Okra

Dry, burning irritation of throat or gut mucosa that is eased by a soothing mucilaginous drink

Postprandial blood sugar spikes in early, diet-managed type 2 diabetes where a mucilage-rich food adjunct is wanted

Overview. Okra is a warm-season annual of the mallow family, cultivated across Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Americas for its edible immature seed pods. The pods contain an abundant soluble mucilage that has long been valued in folk and eclectic practice as a gentle demulcent. Eclectic physicians of the nineteenth century used a simple decoction of the fresh or dried pods to soothe irritated mucous membranes of the throat, stomach, bowel, and urinary tract, and the plant remains primarily a food with secondary medicinal use.

Clinical Notes. Okra is reached for less as a potent remedy and more as a food-based demulcent, useful where a patient needs something soothing and nourishing rather than strongly medicinal. A simple preparation is to slice fresh or dried pods and simmer gently in water for ten to fifteen minutes, then strain and drink the mucilaginous liquid warm for sore throat, dry irritable cough, or a hot, irritated gut with loose stool.

Properties and Uses. I. The capsules abound in an agreeable mucilage, which is used as an aliment in broths and soups. An infusion is grateful in dysentery and diarrhea; in acute inflammation and irritation of the stomach, bowels, and kidneys; and during the existence of a glassy tongue in typhoid cases.

Description. Natural Order, Malvaceae. Formerly in the genus Hibiscus. Genus ABELMOSCHUS : Calyx five-toothed, spathe-like; involucre five to ten leaved. Fruit a five-celled capsule, opening by five valves. A. ESCULENTUS : An annual, with erect stems from three to four feet high, branched, woody toward the base, tender parts covered with bristles and often purple-spotted.