Řecké seno

Trigonella foenum-graecum L. (Fenugreek; Family: Fabaceae)

• Erect annual herb native to the Eastern Mediterranean, Central Asia and Ethiopia, and is extensively cultivated in India, Pakistan, and China.[14] The name fenugreek comes from foenum-graecum, meaning Greek hay, as the plant was traditionally used to scent inferior hay. The name of the genus, Trigonella, is derived from the old Greek name, denoting ‘three-angled’, referring to the triangular shape of the flowers.[15]

The major bioactive constituents in fenugreek seeds include 45-60% carbohydrates; 20-30% proteins; alkaloids, mainly trigonelline, choline, gentianine and carpaine; flavonoids which include apigenin, luteolin, orientin, quercetin, vitexin and isovitexin; amino acids such as 4-hydroxyisoleucine, arginine, histidine, lysine, leucine, L-tryptophan; saponins such as graecunins, fenugrin B, fenugreekine, trigofoenosides A-G; steroidal sapogenins such as diosgenin, yamogenin, tigogenin, neotigogenin; minerals and vitamins; volatile oils (n-alkanes and sesquiterpenes) and fixed oils.[16]
Fenugreek is traditionally used in India, especially in the Ayurveda and Unani systems. Fenugreek seeds have been in use for over 2500 years.[17] Fenugreek is reported to possess nutritive and restorative properties,[18] and has been used in folk medicine for centuries for a wide range of diseases including diabetes, fever, and abdominal colic, as a poultice for abscesses, boils and carbuncles.[19] Fenugreek seeds are used for their carminative, tonic and aphrodisiac effects.[17] Further, seeds are used as antipyretic, anthelmentic, appetite stimulant, astringent, to cure leprosy, ‘vata’, vomiting, bronchitis, piles, to remove bad taste from the mouth, in heart disease and is recommended for diarrhoea and also in rheumatism (as per Ayurvedic texts). The plant and seeds are suppurative, aperient, diuretic, emmenagogue, useful in dropsy, in enlargement of liver and spleen. The leaves are useful in external and internal swellings and burns, and to prevent hair fall (as per Unani practice).[20,21]
Fenugreek seeds have been shown to possess hypoglycaemic, hypolipidemic and antioxidant effects in pre-clinical [Table 2] and clinical studies [Table 3]. In epidemiological studies, polyphenol and flavonoid-rich extract from fenugreek seeds have been shown to possess the hypolipidemic effect due to their antioxidant defence.[22] The presence of proteins and fibre in fenugreek seeds offers high nutritive value as it contains approximate 26% protein and 48% fibre; and might exert a lipid lowering effect.[37] Dietary fibre (galactomannan) in fenugreek seeds are polysaccharides consisting of a mannose backbone with galactose side chains attached at position C6. Galactomannan consist of linear chains of (1-4)-diequatorially linked D-mannose residues, some contain single-sugar side chains of D-galactose attached by (1-6) glycosidic bonds.[49] Galactomannan found in fenugreek seeds form a viscous gel in the intestine and inhibit glucose and lipid absorption.[23]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4623635/Fenugreek seeds are used as an active ingredient in weight loss and anti-hypercholesterolemic Ayurvedic formulation Ayurslim (The Himalaya Drug Company, Bangalore, India) and Impair-X (Rekindle Health Care Pvt. Ltd., Karnal, India). Taxonomists suggested that as many as 260 species of Fenugreek may exist, of which a total of only 18 species of Trigonella are currently recognized.[50] Various therapeutic benefits of fenugreek seeds have been experimentally evidenced, and the daily dietary intake of fenugreek seeds may provide a higher nutritive value, in addition to high degree of efficacy and safety in obesity treatment.