Clove, not just for cooking anymore!
I love clove and now know more why my body does too! I've talked about the liver detox properties that Clove brings due to it's main antioxidant: Eugenol. More and more, researchers are discovering just how powerful antioxidants are and how important they are for health. I came across this great information about clove spice and essential oil at www.healthyliving.com:
"The National Institute on Aging developed a way for us to quantify antioxidant capability in the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) system of measurement. Within the ORAC system, cloves come in as one of the highest valued antioxidants, towering over sorghum, the next on the list, by a difference of more than 50,000. (1) This means that clove is a key ingredient for anyone who wants to detox and rid their body of toxins."
This high ORAC rating for Clove spice is due to Eugenol.
"While the ins and outs of free radicals and antioxidants aren’t necessary to commit to memory, it’s important to acknowledge the healing power that antioxidants carry and to become familiar with antioxidant levels in foods and substances. The stronger the antioxidant level, the more you want to utilize that food, spice, or essential oil.
To break antioxidants down to a basic level, they are, on a molecular level, able to target and eliminate free radicals, then reverse the damage that has been done. Free radicals are also molecules, but they set in motion a cascade of cellular problems that can lead to cell death and even cancer. The cellular-level repair that antioxidants are able to accomplish is well-studied, with research connecting it to slowed aging and inhibited disease processes.
ANALGESIC AND ANTISEPTIC
Clove essential oil is a longtime dental remedy, dating back to 1640 in French documentation “Practice of Physic,” and beyond in Chinese tradition. To this day, clove remains a go-to for dental needs.
The Journal of Dentistry published a comparison between CEO in a gel and benzocaine, the topical numbing agent the precedes needles in dentistry. In over seventy participants, no difference was recorded between benzocaine and CEO gel, indicating the same numbing effects.(2)"
So perhaps a mouth rinse with clove in it could be beneficial. Until that is recommended I'll keep up with my daily cups of chai tea- who knew it may be contributing to the years and years of no cavities!
(1)http://www.superfoodly.com/orac-value/spices-cloves-ground/