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Along with other plant-based beverages like coconut water and aloe vera juice, cactus water is the most recent beverage to enter the natural beverage industry.
The juice from the vivid pink fruit of the prickly pear, or nopal, cactus is typically used to make cactus drinks. Cactus water is hence pink in colour rather than clear.
The beverage is naturally low in calories and sugar and high in minerals and antioxidants that promote good health. Additionally, because it includes electrolytes that might help with hydration, it is frequently sold to athletes.
Also useful for skin treatment, cactus water is an ingredient in many cosmetic and beauty products.
Cactus water comes in a variety of brands, but you can easily brew your own at home with prickly pear fruit and a few basic ingredients.
This page discusses cactus water, including its composition in nutrients, advantages, and preparation.
What ingredients are in cactus juice?
Everyone can get a decent serving of nutrition from cactus juice. It is supplemented with numerous vitamins and phytonutrients in addition to having excellent levels of potassium, calcium, manganese, copper, and iron. Additionally, it is a great source of beta-carotene, amino acids, flavonoids, omega 3 fatty acids, and antioxidants. Check out the chart below for further information: Raw nopal (Opuntia ficus-indica), 100 g. nutrition information
Important elements that support better immunity and overall health are abundant in cactus juice. The cactus plant is a common ingredient in South American, Middle Eastern, European, and some Indian cuisines and is typically eaten as a vegetable. Your cardiovascular, digestive, and skin health will all improve with cactus juice. It also works well to relieve cramps and inflammation. Being a great source of antioxidants, it guards your body against the harm caused by free radicals, preventing a number of chronic disorders. Given the paucity of research on the safety and adverse effects of cactus juice, pregnant and nursing women should refrain from eating it.
What happens when you consume cactus juice?
The major advantages of cactus juice may include its potential to help with weight reduction, enhance cardiovascular health, ease digestion, reduce inflammation, lower blood pressure, ease menstrual cramps, manage diabetes, lessen stress, lower your risk of cancer, and more.
May Aid in Weight Loss
Given that cactus juice only has about 15 calories per cup, you may be able to consume a significant amount of it without having an impact on your daily calorie intake. However, it does have the potential to make you feel full and provide you with a number of essential nutrients, allowing you to avoid snacking and overeating without sacrificing your diet! [2]
Might Improve Digestion
Since it can create a protective barrier in the stomach that may reduce inflammation and ease the discomfort of irritable bowel syndrome, diverticulitis, and colitis, this juice has been advocated for intestinal issues for millennia. As it cleans out the colon and digestive tracts, some people also believe that it might aid with issues with constipation, bloating, and cramps. [3]
May Help Manage Diabetes Under Cataract Development
According to a study published in the Saudi Journal for Health Sciences, drinking cactus juice on a regular basis may help shield the body from oxidative damage. By lowering blood sugar levels, reducing oxidative stress, and resuming the activity of antioxidant enzymes, it may also lessen the risk of cataract formation as a side effect of diabetes. [4]
May Have Anticancer Potential
Nine different species of prickly pear cactus juice were tested in a 2009 study that was published in the journal Plant Foods for Human Nutrition to see how they affected cancer cells. It was discovered that some prickly pear juice varieties, which are high in antioxidants such phenolics, flavonoids, and betalains, aid in preventing the formation of prostate and colon cancer cells. The significance of these discoveries and whether they apply to other types of cancer still need to be investigated further. [5]
Might Lower Blood Pressure
The potassium content in cactus skin is astounding. Fresh cactus juice may help lower blood pressure and hypertension symptoms when consumed as a part of a heart-healthy diet. Your heart will work less hard, and your risk of heart attack and stroke will be reduced. [6]
May Act as Anti-inflammatory Agent
According to one animal study, this juice may provide the anti-inflammatory effects you need if you struggle with illnesses like arthritis, gout, irritated intestines, migraines, persistent muscle discomfort, or high levels of oxidative stress. Most of these calming effects are due to the phytochemicals and other antioxidants that may be in the juice. [7]
Can Be A Potential Hangover Cure
Numerous people have sworn by this drink as the best hangover remedy over the years. Cactus juice may effectively combat inflammation while also resolving some of the most typical hangover symptoms, such as nausea and headaches, which are brought on or made worse by excessive alcohol use. [8]
May Relieve Menstrual Cramps
Women suffering from excruciating menstrual cramps frequently turn to cactus juice as a home cure since it contains active compounds that may be anti-spasmodic. According to legend, this juice acts quickly to ease tightness and discomfort in the abdomen as well as the stress and worry that frequently accompany a woman’s period. Although more research is required to verify this claim’s usefulness, those who experience menstrual discomfort should give it a shot. [9]
May Reduce Stress Levels
According to one study, some of the active components in this juice may mirror the effects of cortisone if you have chronic worry or stress. According to several studies done on mice, reducing stress hormone levels and calming the mind can help you focus, unwind, and even get a better night’s sleep. [10]
Is it safe to consume cactus juice?
