Clodagh's Tips On How To Use Rhubarb In Three Clever Ways | This Morning
Does rhubarb have a lot of sugar?
Did you know that sugars are a type of carbohydrate? And although many people believe that eating fruit is healthy no matter what, fruits do have calories, and some have plenty of natural sugar, which can raise your blood sugar levels. To help you watch what you eat, experts from the Texas A&M School of Public Health list some fruits that can fit into your carbohydrate-friendly meal plan.
This fruit doesn't lack flavor, but does lack sugar.
Rhubarb
This low-carb tart fruit is often thrown into high-sugar recipes, like rhubarb pie and strawberry rhubarb jelly. Rhubarb stalks are a popular snack in some areas, and they have very little natural sugar (only about 1 gram in each cup), so they’re a good choice if you want to manage the amount of sugar in your food. They’re also a good source of vitamin K.
Raspberries are packed in nutrients, without added sugar
Raspberries
Berries in general are nutritional bargains: They’re high in antioxidants, fiber and vitamins while being low in fat, carbs and calories. Raspberries have more fiber than blueberries or strawberries, and the fiber helps avoid a sugar spike by slowing down the body’s breakdown of carbohydrates and absorption of sugar.
Raspberries have about 5 grams of sugar per cup, so add them to your smoothies, salads, oatmeal, yogurt, pancakes or other recipes that could use a bit of sweetness.
These exotic fruits make for a delicious treat
Kiwis
This small exotic fruit has become a grocery store favorite. Not only are these little greens low in sugar, kiwi is packed with vitamin C, which can improve your immune system. Also, a study hinted that eating kiwi before bed could improve sleep onset, duration and efficiency in adults with self-reported sleep disturbances.
Kiwis can be a versatile addition to your kitchen. Its sweet-tart flesh can be added to many dinner recipes, snacks, salads, smoothies and breakfasts.
Cranberries are naturally very tart, so be careful not to buy any with added sugar
Cranberries
Cranberries have become a very prominent seasonal ingredient in many kitchens, but don’t just have these little vitamin C rich berries during the holidays. A study showed that low-calorie cranberry juice could improve several risk factors for cardiovascular disease in adults. However, because cranberries are naturally very tart, many cranberry products in the grocery stores can have a lot of added sugar, so it’s important to read nutrition labels carefully.
Cranberries, with no sugar added, only have about 4 grams of sugar per cup and are very useful in your salads, smoothies, oatmeal, stews and other recipes.
Avocado lovers rejoice! These fruits are very low sugar.
Avocado
Avocado is a necessary addition to taco or fajita meals, and thankfully they are as beneficial as they are delicious. Guacamole lovers can rejoice knowing that this fruit (yes, fruit!) contains only 1 gram of sugar per cup while packing a good amount of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, fiber and nutrients to help you feel fuller longer. Avocados are also rich in vitamin A, which is beneficial for cell growth and a healthy immune system.
Avocados are one of the most versatile foods out there, as they can be added to many breakfast, lunch, dinners, snacks and desserts—yes, desserts. Whether you’re making guacamole, adding it to your burger, or trying a chocolate avocado pudding recipe you found online, know that your taste buds—and body—will thank you.
Why is rhubarb mixed with strawberry?
Q-I grew up eating rhubarb but haven`t cooked with it all that much. I recently saw a friend peeling it. Is this common or necessary? I had never heard this before. Also, is there some reason rhubarb always is mixed with strawberries?
K. Vartell, Chicago.
A-Though it is generally treated as a fruit, rhubarb is actually a plant stem with no outer skin to peel away. Thus, peeling it is not only
unnecessary, it also diminishes one of its chief attributes-its vibrant red color. There are two varieties of rhubarb: hothouse and field grown. That grown in a hothouse has a deeper red color and the stalks tend to be smaller than field grown. Field grown rhubarb is red at the root end and gradually variegates to green towards the leafy top. They are interchangeable in recipes.
Because it is so tart, rhubarb always is sweetened and often is mixed with another fruit-usually strawberries-to minimize its acidic tang. Another good pairing is raspberries. However, nowhere is it etched in stone that rhubarb must be partnered with another fruit. It does just fine in solo showings, a point well documented by the rhubarb custard pie in the following recipe from Mrs. Marjorie B. Jones of Rockford. It is lightly scented with fresh orange rind although the rhubarb stands alone in this old-fashioned dessert. As with all custard pies, it is best served the day it is made.
MRS. JONES` RHUBARB CUSTARD PIE
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Marinating time: 1 hour or overnight
Cooking time: 45 to 55 minutes
Yield: 8 servings
1 prebaked 9- by 1-inch tart shell
2 cups diced rhubarb, about 2 small stalks
1 cup sugar, divided use
2 large eggs
Grated rind of 1 orange
1 tablespoon flour
Dash ground clove
Liquid (rhubarb juice plus whipping cream to equal 1/3 cup)
2 tablespoons butter
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1. Toss rhubarb with 1/4 cup sugar. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour or cover and refrigerate overnight. Strain rhubarb over a bowl, reserving liquid.
2. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Beat eggs with remaining 3/4 cup sugar until thick and light colored. Add orange rind, flour and clove. Add cream to rhubarb juice to measure 1/3 cup. Add to egg mixture and mix well. Fold in rhubarb. Transfer to prebaked tart shell. Cut butter into small pieces and dot over top. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
4. Bake until pie is just set in the center, 45 to 55 minutes. Serve at room temperature.
Q-Baking is a hobby of mine, and I try as many new recipes as I can. Occasionally, I come across something I just don`t understand. Maybe you can help. I have two chocolate torte recipes that I want to try. One is made with pistachio nuts, the other with hazel nuts. Both recipes say that the nuts must be shelled and then peeled. Then, they`re ground up to a powdery consistency. Shelling the nuts is bad enough. I once tried to peel the nuts and went crazy trying to do it. It`s impossible and takes a long, long time. I had to be doing something wrong. How (and why) are you supposed to peel these nuts? Will it really matter if I don`t?
F. Balzer, South Elgin.
A-Since you didn`t say how you peeled the nuts, its hard to guess if you were doing it right or wrong. However, it is safe to say that the right way isn`t necessarily easy or quick. Removing those stubborn little papery shells from a pile of nuts is a tedious and time consuming job. But it`s not impossible.
The first thing that may make your job a bit easier is to purchase shelled nuts. Right away, that saves you one step. Shelled hazelnuts (also called filberts) are fairly easy to find. Pistachios are less so but still out there. Try a health food store if your market doesn`t carry them. Then there`s that papery husk that adheres so tenaciously to the nut.
There are two reasons why it is removed: appearance and taste. The paper, especially in the hazelnuts, contains some tannic acid and can be bitter. Many cooks prefer to remove it for that reason. The minced nuts also look better when the paper has been removed.
How to do it: First, spread the shelled nuts on a baking sheet. If you`re doing more than 1 1/2 to 2 cups of nuts, bake them in batches since they will be easier to peel while they are still warm. Bake them in a heated 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes. Remove the nuts from the oven and while they are still warm, transfer them to a terry towel. Fold the towel up over the nuts so they are completely covered then roll the nuts under your hands to loosen the skin. Use firm steady pressure and keep rolling them to loosen as much of the skin as possible. Uncover the nuts and transfer the peeled nuts to a bowl. Some of them will still have some paper attached. Leave these on the towel for another rub down. If they`ve cooled off too much, return them to the oven for several minutes.
Even after all of your best efforts, there likely still will be some paper on the nuts. Don`t fret. A little bit won`t hurt. In fact, when pressed, some cooks probably would admit to skipping this rather arduous task altogether.
Do I need to peel rhubarb?
Springtime is rhubarb time! Fans of rhubarb adore how it brings the tart factor to seasonal desserts and unexpected tang to savory dishes. Whether you need to prepare rhubarb for pie or any number of rhubarb recipes, here's everything you need to know during rhubarb season.
Headshot of Food Editor, Sheena Chihak, RD
By Sheena Chihak, RD
Updated May 12, 2020
Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission.
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Take full advantage of rhubarb season this year! Those pink and green stalks add big flavor and color to spring recipes. They can go sweet or savory, like in our strawberry rhubarb pie or rhubarb pulled pork. We'll break down the basics of cooking with rhubarb so you'll know how to prep it, how to select good rhubarb at the store or farmers market, and tips on freezing rhubarb to save those fresh flavors for later in the year. Then try some of our best rhubarb recipes.
Better Homes & Gardens
CREDIT: BRIE PASSANO
What Is Rhubarb?
Because the stalks of rhubarb most often make their way into dessert recipes, rhubarb sauce, and other sweets, many people think rhubarb is a fruit. However, as a member of the buckwheat family, rhubarb is actually a vegetable. Two types of rhubarb make their way into markets: they are hothouse and field-grown rhubarb varieties.
Hothouse Rhubarb
This variety has pink to pale-red stalks with greenish-yellow leaves and it's what you'll usually find at the grocery store. If you aren't blessed with a rhubarb plant in your yard and need to know where to buy rhubarb, just check the produce section at your local grocery store during spring months. Out of season, you'll be hard-pressed to find rhubarb outside the frozen aisle.
Field-Grown Rhubarb
More intensely flavored, this seasonal variety of rhubarb is distinguished by its dark red stalks and green leaves. It's a farmers market favorite from April to June.
Test Kitchen Tip: If you find rhubarb too tart for your tastes, look for rhubarb recipes that bring some sweet fruits to the mix. Strawberry-rhubarb is a classic combination in pies, crisps, and other desserts.
Is Rhubarb Poisonous?
Rhubarb stalks are totally safe to eat both raw and cooked. However, you should never eat rhubarb leaves; they contain a toxin called oxalic acid that makes them poisonous and could lead to kidney failure.
Best-Ever Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
CREDIT: ANDY LYONS
When Is Rhubarb in Season?
Hothouse rhubarb is available year-round in some markets. Field-grown rhubarb, however, is available February through June, with its peak season from April through June. Since peak rhubarb season is so short, you'll want to take advantage of it by making your favorite rhubarb recipes while you can. You can always find frozen rhubarb in the freezer section of grocery stores when you're in a pinch.
