Garden Egg

The involvement of garden en any kinds of cooking indicates that it has health benefits for our body. In addition to the health benefits, it is not only beneficial to our overall health. It can also give the health benefits of garden egg during pregnancy. The health benefits id possible since this egg-shapes vegetable has its nutritional value. The nutrition contained in each 100 grams of garden egg is:

Sugars 3.53 g
Dietary fiber 3 g
Fat 0.18 g
Protein 0.98 g
Thiamine 0.039 mg
Riboflavin 0.037 mg
Niacin 0.649 mg
Phantothenic acid 0.281 mg
Vitamin B6 0.084 mg
Folate 22 micrograms
Vitamin C 2.2 mg
Vitamin E 0.3 mg
Vitamin K 3.5 micrograms
Calcium 9 mg
Iron 0.23 mg
Magnesium 14 mg
Manganese 0.232 mg
Phosphorus 2 mg
potassium 229 mg
Zinc 0.16 mg

The Health Benefits of Garden Egg for Pregnancy

From the list of nutrition value above, there are many nutrients which are beneficial to the overall health and specifically for pregnancy. The health benefits of garden egg during pregnancy are:

Avoid malnutrition

It is said that the un-born baby takes too much nutrition from the mother. Therefore, the mother may experience the weary teary of pregnancy because they suffer from malnutrition. In this case, consuming garden egg is bale to provide the health benefits of garden egg for pregnancy.

It is able to provide the mother with the complex nutrient and avid the mother from experiencing malnutrition. On the other hand, pregnant women may consider the health benefits of chocolate during pregnancy for fetal growth.

Maintain healthy heart

Nutritionists emphasise that garden egg is enriched with fiber and pectin. Consuming garden egg can remove the exceeding cholesterol and aid the healthy heart. Healthy heart is very important for pregnant women.

Prevent anaemia

Garden egg is enriched with vitamins and minerals. Some of the minerals from garden egg which are useful for pregnant mothers are copper and iron. Copper and iron are essential during the red blood cell formation or haemopoiesis. Therefore, this meaty vegetable is very good for those with anemia. As we know, anemia is one of the wary teary of every pregnant woman.

Control blood pressure

Headache is one of the common complaints from pregnant women. One of the mostly appear factor of headache in pregnant women is due to hypertension. Hypertension or the high blood pressure has a strong relationship with the diet. In case of controlling blood pressure, pregnant women need thee intake of potassium. Potassium will ease the work of the heart.

And the most reachable source of potassium is garden egg. Well, the potassium from this with purple vegetable is sufficient to control the blood pressure and further prevent headaches in pregnant ladies. Or else, the moms-to-be can take dried and shredded garden egg peel regularly before meal to get rid of hypertension.

Remove edema

Besides, garden egg relieves headaches during pregnancy while potassium in the vegetable is good in removing puffiness. Pregnant women commonly get puffy because of weight gain and edema. The potassium intake from consuming garden egg is effective in removing puffiness, especially the edema in the bottom legs.

To get rid of puffiness, it is better for pregnant women to take baked garden egg for dinner. The regular consumption of baked garden egg for dinner can also provide you with good amount of dietary fiber which allows the women to control their weight. As we know, garden egg or egg plants is able to perform the health benefits of eggplant for weight loss.

Aid digestion

Talking about the bowel stimulant, garden egg is important. The meaty garden egg has a gentle fiber which is able to stimulate the bowel movement while helps regulate the acid-alkaline balance within the body. Further, garden egg is also able to avoid some digestive problems such as vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and stomachache.

Improve immune system

Garden egg is unexpectedly able to improve the immune system. The role is supported by the ability of garden egg in performing as anti-bacterial property. Therefore, one of the health benefits of garden egg pregnancy is by improving the immune system. The perfect way in getting the health benefits of garden egg to enhance immunity is by regularly drinking the fresh garden egg juice as it also contains high level of vitamin C.

Strengthen bones

Pregnancy is a condition when the moms-to-be are required to have strong bones. The strong bones will support the extra weight of pregnancy and strengthen the bone. Women should carefully choose the best diet to provide them with the needed nutrition. In this case, garden egg is able to provide sufficient phosphorus and calcium to strengthen the bones.

