Published 17th October 2024
Will okra water improve your health?
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Recently, wellness influencers have turned their attention to okra water. According to the hype, this simple drink can help you overcome all manner of health issues.
For instance, some claim that okra water can support heart health, benefit your skin, help you lose weight, reduce stress, boost your immune system, and even improve women’s sexual health.
This laundry list of benefits might already be setting off alarm bells for you — it certainly sounds too good to be true. So, in this article, we’ll see if the evidence stacks up.
Spoiler alert: Okra water is not a magical cure-all, but it’s not bad for you either (although not as beneficial as eating the whole plant).
Okra in brief
Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), also known as lady’s fingers and gumbo is a fruit native to East Africa. It can be eaten raw or cooked.
As with many other plants, okra is mostly water but contains healthy doses of fiber and other nutrients. In particular, it’s rich in vitamins C and K and some B vitamins. It also contains polyphenols, which may have antioxidant properties.
Interestingly, okra is “mucilaginous” — meaning it contains mucilage. This is why it produces a kind of slimy goo when cooked.
This mucus-like extract may account for some of okra’s health benefits, so we’ll come back to it.
As a brief aside, some scientists are investigating whether okra mucilage might help during wastewater processing and others are creating biodegradable food packaging with it.
How do you make okra water?
Making okra water is simple:
Wash and slice okra pods.
Soak them in water overnight in the refrigerator.
Strain the water to remove the okra.
Then you drink it. And from what we’ve seen on the internet, this might be the most challenging part of the process. Its mucilaginous texture isn’t for everyone.
The health benefits of okra water
Scientists have not investigated the health benefits of drinking okra water specifically, so none of the health claims are backed up by evidence.
As you soak okra, the mucilage (and not much else) seeps into the water. This explains its unusual texture. But what’s in this slime?
According to researchers, the goo contains polyphenols, a small amount of fiber, and micronutrients like zinc and magnesium.
In particular, whole okra is a source of soluble fiber, which can reduce your blood sugar response following a meal.
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Soluble fiber gets its name because it readily dissolves in water to form a viscous liquid in your stomach. This viscosity means the meal stays in your stomach for longer and digestion of carbs slows down.
That all sounds good, so okra water may support health to a certain extent. But we need to remember that mucilage is also available in the whole plant.
And when you consume it whole, you get much more of okra’s nutrients, including the soluble fibre and vitamins.
So, whole okra certainly is a healthy addition to a well-rounded, diverse, plant-based diet. And if you want to try okra water and think you can handle its consistency, go for it. It’s unlikely to do you any harm.
However, if you’re allergic to okra or sensitive to fructans — a type of carb that can cause gut problems for some people — you should skip it.
What you should do
Okra contains a wide range of nutrients, and although some nutrients will diffuse into the water, you’ll get more of the goodness if you eat the whole plant.
When you make okra water, the majority of the plant and its nutrients will be thrown out.
Interestingly, the nutrients may be more bioaccessible in raw than cooked okra. This means your body can access the nutrients more easily. However, both cooked and fresh are healthier and more delicious than okra water.
Health without displeasure
More often than not, nutrition fads involve eating or drinking something unpleasant, doing something painful, or heavily restricting certain aspects of your diet.
If something gives you great discomfort, it must be doing something good, right? “No pain, no gain,” and so on.
Recent examples include adding borax to your drinking water, which is not a good idea by the way, and the all-meat diet. And who can forget coffee enemas, leech therapy, and, of course, drinking mucus-like okra water.
This phenomenon of suffering to achieve good health stretches way back. In the late 1800s, for instance, Horace Fletcher shot to fame and fortune with his message of chewing every mouthful of food 100 times.
You only need to try that once to realize it’s very unpleasant.
Around the same time, weight-loss pills laced with arsenic became popular, and in the early 1900s, people attempted to infect themselves with parasitic worms to lose weight.
It seems there’s something deep in our psyche telling us that if we’re suffering, it’s working.
Sadly, the wellness industry helps cause the problems it claims to solve. It constantly shifts its definitions of a healthy diet — demonizing certain foods while lionizing others. This is rarely based on any scientific evidence.
People are rightly confused by the shifting messages and just want to feel better. At ZOE, we believe that food should be enjoyed. No food is off the table.
Rather than drinking nothing but cabbage juice, follow a delicious, highly enjoyable, diverse, plant-based diet. A diet rich in plants and fermented foods that are suited to your body will keep you happy and healthy. No suffering is required.
If you’d like to learn how to support your overall health without the discomfort, start by taking our free quiz today.