GET THE RECIPE FOR OUR BEST-EVER STRAWBERRY RHUBARB PIE
Stalks of fresh rhubarb
CREDIT: BLAINE MOATS
How to Choose Rhubarb
Look for crisp stalks that are firm and tender. Avoid rhubarb stalks that look wilted, feel woody, or are very thick. Aside from the flavor differences between hothouse rhubarb and field-grown rhubarb, the color of the stalks doesn't have much impact on taste. For the tenderest, sweetest stalks, look for firm young stalks that are less than 2 inches wide.
What Are the Health Benefits of Rhubarb? - Rhubarb for Weight Loss
If you have a rhubarb patch of your own, here's how to get it from the soil to your kitchen:
Harvest the stalks in spring and early summer. The stalks at the outer edge of the plant can be pulled off at the soil line when the leaves are fully open and developed.
Take hold of the stalk close to the soil line, and give a slight twist as you pull. Never take more than about a third of the stalks at one time.
Stop harvesting rhubarb before midsummer and let the plant continue to grow.
How to Store Rhubarb
Cut off and discard any leaves from the rhubarb stalks (if present).To store rhubarb stalks, wrap them tightly in plastic wrap or reusable storage bags ( $15.99, Target) and refrigerate up to 3 days.
Person chopping rhubarb
CREDIT: KRITSADA PANICHGUL
How to Prepare Rhubarb
Before cooking, trim stalks at the top and bottom. As mentioned above, discard any leave because they're poisonous. Cut away and discard any tough, woody, or bruised parts of the stalks. Wash the stalks thoroughly and scrub with a vegetable brush. You don't need to peel peak-season rhubarb, but by midsummer the stalks tend to be tough and fibrous, so you might need to peel them to make them tastier.
Test Kitchen Tip: Yes, you can eat rhubarb raw, just avoid the poisonous leaves.
Rhubarb in pot on stove
CREDIT: JASON DONNELLY
How to Freeze Rhubarb
If you have more rhubarb than you can use in the next few days, lucky you! Rhubarb freezes well. Here's how to freeze rhubarb step-by-step.
Step 1: Clean
Discard leaves and woody ends. Wash rhubarb with cool tap water, but do not soak. Drain.
Step 2: Cut
Arrange the stalks parallel on a cutting board. Using a sharp, long-bladed knife (such as a chef's knife), cut the stalks into ½- to 1-inch pieces or as directed in your recipe.
Step 3: Blanch (optional)
Fill your sink or a large container with ice water. Then fill a large pot with water, using 1 gallon of water per 1 pound of prepared rhubarb. Bring the pot of water to boiling. Add prepared rhubarb to the boiling water; cover. Start timing immediately and cook over high heat for 1 minute (2 minutes if you live 5,000 feet or higher above sea level). As soon as the blanching time is complete, use a slotted spoon to remove the rhubarb from the boiling water. Immediately plunge the rhubarb into the ice water. Chill for 1 minute (2 minutes for high-altitude cooking); drain.
Test Kitchen Tip: If you're planning to store frozen rhubarb 3 months or longer, the blanching step may help preserve the color of fresh rhubarb better. If you'll be using the rhubarb sooner, you can skip this step.
Step 4: Flash freeze
Place cut (and blanched, if desired) rhubarb on a parchment-lined baking sheet and flash freeze until firm (about 2 to 3 hours).
Step 5: Label containers and freeze
Label freezer bags or containers with contents and the date and freeze up to one year. To use frozen rhubarb, simply thaw in its container in the refrigerator and use as you would fresh rhubarb in recipes.
When you're ready to use your fresh or thawed rhubarb, try it in a grilled strawberry crisp or turn the veggie into a refreshing summery drink with a rhubarb agua fresca. You can also preserve rhubarb in a delicious berry jam.
What fruit is similar to rhubarb?
Rhubarb is a fruit-like vegetable that has gotten more popular over the past few years. It provides a lovely tart flavor that allows it to improve the taste of various types of dishes. When paired with the right amount of sweetness, rhubarb’s unique taste can improve snacks as well.
However, you could be looking to substitute rhubarb for something else from time to time if you’re a chef who loves to try new things.
What is the best substitute for rhubarb? The best substitute for rhubarb is cranberries, thanks in no small part to their similar taste and flavor. Cranberries also work for different dishes, and you can enjoy them in various forms. This versatility makes them easy to work and cook with – a perfect condition for any chef.
Contents show
An Overview of Rhubarb
By all accounts, rhubarb is an interesting vegetable. It has been used for culinary and medicinal purposes over the past few years, although its culinary application has been more popular. The vegetable became especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries as a great addition to desserts. Since then, its application has grown even more.
Rhubarb is also renowned because of its operational versatility. It works with different types of dishes, and you can use it in various forms. Rhubarb can be stewed, roasted, sautéed, sauced, and more. Most people prefer to stew it, as this is a great way to go with things like ice cream and other dessert forms. You can even integrate stewed rhubarb into cocktails and more.
The primary shortcoming for rhubarb is availability. Rhubarb is a seasonal plant, so you might not be able to find it at some specific points in the year. At the same time, rhubarb still isn’t as globally famous as some other vegetable options. So, you might not be able to find it close to you.
Why Substitute Rhubarb?