Relieve stress

Pregnant ladies may prone to stress as they worry about many thing. They worry about the delivery, the baby’s health, their complexion, and everything. But do you know that garden egg is beneficial to relieve stress in pregnant women? Yes, garden egg helps the women to relieve stress as it contains good amount of vitamin B which preserve the proper function of nervous system. The proper function of nervous system will help the stress to stay away from our mind.

Increase energy

The uncooked garden egg is mostly composed by water and carbohydrate. It enables vegetable to provide the sufficient carbohydrate to increase energy in pregnant women. As we know, carbohydrate is still the main source of energy besides fat and protein. Another source of carbohydrate which is good for pregnant women can be obtained from health benefits of brown rice for pregnancy.

Precaution in Consuming Garden Egg For Pregnancy

Nevertheless, the health benefits of garden egg during pregnancy need a special care and handling. Otherwise, garden egg might be useless or further dangerous or health. For example, when we fry the garden egg, we will get nothing but a greasy fried meaty vegetable.

The frying process will damage the fiber and other nutrition value in the garden egg. The worse thing is that the meat of garden egg might be intoxicated by the toxins from the heated oil increase the calories and cholesterol level of the garden egg.

Therefore, fried garden egg is dangerous for those with cholesterol issues. Instead, you’d better boil or bake the garden egg to obtain the optimal health benefits of garden egg during pregnancy.

In addition, the overripe garden egg is not good for pregnant women. It is because the overripe garden egg produces some kind like toxins call solanine that may cause some digestive problems such as stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, and convulsion. Therefore, make sure to choose the perfect ripe of garden egg and properly cook the egg shaped vegetable to get the marvelous health benefits of garden egg during pregnancy women should know.

Side Effects of Garden Egg

Despite all above listed healing qualities, garden egg is not so harmless – harms and benefits depend on the method of their preparation, as well as the degree of ripeness. It is true that fried garden eggs are useless, because during frying fiber is destroyed and meat of garden egg becomes impregnated with toxins segregated from oil during frying. In addition, caloric capacity of fried garden egg is much high if to compare with boiled or baked garden egg. Such fat food will be especially harmful for people who have digestive tract pathology.

Nutritionists do not recommend expectant mothers to eat fried garden egg, because they lie on stomach and feeling of heaviness.

It is dangerous to eat overripe garden egg because they accumulate toxic substance solanine, it can lead to poisoning (it may cause cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, convulsions and confusion).

It is very easy to determine overripe garden egg – it has brown color of the peel, large number of seeds and stale-looking stalk. Therefore, you should choose garden egg carefully, choose only young, almost black elastic fruit. In order to avoid any poisoning by garden egg it is highly recommended to cut garden egg into slices, lie it for half an hour in water with salt before you start cooking (it also eliminates the bitterness of garden egg).

By the way white garden egg doesn’t contain solanine and it is no less tasty.  If you are diabetic, be careful because it can lead to (hypoglycemia because of lack of carbohydrates), stomach ulcers, indigestion, gastritis.
There are tons of tasty and various recipes of dishes from garden egg.

Caution:

Choose garden egg carefully, overripe fruits are dangerous
If you are pregnant, eat boiled or baked garden egg, do not eat raw fruit
Do not eat often and much of garden egg if you have diabetes, gastritis, indigestion and stomach ulcers
Measure is always treasure especially if you are pregnant!
Generally, the fruit helps to avoid parasites. When eaten on a regular basis, the vegetable can prevent parasites in the body. It is packed with vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients which make it an essential part of the daily ration of every pregnant woman. Given the fact that the baby is taking much of the useful nutrients for himself, women often suffer from the lack of individual components in their body. So, eating this plant can be an excellent solution to such situations.

The garden egg plant can be of help to people prone to liver disorders. There are a few ways to treat them medically. Considering its effects in the life of people, it is advisable to increase garden egg consumption to prevent problems with liver functioning.

It prevents colic. If you experience discomfort every time after you eat certain food, then increasing garden egg consumption can be answer. It can prevent such issues and ensure proper functioning of your stomach. The thing is that the same nutrients which help you avoid many health issues can also help you preserve proper functioning of the nervous system.