You may have heard that if you ever become stranded and dehydrated in the desert, a cactus may provide you with water. Although it seems like a good survival tip to keep on hand, is it really that simple? It transpires that a cactus is not essentially a freshwater basin covered in spines. In a dry environment full of thirsty creatures, such a plant would not survive for very long. In addition to their frightening spines, most cactus species further guard their spongy flesh with acids and powerful alkaloids since water is a very valuable resource in a desert. Most people find these substances to be too bitter to tolerate, and ingesting them puts a strain on the kidneys. Some cactus species’ meat can also result in temporary paralysis, vomiting, and diarrhea—none of which are helpful for your survival in a crisis. The prickly pear and one species of barrel cactus, the fishhook barrel, stand out as prominent outliers to this norm (Ferocactus wislizeni). While both of these plants are fairly unpleasant to consume raw, they contain fewer harmful compounds and could provide some hydration in an emergency. Better options include cactus fruits, however many are unpleasant to eat raw.
*Of course, all of this assumes that you are stranded in a desert in the New World with real cacti. Members of the Euphorbiaceae family, which resemble cactus plants, are poisonous and can be found in the deserts of Madagascar and southern Africa. If this plant’s milky sap gets in your eyes, it can permanently blind you and burn your skin and mucous membranes. Do not attempt to consume those.
Christopher Columbus claimed to have seen mermaids off the coast of what is now the Dominican Republic; however, they were manatees, and he described them as “not half as beautiful as how they were drawn.”
Tequila – cactus juice or not?
Tequila is created by fermenting and distilling the juice of Mexican native Agave plants. Mexico is the only country where Weber Blue Agave, also known as Agave Tequilana, is allowed to be used to make tequila. The agave is a plant that inhabits the same habitat as cacti but is not a cactus.
Can people consume cactus water?
Potable water should never be substituted with cactus. If you drink cactus water on an empty stomach, you’ll get diarrhoea or vomit, which can further dehydrate you. This is due to the cactus pulp’s very acidic internal moisture. It’s better to avoid drinking any cactus water because your body will have to work harder to process the alkalis in it.
You could take a few drinks of fishhook barrel cactus in an emergency. The Seri Indians used this cactus as a source of emergency water, but when they drank it on an empty stomach, they complained of vomiting and discomfort in their bones.
Cacti come in more than 2,000 different varieties. Sometimes it might be challenging to correctly identify the types when they look similar to one another. You are suggested to familiarise yourself with the varieties of cacti, succulents, and shrubs that can be found in the area you are visiting or residing in.
Does cactus water cause hallucinations?
Similar to LSD and psilocybin in its hallucinogenic effects is the alkaloid mescaline (magic mushrooms). It naturally occurs in a number of cactus species, most notably the peyote (a Mexican native) and the San Pedro cactus (native to Peru).
Native Americans have employed ‘psychedelic cactus’ as a component of sacred ceremonies for thousands of years, according to historians and archaeologists. But German scientist Karl Heffter didn’t discover mescaline as the cacti’s active component until 1897. Due to his eagerness to experiment with his newly discovered chemicals on himself, Heffter was the first scientist to be called a “pychonaut.” Ernst Spth, an Austrian chemist, created it for the first time in 1919.
