Radishes are eaten as snacks, usually in varied vegetal dishes, garnish and salads. In some cultures it is thought that radishes stimulate the digestive processes and help to eliminate the excess of fluids in the body. Radishes contain the antioxidant flavonoid kaempferol, which helps to prevent the development of cancer. The leaves are a good source of calcium, beneficial for our teeth and bone development; iron, necessary to maintain the blood in satisfactory state and carotene.

FPC

The mustard acids contain sulphur and confer the radish not only its pungent taste but medicinal properties. They have an antibacterial and antimycotic effect. They clean the gastric and intestinal mucous from bacteria and pathogenic fungi, treating flatulence or chronic diarrhoea. The consumption of radishes two or three times a week guarantees a healthy intestinal flora.

This pungent vegetable is an ideal food for elderly people, since with the pass of the years the substances of defence against the intestine colonization by fungi, virus and bacteria are less and less scarce.

A healthy mucous, without toxic matters or infections, represents the most important immunological organ against diseases of any type. Moreover, the radish components have an anti-inflammatory and healing effect on the blood in the excretion organs.

Its high content of potassium, combined with substances stimulating circulation, confer this vegetable a diuretic property. They prevent the appearance of gallstones and kidney stones, and, according to the popular wisdom, also biliary stones. The active principles of radishes neutralize a pathological bacterial population in the mucous of the kidney, the urine bladder and the urinary tubes, thus relieving and healing inflammations and eliminating the predisposition to urinal disorders (like urine dripping) and incontinence in its initial stage.

However, we must take into account that depending on their origin they may contain high proportions of nitrates, reason why they may bring about a toxic effect in the organism, probably forming carcinogenic nitrites. If they are consumed in excess it is recommended to purchase them in an ecological produce store.