Benefits of Mulberries and Mulberry Leaf Tea

Last Updated on November 5, 2018 by Marc Seward

What are Mulberries?

Mulberries, a wonderfully sweet and tart fruit are commonly used to make jam, fruit tarts, tea, fruit juice, sherbets, cordial and wine. However, there is more to mulberries than their delightful flavor.

This delectable little fruit is packed with nutritional and health benefits. From your digestive health to your blood pressure, mulberries have a lot to offer you.

Health Benefits of Mulberries

Despite their tiny size, nutrition and health wise, mulberries pack a punch. Let us take a look at all of the ways incorporating mulberries into your diet can benefit you.

Nutritional Value

If you’re considered about getting enough nutrients and vitamins, you may want to consider adding mulberries to your daily diet. Mulberries provide a source of calcium, potassium, phosphorous, riboflavin, iron, and vitamins A, C, E and K.

Mulberries are packed with lots of fiber, which is wonderful for digestion and maintaining the status quo of the inner workings of your body.

That’s not all, mulberries also loaded with antioxidants and phytonutrients. Adding mulberries to your diet is a good way to maintain a healthy and balanced diet.

Digestion

Getting enough fiber is essential to maintaining a healthy digestive system and keeping things regular. If you’re looking to improve your fiber intake, mulberries contain about 10% of your recommended requirement in just one serving.

Fiber is important because not only does it keep things moving at a reliable and consistent rate through your digestive system, but it also helps to bulk up stools for a healthy movement.

Fiber also improves the functioning of the digestive system by preventing bloating, cramping, and constipation. Fiber’s reach also extends to the cardiovascular system, improving heart health and reducing cholesterol levels.

Cardiovascular System

It is not just the fiber content of mulberries that help keep the heart pumping, but also the antioxidants and flavonoid contents as well.

These antioxidants help improve the functioning of the blood vessels, keeping them dilated and supple, keeping a consistent flow of blood to and from the heart. This helps control blood pressure and helps prevent heart attacks and strokes from occurring.

Circulation

Rich in iron, mulberries encourage the production of red blood cells. By producing more red blood cells, more oxygen gets processed throughout the body, maintaining the health of organs and tissues, while boosting the metabolism.

Immune System

Mulberries are packed with vitamin C and antioxidants, providing your immune system with powerful defenses against infection and illness. Just one serving of mulberries nearly provide you with your full daily requirement of vitamin C.

With the rich source of vitamin C and other nutrients and antioxidants contained in this little fruit, you’re providing your immune system with all it needs to keep your healthy and free of infection.

Eye Health

We take our eyes and our vision for granted. Fortunately, mulberries contain the carotenoid zea-xanthin, which helps reduce oxidative stress on the cells that make up your eyes.

These carotenoids also protect your eyes from free radicals, which could cause irreversible damage to your retinas and vision. Getting enough of these carotenoids in your diet is also great for the protection of your vision because they help prevent the development of cataracts and macular degeneration.

Bone Health

Among the wide array of vitamins and nutrients found in mulberries are calcium, iron, phosphorous, magnesium, and vitamin K. These nutrients help build and maintain the health of bone tissue.

By building health bone tissue, bones will remain strong and help reverse the signs of bone degradation, preventing such diseases as osteoporosis.

Premature Aging

The rich antioxidant content and high levels of vitamin A and E help maintain the youthful appearance of your skin and hair. These antioxidants and vitamins keep your hair shiny and strong, while preventing age spots from ravaging the appearance of your skin.

Cancer Protection

Regularly consuming mulberries may protect you from developing cancer. Loaded with antioxidants, phytonutrients, and vitamins A and C, your cells are protected from mutation while the production of healthy cells is encouraged.

Meanwhile, the antioxidants present in mulberries help prevent oxidative stress from free radicals from occurring.

The Health Benefits of Mulberry Leaf Tea

Consuming mulberries is a wonderful way to boost your health and experience its wonderful benefits. When consumed as an herbal tea, mulberry leaf tea can provide its own unique set of health benefits.

Rich Source of Antioxidants and Minerals

While mulberries themselves are a rich source of antioxidants and minerals, their leaves also provide just as much nutritional benefit. Mulberry leaves are a rich mineral source of zinc, iron, and calcium.

Controls Cholesterol

Studies have found that those that regularly drinking mulberry leaf tea can lower your cholesterol and level of triglycerides. This is especially beneficial to those looking for added cardiovascular protection.

Anti-inflammatory

Regularly consuming mulberry leaf tea can help reduce inflammation caused by illness and disease. Mulberry leaf tea serves as an effective anti-inflammatory, because it suppresses the body’s inflammatory response.

This means that drinking mulberry leaf tea can be used in your pain management routine when treating such inflammatory conditions and ailments.

Reduces Blood Sugar

Research has found that because the tea is rich in gallic acid, mulberry leaf tea effectively lowers blood sugar.

This is good news for those suffering from Type 2 diabetes and those that have problems with blood sugar spikes. Mulberry leaf tea helps stabilize carbohydrate absorption while maintaining energy levels throughout the day.

Weight Loss

Consistently drinking mulberry leaf tea helps prevent the absorption of carbohydrates. During digestion, the starchy carbohydrate-laden foods you eat gets flushed out of your system.

This flushing lowers blood sugar levels and suppressing your appetite. Used in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise routine, drinking mulberry leaf tea can help you attain your weight loss goals.

Alleviates Cold Symptoms

Having a nice soothing cup of hot mulberry leaf tea can help soothe the irritating symptoms associated with colds and flu.

The rich vitamin and mineral content of this tea helps boost your immune system while soothing sore throat, cough, fever, and painful eyes associated with illness.

Mulberry and Mulberry Leaf Tea Side Effects

Adding mulberry leaf tea to your diet can have many benefits, however, this tea is not suitable for all people. Please consider the following before consuming mulberry leaf tea:

Mulberry leaf tea effectively lowers your blood sugar. As a result, some people may experience hypoglycemia or the following symptoms: sweating, shaking, headache, dizziness, blurred vision, and confusion. If you experience any of these symptoms after drinking mulberry leaf tea, contact your physician right away.
People taking certain medications should not drink mulberry leaf tea. Those taking medications to treat diabetes should consult their doctor before drinking this tea to ensure there is no interactions that could negatively affect the blood sugar or increase the chances of suffering from hypoglycemia. While drinking mulberry leaf tea and taking medications for diabetes, it is advised that you closely monitor your blood sugar levels.
Some people may be allergic to the leaves and stems of mulberries. If you consume mulberries or mulberry leaf tea and suffer from such allergic reactions as wheezing, trouble breathing, rapid pulse, swelling, or hives, contact your physician right away.
People with kidney diseases may want to abstain from consuming mulberries and mulberry leaf tea due to its high potassium content.