Basil, both salutary and harmful.
Symbol of love for the Romans and tool of the Egyptians for mummification balm, basil, belonging to the family Labiatae, is one of the most important herbs used in Mediterranean cuisine.
The power of basil comes from the fact that it contains many essential oils, potassium, calcium, iron, vitamin A, and Vitamin C.
Basil has a strong sedative effect, for this reason it is also highly recommended in cases of nervous irritability, stress, anxiety and irritability of the digestive tract.
Pesto dishes, combined with dumplings and rice, increase the effect, causing muscles to relax, and is potentiate the sedative and muscle relaxant, to be used at night for hyperexcitability and sleepless, with the only downside risk for those with diabetes.
Tea infused with a hint of basil leaves in a cup of boiling water with sweetener can be taken to increase energy.
An infusion with 5 g of fresh basil with lemon juice and sugar is strongly indicated in gastric spasms.
But Caution should be used with dried basil, as it contains 3.8 mg per gram of estragole, powerful carcinogen, the risk index which is 25 times higher than to benzene.
The risk does not exist if it is used fresh, as it has an inhibiting factor of estragole, which turns off when the product dries. In order to use the basil without the risk just mentioned, you can buy the fresh plant and then freeze it or store it.
The curative effect and harmful represented by the use that is made of basil gives us a very important teaching.
All food, in fact, should be used as much as possible in the same way Mother Nature produces them, limiting the manipulation only for very specific purposes.