The cactus is typically broken up into small pieces and boiled for a few hours before being consumed as water to make mescaline. Chewing the buds that emerge from the cactus stem after it is cut off at ground level is another way to consume it. Additionally, these buds can be dried, crushed, and combined with liquids. The majority of people complain that the cactus has a very strong, disagreeable flavour.
Usage of mescaline typically results in profoundly altered states of consciousness and visual hallucinations (both open and closed eye). Although they are typically enjoyable and enlightening, they can also be accompanied by feelings of dread or disgust. Other unfavourable side effects may include headache, nausea, dizziness, and diarrhoea. Traditional Native American users particularly enjoyed the extreme nausea and vomiting that mescaline-containing cacti may induce since it was thought to be purifying. There have been no confirmed fatalities associated with mescaline usage, and it is not believed to be physically addictive. Usually, a dose lasts for 1012 hours.
Mescaline has been proposed for certain medical applications. According to a meta-analysis published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology in 2012 by the Norwegian researchers Teri Krebs and Pal-Orjan Johansen, there is solid evidence from the 1960s and 1970s supporting the usefulness of the hallucinogen LSD in treating alcoholism. They said that other research have discovered that drugs like mescaline, which have psychedelic effects, also have physiological consequences “indigenous tribes have claimed that peyote helped them stay clean and is highly appreciated and useful.
Similar claims have been made concerning mescaline’s potential as a depression therapy. According to one idea, hallucinogens affect the brain by boosting blood flow and forming fresh, beneficial connections. However, little is known about how hallucinogens like mescaline and others affect the brain. Given that hallucinogens frequently fall under Schedule 1 of the United Nations Convention on Psychotropic Substances, it is challenging to obtain approval for such investigations.
As a result, it is unlawful to take mescaline recreationally in the majority of western nations. However, traditional peyote is not subject to this prohibition in some nations, such Canada. Cacti like the San Pedro can be grown in New Zealand for decorative purposes, but not for recreational use. According to our country’s Misuse of Drugs Act, mescaline is a Class A substance. Accordingly, if you possess it, you might face a six-month jail sentence and if you furnish it, a life sentence.
There is not a lot of information available about mescaline use in New Zealand. For instance, it is absent from the websites of the Drug Foundation, Police Drug Info, and NORML (except for being listed as a Class A controlled substance). This implies that it is not widely used or considered to be a very serious issue.
But it is unquestionably in use here. Two men were apprehended in 2011 while stripping a stolen cactus outside a Te Rapa garden centre. It’s unlikely that they had decorative goals in mind. According to the centre, such thefts were not frequent, but some employees had been contacted by clients seeking a San Pedro cactus so they could “For a high, boil it.
Website for the drug community and harm reduction in New Zealand There is a small community on TripMe that engages in online mescaline discussion, however posts are sporadic and the most recent one appears to date from early 2013.
We shouldn’t be surprised that mescaline hasn’t sparked much interest. The majority of cacti that garden centres sell are fairly little and don’t grow all that quickly. Given that a decent boil-up requires at least 30 centimetres of cactus blade, Matters of Substance believes that mescaline will remain a minor participant in our drug pantheon. The majority of Kiwis who want to get high will use their creativity to cultivate something else.
Background
In a 3-month clinical study, cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica) fibre was found to encourage weight loss. In vitro studies have shown that cactus fibre binds to dietary fat, reducing absorption, which in turn reduces energy absorption and, eventually, reduces body weight.
Subjects and Methods
For about 45 days, healthy volunteers participated in a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled crossover study for this clinical investigation. Twenty healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to receive 2 tablets of cactus fibre or a placebo with each of their three main meals. During the research period, all subjects received meals (with the exception of washout) in accordance with a predefined meal plan, with fat making up 35% of the daily energy requirement. Both the baseline and treatment periods saw the collection of two 24-hour faeces samples for the evaluation of the fat content.
What flavour is cactus juice?
Few people are aware that the nopales cactus’ fruit, which has paddles resembling beaver tails, can be rather appetising. Prickly pear juice is made from the prickly pear fruit, which has a flavour that is described as being a cross between watermelon and bubble gum (if such a thing exists).