Taste differences: Rhubarb’s tart flavor might not go well with some people. If you’re such a person, you will need to get a good substitute for it.
Non-availability: For all its benefits, rhubarb isn’t so widespread. This is why many people will prefer to get a substitute that can work in its stead simply.
Options for Rhubarb Substitutes
Best Overall Substitute for Rhubarb: Cranberries
Cranberries work as the best substitute for rhubarb primarily due to their taste. Sweet and juicy, cranberries have a similar flavor to rhubarb. You will also appreciate how easy it is to substitute cranberries for rhubarb – another benefit that comes from the similar taste profiles.
At the same time, cranberries are versatile substitutes. Whether you’re looking to make a fresh fruit salad or you’re making an entire dish, cranberries stand in seamlessly for rhubarb. You can enjoy cranberries roasted, and you can even add them into a muffin recipe instead of rhubarb.
You should note that there are some dishes where you might need to be careful when applying cranberries. For instance, you could add raw cranberries when making garden salads, but most people will recommend that you roast them first. You can use the roasted cranberries in place of roasted rhubarb chunks mixed with sugar or honey.
Cranberries even work when you need a chutney or a sauce – just like rhubarb. For a quick energy snack, feel free to try a rhubarb cranberry tart. At the same time, you could just as well use the same bars with just cranberries if rhubarb isn’t so readily available near you.
If you love using dried rhubarbs for snacks, you could also replace them with dried cranberries. Thanks to the texture and taste similarities, you won’t be missing much at all.
Best Substitute for Making Jam: Quinces
Quinces aren’t so popular when it comes to fruits. However, if you can find them nearby, you should be able to use them as an excellent substitute for rhubarbs. These fruits come with a lovely taste that is akin to a cross between apples and pears. They are small with yellow exteriors, and they come with a similar flavor to rhubarbs.
If you’re looking to optimize the flavor of your quinces, you could also add some lemons to them.
Quinces are especially ideal for making jam or some other jelly-like paste. Their tart-like flavor has a sweet balance, so you’re sure to love using quinces in baking or as a tart for desserts.
As explained, quinces also work well when it comes to baking. Whether you use them as syrup or you’re trying to make beautiful cakes with a hint of tang, quinces are perfect for you. A tart of quinces can also be used over cakes, providing possibly a better option than even rhubarb.
When it comes to roasting, rhubarb is also great for substituting rhubarb. Roasted quinces work in place of roasted rhubarb, and you can make things even better by adding some cinnamon and honey. Bake slices of roasted quinces, and add them to salads. Or, you could enjoy them raw with a fresh lemon squeeze.
Best Alternative Substitute: Raspberries
We already know that the best substitutes for rhubarb are cranberries. However, cranberries aren’t so readily available in the summertime. So, you want something that can work in this period. Ergo, raspberries.
Raspberries might not taste so much like rhubarb, but they work as a suitable substitute nonetheless. You can add some lime to balance the sweetness and provide a lovely tart to the treats.
One of the primary benefits of raspberries is that they work for different purposes. You can use them to make pies, jellies, bake, and even to make tarts. You can also use raspberries in their roasted form. Whatever you can make with rhubarb, you can make with raspberries. Also, raspberries are an ideal, one-for-ins substitute for rhubarb. So, the application is relatively easy.
Why rhubarb is poisonous?
Rhubarb is a plant that enjoys cold climates and is found in mountainous and temperate areas of the world like Northeast Asia.
The species Rheum x hybridum is commonly grown as an edible vegetable across Europe and North America.
Although rhubarb is botanically a vegetable, it’s classified as a fruit in the United States (1Trusted Source).
It has long fibrous stalks that range from dark red to pale green. These are often chopped and cooked with sugar due to their very sour taste.
Meanwhile, its large dark green leaves look a bit like spinach and are not usually eaten due to fears about them being poisonous or inedible.
This article provides all the information you need on the safety of rhubarb leaves.
High in oxalic acid
Rhubarb leaves are considered inedible due to their high concentration of oxalic acid. In fact, both the stalks and leaves contain oxalic acid, but the leaves have a much higher content.
Oxalic acid is a natural substance found in many plants, including leafy greens, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and cocoa (2Trusted Source).
Rhubarb contains approximately 570–1,900 mg of oxalate per 3.5 ounces (100 grams). The leaves contain the most oxalate, comprising 0.5–1.0% of the leaf (3Trusted Source).
Too much oxalate in the body can lead to a condition known as hyperoxaluria, which is when excess oxalate is excreted in the urine. This can also lead to an accumulation of calcium oxalate crystals in the organs (3Trusted Source).
In the kidneys, this can lead to the formation of kidney stones and eventually kidney failure.
Symptoms of mild rhubarb leaf poisoning include vomiting and diarrhea that resolve within a few hours. More serious oxalate toxicity causes sore throat, difficulty swallowing, nausea, vomiting (sometimes including blood), diarrhea, and abdominal pain (3Trusted Source).
Very serious symptoms include kidney failure, numbness, muscle twitches, and cramps.
SUMMARY
Rhubarb leaves contain oxalic acid, which can cause build up in the organs and lead to kidney stones and kidney failure when consumed in high amounts.
