Health Benefits Of Lettuce

Lettuce is one of the most delicate salad plants - there isusually nothing but disappointment to be gained from trying tobring a wilting specimen back to life. It has been cultivatedsince the earliest times, and varieties such as Cos or Romainehad become popular by the middle ages. Culpeper, the old Englishherbalist said, `The juice of lettuce mixed with oil of roses,applied to the forehead and temples procureth sleep and ease thehead-ache'. He goes on to say that when taken 'it abateth bodilylust' this, it seems, is an accurate observation. Lettuce juicehas been likened in effect to the sedative action of opiumwithout the accompanying excitement. H.M. Evans of theUniversity of California demonstrated in a series of experimentsthat whilst the lettuce had a calming effect on sexual ardour,there was a surprisingly strong compensatory effect in that therate of fertility was greatly increased. So although the normalperson might well find these two results to be incompatible (orat any rate inconceivable) lettuce is frequently suggested tohelp men who suffer from premature ejaculation. Pythagoras, theancient Greek mathematician, therefore knew only half of thisinformation when he called lettuce 'The plant of the eunuchs:This compensation results from a mixture of tonic and sedativecomponents in which the calming effect on the nervous system anddigestive organs as well as the sexual is combined with a tonicaction upon the glands. There is a slight laxative action withthe unusual feature that the odor of ill-smelling stools isoften much improved.Lettuce contains a good spectrum of minerals, although these arepresent in average rather than exceptional quantities. Thevitamin content includes a fair amount of carotene, but it isessential to bear in mind that the outer leaves may containfifty times more than the white inside leaves, so juiceeverything. The strong therapeutic effect results from the manyalkaloids present. These include asparagine (see asparagus),lactucine, lactucic acid and hyoscyamine. A mixture of lettuceand spinach juice is said to help the growth of hair if drunk tothe extent of a pint or so a day. So much hair loss is caused byyour genetic inheritance and not through deficiencies that thisinformation is given for the sake of the desperate. There ismuch more evidence for its effectiveness in dealing with anervous cough and as supportive therapy which might help but notcure the diabetic and the asthmatic and help ease those who havecontinuous pain.