The #10 Cancer-Healing Food: Tigernuts

A tigernut is a root vegetable, a tuber! It is called a tiger “nut” because it looks like a little nut because of its appearance (once you see one, you’ll know what I mean). Tigernut is a vegetable our paleo ancestors discovered a long time ago and would have relied on for iron and prebiotic starch. Prebiotic starch is a substance that promotes gut and overall health by encouraging the growth of “friendly” gut flora, such as bifidobacteria and lactobacilli, which help us digest vitamins. Believe it or not, but it has the same amount of iron as red meat. Because tigernut is such an excellent source of iron, it is a vegetarian’s best friend! People are just learning about them as they begin to surface in the mainstream. Every household should be stocked with tigernuts, tigernut flour, and tigernut milk because of their incredible health benefits, which include their anticancer properties.

One of my favorite root vegetables, tigernut is high in fiber and resistance starch. Resistant starch has similar a physiologic effect as dietary fiber and can function as a milk laxative. Tigernuts are a viscous starch that is highly valued as a component in some functional foods.[i] It won me over as soon as I heard about it.

It’s easy to grow your own tigernuts. When you purchase a bag of them, simply plant some in soil and water them every couple days. Soon you will start to see grass-like shoots come up, and after about a month, you can pull a whole cluster of new tigernuts up. They grow like weeds, independently, without pesticides. Extremely low maintenance. It’s easy to grow your own tigernuts, when you purchase a bag of them you can simply plant some in soil, water them every couple days and you will start to see grass like shoots sprout up, after about a month you can pull the grass up just like you would a potato or onion and out of the soil will emerge a beautiful cluster of tigernuts!

Eating Tigernuts is good for the environment as well as your body. Tigernut Milk can be made simply by tossing a quarter cup of tigernuts in four cups of water and giving them a spin in a blender. By contrast, almond trees require a lot of water and are often farmed using pesticides. Plus, the milk is often pasteurized, which changes its nutritional value. Almond milk is an environmental hazard because the cartons it comes in are being thrown back onto the earth as garbage. Another reason I like tigernut milk is that it is naturally sweet—no cane sugar is added, like it is to many brands of nut milk. (Of course, you could make your own at home!) Tigernut milk is actually nut-free—despite the name—so it gives the body a break from nuts. People with nut or dairy allergies can feel free to enjoy it.

Tigernuts have been studied for their liver-protecting properties. One study showed that tigernut milk can be useful for preventing liver damage from the pain reliever acetaminophen! In this particular study, 25 rats were randomized into five equal groups. Four groups were treated with various concentrations of tigernut milk. One group (the control) was not. Liver toxins and oxidative stress were measured. Tigernut milk significantly prevented liver injury. Researchers concluded that it is the phytochemicals in tigernut milk, either working directly as antioxidants or indirectly by inducing the synthesis of glutathione, which are responsible for the observed protective effect.[ii]

Drink tigernut milk during chemotherapy when your liver is in danger of being overwhelmed with toxins.
 
Tigernuts Are Especially Good For . . .

• Breast cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Ovarian cancer
• Liver cancer

 
Doctrine of Signatures: Tigernuts look like testicles. Therefore, they are said to be good for the male reproductive system.

Suggested “dosage”:

• If you have cancer, 50 tigernuts daily or 30 grams. This amount could come from a serving of Tigernut Milk.
• To prevent cancer, the same dosage, but every 2–3 days.

 
Cancer-Free with Food recipes with Tigernuts

• Iron-boosting Tigernut Milk
• Chocolate Tigernut Milk
• Use tigernut flour in the Cookie Dough recipe instead of almond flour

 
Other Ways to Incorporate Tigernuts in Your Cancer-Healing Kitchen

• Soak tigernuts to make them easier to chew, and then add them to oatmeal and cereal. Tigernuts are extremely tough, so you want to soak them at least overnight, or buy the “peeled” variation
• Use tigernut flour to make brownies and cookies
• Eat them as a naturally sweet, filling snack when you crave sugar
• Make a Tigernut Milk instead of almond milk! It’s so easy. Put ¼ cup tigernuts and 4 cups of water in a blender and combine—then add a dash of salt and or vanilla, to taste (optional). I also add cacao powder to make it a Chocolate Tigernut Milk.

Resources from Cancer-Free with Food book:

[i]     X. Li, J. Fu, Y. Wang. “Preparation of Low Digestible and Viscoelastic Tigernut (Cyperus Esculentus) Starch by Bacillus Acidopullulyticus Pullulanase,” International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, vol. 102 (September 2017), pp. 651–7, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28433770.

[ii]     N.O. Onuoha, N.O. Ogbusua, A.N. Okorie, et al. “Tigernut (Cyperus esculentus L.) ‘Milk’ as a Potent ‘Nutri-drink’ for the Prevention of Acetaminophen-induced Hepatotoxicity in a Murine Model,” Journal of Intercultural Ethnopharmacology, vol. 6, no. 3 (June 2017), pp. 290–5, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28894628.