Rhubarb leaf poisoning is rare
There are very few reports of either fatal or nonfatal poisoning caused by eating rhubarb leaves.
The reported average lethal dose for oxalate is estimated at 170 mg per pound (375 mg per kg) of body weight, which is approximately 26.3 grams for a 154-pound (70-kg) person (4Trusted Source).
This means a person would have to eat between 5.7–11.7 pounds (2.6–5.3 kg) of rhubarb leaves for a potentially lethal dose of oxalate, depending on the concentration of oxalate in the leaf.
However, lethal amounts have also been reported at lower intake levels (2Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source).
During World War I, people were advised to eat rhubarb leaves as a substitute for vegetables that were unavailable at the time, leading to reports of several poisonings and deaths (3Trusted Source).
There were also reports of poisonings during the 1960s, but because it’s very uncommon to eat rhubarb leaves, there are no reports of deaths from rhubarb leaves in more recent times (5Trusted Source).
However, there are cases of people developing kidney damage from eating high amounts of rhubarb stems, which also contain oxalic acid (7Trusted Source).
Additionally, some people are more susceptible to developing kidney stones and kidney damage from oxalates.
This includes people with certain genetic conditions, as well as those with existing kidney damage, a high vitamin C intake, or vitamin B6 deficiency (7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).
It has also been suggested that both fatal and nonfatal rhubarb leaf poisoning may be caused by another substance known as anthraquinone glycosides — not the oxalic acid. However, more research is needed (3Trusted Source).
SUMMARY
Reports of poisoning from eating rhubarb leaves are very rare. A person would need to eat significant amounts of rhubarb leaves to induce symptoms, although some people may be more susceptible to developing kidney problems from oxalates.
The bottom line
Rhubarb leaves contain high amounts of oxalic acid, which can cause health problems when eaten in higher amounts.
Symptoms of toxicity include mild gastrointestinal symptoms, as well as more serious problems, such as kidney stones and kidney failure.
Although reports of poisoning are rare, it’s best to avoid eating rhubarb leaves, particularly if you have any condition that increases your risk of kidney stones.
Last medically reviewed on March 17, 2020
Written by Elise Mandl, BSc, Msc, APD on March 17, 2020 — Medically reviewed by Jillian Kubala, MS, RD, Nutrition
NUTRITION
Is Rhubarb Good for You? All You Need to Know
What it is
Uses
Nutrition
Benefits
Sour taste
Side effects
Cooking tips
Bottom line
Rhubarb is a vegetable known for its reddish stalks and sour taste.
In Europe and North America, it’s cooked and often sweetened. In Asia, its roots are used medicinally.
This article provides a detailed overview of rhubarb, including its uses and potential health benefits.
Rhubarb 101 - Everything You Need To Know About Rhubarb
What is rhubarb?
Rhubarb is renowned for its sour taste and thick stalks, which are usually cooked with sugar.
The stalks range in color from red to pink to pale green and have a consistency that’s similar to celery.
This vegetable requires cold winters to grow. As a result, it’s mainly found in mountainous and temperate regions around the world, especially in Northeast Asia. It’s also a common garden plant in North America and Northern Europe.
Several varieties and species exist. In the West, the most common variety is called culinary or garden rhubarb (Rheum x hybridum).
SUMMARY
Rhubarb is a vegetable grown for its thick, sour stalks, which are usually eaten after being cooked with sugar.
How is it used?
Rhubarb is an unusual vegetable because it’s very sour and slightly sweet.
In fact, it’s easily mistaken for a fruit. Adding to the confusion, rhubarb is officially classified as a fruit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (1Trusted Source).
Due to its sour taste, it’s rarely eaten raw. Instead, it’s normally cooked — either sweetened with sugar or used as an ingredient.
It wasn’t until the 18th century, when sugar became cheap and readily available, that rhubarb became a popular food.
Before that, it was mainly used medicinally. In fact, its dried roots have been utilized in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years.
Only the stalks are eaten, most commonly in sweet soups, jams, sauces, pies, tarts, crumbles, cocktails, and rhubarb wine.
As sweet rhubarb pies are a traditional dessert in the United Kingdom and North America, this vegetable is sometimes called “pie plant.”
SUMMARY
Rhubarb is a vegetable often categorized as a fruit. Due to its sourness, it’s regularly sugared for use in jams and desserts.
Nutrient content of rhubarb
Rhubarb is not especially rich in essential nutrients, and its calorie content is low.
However, it is a very good source of vitamin K1, providing around 26–37% of the Daily Value (DV) in a 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving depending on whether it’s cooked (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).
Like other fruits and vegetables, it’s also high in fiber, providing similar amounts as oranges, apples, or celery.
A 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving of cooked rhubarb with added sugar contains (3Trusted Source):
Calories: 116
Carbs: 31.2 grams
Fiber: 2 grams
Protein: 0.4 grams
Vitamin K1: 26% of the DV
Calcium: 15% of the DV
Vitamin C: 6% of the DV
Potassium: 3% of the DV
Folate: 1% of the DV
Although there are decent amounts of calcium in rhubarb, it’s mainly in the form of the antinutrient calcium oxalate. In this form, your body can’t absorb it efficiently (4Trusted Source).
