The scientific name of basil is Ocimum Basilicum. It is known as the royal herb as well as the king of herbs as it can cure a wide variety of health problems from menstrual cramps to eyes and oral health all the way to diabetes. Basil maybe possibly native to India and have been cultivated for more than 5,000 years. It is a famous ingredient in the culinary world from Italy, India to many Mediterranean and Southeast Asian countries.
Not limited to cooking, there are also some benefits of basil leaves for eyes health that you should know and we are going to talk about it later in this article. It is a part of the mint family alongside oregano (which you should definitely check out the health benefits oregano leaves), rosemary, and lavender.
It contains a lot of minerals and vitamins. However, it got its fame due to its richness of anti-fungal, anti-septic, anti-oxidant as well as anti-inflammatory materials. A quick fact, one of the health benefits arnica is also as a good source of anti-inflammatory materials. There is a wide variety of basil in which most of them are annual plants. Here are some of the most popular types of basil from all over the world that you need to know:
- Holy Basil
It is one of the most common type of basil that you can find easily. This type of basil has a very strong odor which will intensify even more once it got heated or even just lightly cooked. The holy basil is tastes peppery and sharp, and especially hot when eaten fresh.
- Cinnamon Basil
This basil has a really unique fragrance, thus making it great to be combined on savory dishes such as soups, stews, and salads. It can also go well with some desert such as ice cream and fruit salads. Green leaves with serrated edges is the characteristic of the cinnamon basil.
- Western Sweet Basil
Another name for this basil is the “Mediterranean basil”. There are many cultivars of this type that comes with variety of size and leaf shape. The western sweet basil is commonly known to be used in Italian cuisine for pesto.
- Purple Basil
Same as the western sweet basil, there is a wide variety of cultivars of this type of basil that comes with different shades as well as leaf shapes.
- Lemon Basil
This type of basil has two more kinds of its own which are the Indonesian and Malaysian variety and the Western variety. The Indonesian and Malaysian one has slim and dark green leaves while the Western one has thicker and lighter green leaves.
- Thai Sweet Basil
It tastes a bit spicier than the Western sweet basil when cooked. However, both are great ingredients for you to cook soups, mild and light curries, and seafoods. The Thai sweet basil has green leaves. however, it uniquely has dark purple flower spikes as well as purple stems.
Benefits of Basil Leaves for Eyes Health
Now that we’ve learned about the basic information of basil, the article will move forward to explain the benefits of basil leaves for eyes health. The eyes are known to be one of the most vulnerable body parts of human as they can be easily infected by bacterial or fungal.
Basil leaves contents and its benefits for eyes health:
- Vitamin A
Basil leaves are rich of vitamin A which give it the ability to prevent some eye problems such as infections (one of them is conjunctivitis), cataracts, night-blindness and glaucoma.
- Ascorbic acids
The vitamin A in basil combined with its containment of Ascorbic acids, another name of vitamin C, makes it also good to cure the dry eye syndrome as well as Stardgart’s disease. There are also some benefits of vitamin C for hair that you should check out.
- Anti-inflammatory and soothing materials
Both materials contained inside the basil leaves can help to protect the eyes from environmental damage and free radicals.
- Beta-carotene
One of the benefits of basil leaves for eyes health comes from the containment of beta-carotene in it. Beta-carotene makes it able to prevent muscle degeneration as beta-carotene is one of the most fundamental aspects to prevent muscles from degenerating. Click here to learn more about the health benefits of beta carotene.
Ways to Use Basil Leaves for Eyes Health
- To get one of the benefits of basil leaves for eyes health, you can try to drink the basil juice in tea. Do this before you go to bed and see how it will diminishes all of the tiredness and relaxes your eyes.
- Another way to get one of the benefits of basil leaves for eyes health is to consume 100 grams of basil leaves. According to nutritionists and doctors, it will fulfill your daily need of vitamin A. You can also incorporate basil in your daily diet to help you improve your vision.
- Soak some fresh basil leaves in water and use the water to wash your eyes for at least three times a day if you are having eye problems related to bacterial and fungal.
- Basil extracts such as its oil or just is also good to soothe your eyes as well as to protect them from conjunctivitis, boils, and other eye problems.
- A 5 to 10 milligrams drop of basil leaves juice into your eyes can help to treat night blindness.
- You can also try to chew fresh basil leaves or just take some basil leaves paste then apply them to the area around your eyes. It will help to maintain your eyes health as well.
In short, the benefits of basil leaves for eyes health are to treat or prevent some serious eye ailments such as macular degeneration and glaucoma as well as other vision issues such as cataracts, opthalmia, redness, and sore eyes. These are all the information you need about the benefits of basil leaves for eyes health. We hope that you will found this article helpful.