KANGKONG: Why it is Superfood and Yet it is Dangerous?

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When we say green leafy foods, obviously they are vegetable and they absolutely good for our health. One of the most popular vegetable for Filipino is “kangkong” (Ipomoea aquatica) which well known as water spinach.

Other names are water morning glory, water convolvulus, or by the more ambiguous names Chinese spinach, Chinese Watercress, Chinese convolvulus, swamp cabbage.

It is a semi aquatic plant, a creeper that grows in or near the water on moist soils. Water spinach has light green ovate leaves, its stems are hollow, so they can float on the water.

Why Kangkong considered as “superfood”?

Kangkong is famous as viand, salad, side dish , garnish for sinigang (a well-known sour pork soup), adobo, you can try also to fry and boil it.

Actually, kangkong can harvest easily as long you are near in water natural resources sources. It is also one of the cheapest vegetable that is why many people consume it.

Indeed, kangkong has tremendous health benefits for being rich in carotene, vitamin A, iron, calcium. Kangkong is also beneficial to the people suffering from hypertension and diabetes.

Why it is harmful?

Although, kangkong has a lot of benefits to offer but according to the recent study kangkong is belong to noxious weeds. Noxious weeds include non-native grasses, flowering plants, shrubs and trees, and aquatic plants that invade wetlands, rivers, lakes and shorelines. Noxious weed is the traditional, legal term for any invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat.

Moreover, noxious weeds can be defined as harmful weeds because of its unstoppable, multiple and aggressively growing. In which they have been introduced into an ecosystem by ignorance, mismanagement, or accident. They also considered them as a large problem in many parts of the world, greatly affecting areas of agriculture, forest management, nature reserves, parks and other open space.

In addition, in a way of how you cook kangkong is actually harmful too. If it is not well cooked, the leaves can harbor a large parasitic intestinal fluke called Fasciolopsis buski, in larval cysts form.

It can causes indigestion, allergic reactions and abdominal pain wherein the cysts release the fluke that anchors itself to the wall of the intestine in which can consume by humans and pigs as well.

However, it is very important that you should wash and cook well before consume it. It is better to be safe and protect yourself from all unnecessary parasites. Because there are still cases which untreated and total of outrage which can be deadly.