It is also moderately high in vitamin C, boasting 6% of the DV in a 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving.
SUMMARY
A 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving of cooked rhubarb provides 26% of the DV for vitamin K1. It’s also a good source of fiber. Otherwise, it’s not a significant source of essential nutrients.
Health benefits of rhubarb
Studies on the health benefits of rhubarb are limited.
However, a few studies have examined the effects of isolated rhubarb stalk components, such as its fiber.
May lower cholesterol levels
Rhubarb stalks are a good source of fiber, which may affect your cholesterol.
In one controlled study, men with high levels ate 27 grams of rhubarb-stalk fiber every day for a month. Their total cholesterol dropped by 8% and their LDL (bad) cholesterol by 9% (5Trusted Source).
This beneficial effect is not exclusive to rhubarb fiber. Many other fiber sources are equally effective (6Trusted Source).
Provides antioxidants
Rhubarb is also a rich source of antioxidants.
One study suggests that its total polyphenol content may be even higher than that of kale (7Trusted Source).
The antioxidants in rhubarb include anthocyanins, which are responsible for its red color and thought to provide health benefits. Rhubarb is also high in proanthocyanidins, also known as condensed tannins (8, 9Trusted Source).
These antioxidants may be responsible for some of the health benefits of fruits, red wine, and cocoa (10Trusted Source, 11Trusted Source).
SUMMARY
Rhubarb is a good source of fiber and antioxidants. Studies show that rhubarb fiber may lower cholesterol, but research on its health benefits is otherwise limited.
Why does it taste sour?
Rhubarb is probably the most sour-tasting vegetable you can find.
Its acidity is mainly due to its high levels of malic and oxalic acid. Malic acid is one of the most abundant acids in plants and contributes to the sour taste of many fruits and vegetables (8).
Interestingly, growing rhubarb in darkness makes it less sour and more tender. This variety is known as forced rhubarb, which is grown in spring or late winter.
SUMMARY
Rhubarb is exceptionally sour, making it hard to eat raw or without sugar. The sour taste is mainly due to malic acid and oxalic acid — though forced rhubarb is much less sour than other varieties.
Safety and side effects
Rhubarb is among the richest dietary sources of calcium oxalate, the most common form of oxalic acid in plants.
In fact, according to folk tradition, rhubarb should not be harvested past late June, as oxalic acid levels are said to rise from spring to summer.
This substance is particularly abundant in the leaves, but the stalks may also contain high amounts, depending on the variety.
Too much calcium oxalate can lead to hyperoxaluria, a serious condition characterized by the accumulation of calcium oxalate crystals in various organs.
These crystals may form kidney stones. Sustained hyperoxaluria can lead to kidney failure (12Trusted Source).
Not everyone responds to dietary oxalate in the same way. Some people are genetically predisposed to health problems associated with oxalates (13Trusted Source).
Vitamin B6 deficiency and high vitamin C intake may also increase your risk (14Trusted Source).
Additionally, growing evidence suggests this problem is worse for those who lack certain beneficial gut bacteria. Interestingly, some gut bacteria, such as Oxalobacter formigenes, degrade and neutralize dietary oxalates (15Trusted Source, 16Trusted Source).
Although reports of rhubarb poisoning are rare, make sure you consume it in moderation and avoid the leaves. What’s more, cooking your rhubarb may reduce its oxalate content by 30–87% (17Trusted Source, 18, 19Trusted Source, 20Trusted Source).
SUMMARY
Rhubarb may be high in oxalates and should be eaten in moderation. Notably, cooking reduces its levels of oxalates. Make sure to avoid the leaves.
How to cook rhubarb
Rhubarb can be eaten in a number of ways. It is usually used in jams and desserts, which contain plenty of added sugar.
That said, it’s easy to use in low-sugar recipes — or even cooked with no sugar at all.
A few creative ideas include rhubarb salad and healthy rhubarb crumble. You can also add this vegetable or its jam to your morning oatmeal.
SUMMARY
Rhubarb is a popular ingredient in crumbles, pies, and jams — foods that are usually loaded with sugar. However, you can also find rhubarb recipes with little or no added sugar.
The bottom line
Rhubarb is a unique vegetable that people use in cooking and baking.
Since it may be high in oxalate, you should avoid eating too much of it and try to select stalks from low-oxalate varieties. If you are prone to kidney stones, it might be best to avoid rhubarb altogether.
On the bright side, rhubarb is a good source of antioxidants, vitamin K, and fiber.
Additionally, its sour taste makes it a perfect ingredient in jams, crumbles, pies, and other desserts.
Obesity and obesity-related disorders, such as type 2 diabetes have been progressively increasing worldwide and treatments have failed to counteract their progression. Growing evidence have demonstrated that gut microbiota is associated with the incidence of these pathologies. Hence, the identification of new nutritional compounds, able to improve health through a modulation of gut microbiota, is gaining interest. In this context, the aim of this study was to investigate the gut-driving effects of rhubarb extract in a context of diet-induced obesity and diabetes. Eight weeks old C57BL6/J male mice were fed a control diet (CTRL), a high fat and high sucrose diet (HFHS) or a HFHS diet supplemented with 0.3% (g/g) of rhubarb extract for eight weeks. Rhubarb supplementation fully prevented HFHS-induced obesity, diabetes, visceral adiposity, adipose tissue inflammation and liver triglyceride accumulation, without any modification in food intake. By combining sequencing and qPCR methods, we found that all these effects were associated with a blooming of Akkermansia muciniphila, which is strongly correlated with increased expression of Reg3γ in the colon. Our data showed that rhubarb supplementation is sufficient to protect against metabolic disorders induced by a diet rich in lipid and carbohydrates in association with a reciprocal interaction between Akkermansia muciniphila and Reg3γ.
