Cloves are flower buds that come from the clove tree and have a pungent taste of their own. Cloves are known for their anti-inflammatory and anti-diabetic properties. Clove oil is not only medicinal, but clove can have amazing effects on our body.
Cloves contain manganese, fibre and vitamins C and K. While manganese boosts brain function and helps build bones, vitamins C and K help with immunity and prevents blood clotting.
Health Benefits of Cloves
Enhancing Oral health:
Clove oil can be a boon in maintaining oral health because of its numerous positive effects on gingivitis, and bacteria in the mouth. The effectiveness of an herbal mouth rinse containing clove, basil, and tea tree oil can be in the equation with any commercially available clove oil.
The mouth rinse that is done containing clove decreased the number of harmful bacteria more than the commercial mouth rinse.
Helping one with Diabetes:
A study done on mice found out that clove extract and nigericin, a component of clove extract, reduced insulin resistance in mouse muscle cells.
Mice with diabetes had consumed nigericin also had less insulin resistance and improvements in glucose tolerance, insulin secretion, and beta-cell function.
Another animal study looked at the effect of clove bud powder on laboratory markers in a rat model of diabetes. They found that the blood sugar level was lower in rats that received the clove powder compared to those in the control group that did not receive the clove powder.
Destroying Cancer cells:
Many herbs and spices are high in antioxidants, which are chemicals that play a part in reducing damage to cells that could lead to cancer. In one laboratory study, scientists found that clove extract was able to slow the growth of multiple types of human cancer cells. Clove extract also increased cell death in colon cancer cells.
The same study also looked at the effect of clove extract on tumor growth in mice. Tumors grew significantly less in the mice treated with clove extract compared to those in the control group.
In another study, scientists looked at the effect of different preparations of clove extract on human breast cancer cells. They found that clove essential oil and ethanol extract of clove were both toxic to breast cancer cells. The authors reported that cloves might have a beneficial role in the future of cancer treatment since they can cause cell death and slow cell multiplication.
Tackling Obesity:
Scientists have also studied cloves and its effects regarding their potential effects on obesity. In a study of mice, researchers found that clove extract reduced the incidence of obesity resulting from a high-fat diet.
Mice who had taken the clove extract had lower body weight, less abdominal fat, and less liver fat than the one’s belonging to the control group.
