Celery Seed Health Benefits

Celery is a biennial plant that belongs to parsley family. Its botanical name is Apium graviolens. Celery grows well in moist and salty soil. It is mainly grown in India and France, but is not restricted to these parts of the world. It blossoms in the months of June and July. The flowers are small in size and white in color. It produces smooth, gray textured fruits. Celery is basically known as a vegetable and widely used in different dishes for its nutritional value. It is sour to bitter in taste. It has a lush, diaper texture. The dried fruit of celery is called celery seed. Celery seed is low in calorie count and therefore is a preferred diet food. However, it has numerous medicinal values as well.

What are the Benefits of Taking Celery Seed?

• The most significant celery seed benefits is due to its anticancer property. It contains several families of components like polyacetylenes and phthalides that are known to fight cancer.
• One of the common celery seed health benefit is its ability to lower blood pressure to a significant level. Hence, daily intake of celery seed is good for maintaining your blood pressure.
• It is known to protect the liver from the harmful effects of acetaminophen, which is an over-the-counter analgesic. Higher doses of acetaminophen causes adverse effects on the liver. Regular consumption of celery seed is reported to balance it up. This fact is not yet scientifically proven.
• Celery seed reduces the level of cholesterol in the body. Reduction in artery-clogging cholesterol, lowers the risk of heart attack. Herbalists commonly make use of this celery seed health benefit to treat circulatory system disorder.
• Celery seed contains various substances like flavonoids, coumarins, linoleic acids and different volatile oils. Because of all these components, celery seed substitute many medicines and drugs in treating a wide variety of ailments. Well, a doctor is the best person to tell you when to use it.
• Celery seeds are believed to have anti-inflammatory properties. Its regular intake helps relieve swelling and pain around the joints. This is the reason why it is used as an alternative treatment for arthritis, gout and rheumatism.
• Celery seed is an uterine stimulant and is known to ease muscle cramps, specifically of the female reproductive tract. This makes it suitable to be used during menstrual cramps and pain. Women should take it to derive such health benefits of celery seed.
• One of the celery seed extract benefits on human health comes from its diuretic property. It increases urination in the body and thus makes it flush out excess of water along with toxins like uric acid. This is another celery seed health benefit.
• Because of the diuresis activity, celery seed is recommendable to patients with kidney stones, gout and obesity due to bloating. It does not allow excessive accumulation of uric acid crystals and water in the body.
• Celery seed is known to be antiseptic and antibiotic in nature. These properties make it useful to treat various types of infection occurring in the body, especially urinary tract infection. Herbalist commonly prescribe it for curing cystitis, bladder and kidney disorders.

You may derive the celery health benefits and nutrition values in many ways. Most of the celery seed consumers prefer to add its dried forms to dishes. It enhances the flavor of spicy foods. There are some who like to use celery seed extract to make creamy, rich base of vegetable soups. You may make celery seed tea by boiling a teaspoon of dried celery seed in a cup of water for about 5 - 7 minutes. You may get celery seed tablets and capsules containing its extract or oil. You can take them as directed on the pack.

Since celery seed is a uterine stimulant, it is not recommendable for pregnant women. It also increases photosensitivity of the skin. Therefore, it is never prescribed to patients of photodermatitis. Except these risks, celery seed is absolutely safe for nutritional and medicinal purposes. However, it will be good if you discuss your state of health with a doctor prior to its usage. This will rule out any possibility of adverse effects on your wellness.