Keywords: Rhubarb, obesity, diabetes, gut microbiota, Akkermansia muciniphila, Reg3γ
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1. Introduction
The prevalence of obesity has increased dramatically over the past several decades and continues to grow at pandemic rates [1,2,3]. The major cause of obesity resides in the imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure, although complex interactions between behavior, environmental, genetic and physiological factors explain the heterogeneity in the development of obesity between individuals [4,5]. Obesity and, more broadly, metabolic syndrome (see review [6] for definition) are strongly associated with the development of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, hypertension and other comorbidities [7,8,9,10]. Although, the prevention of obesity by reducing food intake and/or increasing energy expenditure is to promoted, recent attempts at long-term weight loss or management have not been encouraging [11]. Considering the complexity of the obesity pandemic, considerable efforts are still needed to develop efficient strategies able to attenuate the burden on health care [12]. Developing specific foods that have promising intrinsic health benefits is a possible intervention that has been proposed.
Prebiotics fall into this category. A prebiotic is defined as “a substrate that is selectively utilized by host microorganisms, conferring a health benefit” [13,14]. This definition covers different food components, including several non-digestible carbohydrates (i.e., fibers) and plant extracts-derived polyphenols. The growing interest for prebiotics over the last decades stems from their ability to remodel the intestinal microbial community, which constitutes the one of the first sites of interaction between the host and its diet [15,16,17,18]. In a context of diet-induced obesity, prebiotic administration is able to alleviate metabolic endotoxemia (i.e., circulating LPS), gut barrier dysfunction, dyslipidemia and insulin-resistance through mechanisms, involving the modulation of specific bacteria [19,20,21,22,23,24,25]. Although, more than 100 different taxa are affected by prebiotics in rodents [19,25], Bifidobacterium spp and Lactobacillus are generally thought to be the main drivers of their beneficial effects [26,27,28]. However, recent evidence highlighted that some prebiotics also target Verrucomicrobia phylum and particularly Akkermansia muciniphila [19,25,29,30,31,32,33], which has confirmed health-promoting effects in both rodents and humans by different mechanisms, linked to the reinforcement of the gut barrier function [24,34,35,36]. Indeed, in order to efficiently maintain microbial homeostasis, the intestinal barrier is composed of a dense mucus barrier and includes antimicrobial peptides (AMP). These components are highly modulated by the diet. High fat diet (HFD) feeding leads to reduced mucus thickness and decreased expression of AMP, all contributing to HFD-induced gut fragility and associated disorders [24,37,38,39,40].
In this study, we were interested in the effects of a dry extract of rhubarb roots, which is derived from Rheum palmatum (also known as Rheum officinale or Chinese rhubarb). This anthraquinone-rich crude extract has a long history of herbal usage in traditional Chinese medicine for the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases. The Rheum genus encompasses several species that have been attributed antioxidant, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic and anti-bacterial effects [41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48]. Among them, Rheum palmatum may exert hepatoprotective effects [49]. Additionally, Rheum palmatum has recently been demonstrated to attenuate hepatic inflammation induced by acute alcohol intake by a mechanism involving a modulation of the gut microbiota [50]. However, the effects of rhubarb extract have never been investigated during obesity and prediabetes. Therefore, the present study aimed to characterize the microbiota-associated metabolic benefits of a rhubarb extract in mice fed a high-fat and high-sucrose diet (HFHS). We found that a 0.3% supplementation with rhubarb extract protects mice efficiently against obesity, glucose intolerance, adiposity and adipose tissue inflammation. These beneficial effects were associated with a gut microbiota remodeling favoring the expansion of Akkermansia muciniphila.
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2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Mice
Eight-week-old male C57BL/6J mice (Janvier, Le Genest-Saint-Isle, France) were co-housed in pairs under Specific and Opportunistic Pathogen Free conditions (SOPF) and in a controlled environment (temperature of 22 ± 2 °C, 12-h daylight cycle) with free access to food and water. Mice were acclimatized during one week with a control diet (D12450H; Research diet) and then randomly assigned to one of three dietary conditions (n = 9–10/group): (1) CTRL group, fed a control diet containing 10% calories from fat (D12450J; Research Diet; New Brunswick, NJ, USA); (2) HFHS group, fed an high-fat and high-sucrose diet (HFHS), containing 45% calories from fat and 35% calories from carbohydrates (D12451; Research diet; New Brunswick); or (3) RHUB group, fed an HFHS diet supplemented with 0.3% (grams extract/grams food) rhubarb extract (Ortis, Elsenborn, Belgium) mixed in the HFHS diet (prepared by Research Diet under controlled conditions). A dose of 0.3% has been chosen to allow direct comparison to the study [50], hich described the effects of rhubarb root extract on control diets [50]. The composition of rhubarb, used in this study, refers to the composition used previously by Neyrinck et al., [50]. The percentage of anthracenic derivatives (expressed as rhein) is 5.07 on dry matter. All mice were fed ad libitum all along the experiment. Body weight, food intake and water intake were recorded weekly for eight weeks. Body composition was assessed once a week by using a 7.5-MHz time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance (LF50 minispec; Bruker, Rheinstetten, Germany). Feces were harvested at the beginning (Day 0), after 4 weeks (Day 28), and at the end (Day 56) of the experiment. In the final week of the experiment, feces were collected for each cage by transferring the animals to clean cages for a period of 24 h. After this, feces were manually collected, dried overnight at 60 °C and weighted to assess the amount of feces secreted per day. Then energy content was measured on a C1 calorimeter from IKA. Per cage containing two animals, one mean value was considered for analysis.
