The Practical Benefits of Jujube
Jujube (Ziziphus zizyphus) is one of the most widely used herbs in Chinese traditional medicine, and not without good reason. It is one of the best herbs for treating stress, and encouraging sleep. Jujube has been cultivated and used by Indians, Chinese, Korean, and Eurasian communities for thousands of years, and crossbred into hundreds of cultivars.
Originating from China, the jujube fruit is the plant’s most valuable part. More precisely, its seed found within the fruit is the part that works the magic. A jujube fruit resembles a red date, and hence, it is sometimes called the Chinese Date. The color of the fruit is originally green when immature, but it turns red upon ripening. The texture of the flesh before it ripens is crispy, but soon begins to dry up, soften, and wrinkle afterwards. Dried jujube dates can be found and purchased in almost any Chinese medicinal shop, underlying its importance as a mainstay of traditional Chinese medicine.
A write up on how to grow jujube can be found here. Since it is found over such a wide area, it stands to reason that jujube can indeed be grown and planted in many gardens without much difficulty. So, planting a few jujube trees in your garden can obviously be beneficial, what with an all natural insomnia cure easily within reach.
Scientific studies have shown that heating or boiling the jujube seeds (before consuming them) increases their potency. There are a number of alkaloids and other chemicals found within the jujube seed that impede anxiety, and provide antioxidant protection to cells.
The benefits of jujube don’t just end there. Jujube has been claimed to boost the immune system, and protect cells from many kinds of hazards. As well as lowering blood pressure and treating sore throats, jujube is also claimed to be an analgesic, dulling the sensation of pain.
So all in all, jujube really seems to be a most useful herb for treating a large number of health conditions, and not just insomnia alone. Most of its benefits seem to center around its ability to sooth the nervous system though, and help improve the health of cells.
Hi!
I have Candida (ear-infection). I would like to know if I can eat Jujube? I like jujube very much. They taste so delicious!!
And if I could eat them, how many can I eat per day?
Please let me know!
Thanks!
Hi Claudia,
Off course you can eat jujube, no problem, as much as you want. In fact jujube is eaten as a snack in many parts of the world and it has many health benefits
For your candida problem, I suggest you see a doctor though.
Hi,
My husband has developed high blood pressure recently. i always knew that jujube works for high bld p. but i wonder how big of a serving he needs to have for it to be effective. Also how many servings per day is needed.
@ Minoo
I guess it depends on what you mean by “servings.” If you’re buying the extracts in capsule form, it will be shown on the label how much is contained in one capsule. As jujube is a herb, it would be pretty hard to overdose on this, so I think taking more than the recommended dosage is no harm at all (as long as you’re not gulping the whole bottle down of course). The exceptions to this that I know are pregnant women (should not be taking it).
Remember that it takes a lot of jujube fruits to manufacture one capsule, so if you’re taking the fruit itself, you should be able to indulge. But I must add that jujube is not the only herb for high blood pressure. I think hawthorn berry is better for this and for the heart; jujube is better for sleeping.