All mouse experiments were approved by and performed in accordance with the guidelines of the local ethics committee. Housing conditions were specified by the Belgian Law of 29 May 2013, regarding the protection of laboratory animals (agreement number LA1230314).
2.2. Oral Glucose Tolerance Test
An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) was performed after 7 weeks of experiment as previously described [23]. Briefly, 6h-fasted mice were given an oral glucose load (2 g glucose/kg body weight, and blood glucose levels were recorded at different time points, 30 min before and 15, 30, 60, 90 and 120 min after glucose load. Glycaemia was measured with a glucometer (Accu check, Roche, Basel, Switzerland) on blood droplets collected from the tip of the tail vein.
2.3. Tissue Sampling
At the end of the experiment (week 8) and after 6h of fasting, all mice were anesthetized with isoflurane (Forene, Abbott, Queenborough, Kent, UK), and blood was sampled. After exsanguination, mice were euthanized by cervical dislocation. Liver, adipose tissues and different sections of the intestines were dissected, weighted and immersed in liquid nitrogen before long-term storage at −80 °C for further analysis.
2.4. Biochemical Analysis
To determine the plasma insulin concentration, blood was harvested from the tip of the tail vein using capillaries prior to glucose load (−30 min) and 15 min after glucose load. Plasma insulin concentration was measured using an ELISA kit (Mercodia, Uppsala, Sweden), according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Insulin resistance index was determined by multiplying the area under the curve of the blood glucose (−30 to 15 min) and plasma insulin (30 min and 15 min) [51].
Hepatic inflammatory markers levels (RANTES, TNF-α, IL-6, IFN-γ) were quantified in 50 µL of liver tissue lysates (100 mg of protein in PBS, containing 0.5% bovine albumin serum) using Bio-Plex Pro Assay Mouse Cytokine (Bio-Rad, Hercules, USA).
Lipid peroxidation was evaluated by measuring thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) that are formed as fat-degradation by-products. After liver lysis in saline solution (NaCl), aldehydes from protein carbonyl groups, contained in the lysate, react with thiobarbituric acid (TBA) forming an aldehyde-TBA complex, which can be detected by spectrophotometry (520 and 535 nm). Protein concentration was measured by the Bradford method using BSA as standard.
2.5. Liver Lipid Quantification
Liver lipids were measured after extraction according to Folch method et al., [52], as previously described [53]. Briefly, approximatively 100 mg of liver tissue was grinded in 2 mL of CHCl3:MeOH (2:1) and then homogenized using an ultrasonic homogenizer. Lipids were extracted by adding 400 µL of 0.9% NaCl solution and vigorously shaking. After centrifugation, the lower lipidic phase was collected in a new glass tube and dried under nitrogen. Glass tubes were weighted before, and after, lipid extraction, in order to estimate the total lipid content. The dried residue was solubilized in 1.5 mL isopropanol. Liver triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations were measured using kits coupling an enzymatic reaction with spectrophotometric detection of the reaction end-products (Diasys Diagnostic and systems, Holzheim, Germany), according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
What Are the Health Benefits of Rhubarb? Is it a Superfood?
2.6. Citrate Synthase Activity Assay
Citrate synthase activity in the brown adipose tissue was assayed in approximatively 10 mg of brown adipose tissue lysed in 20 volumes of CelLytic MT Cell Lysis containing 1% (vol/vol) of protease inhibitor cocktail P8340 (Sigma, Saint-Louis, MO, USA) by bead-beating. The lysate was centrifuged at 10,000 g during 10 min at 4 °C two times in order to remove the lipids and the tissue debris. Tissue extract was diluted 1:10 in a 100mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.1) containing 10 mM 5,5′-dithiobis-(2-nitrobenzoic acid) (DTNB) and 30 mM acetyl-CoA. After the addition of 10 mM oxaloacetate, free coenzyme A produced from the condensation of acetyl-CoA and oxaloacetate was bound to DTNB, and resulting change in light absorbance detected spectrophotometrically at 412 nm was used to determine the activity of citrate synthase (µmol/mg/s).
2.7. Histological Analyses
Subcutaneous adipose tissue depots were fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde for 24 h at room temperature. Samples were then immersed in ethanol 100% before processing for paraffin embedding. To determine the adipocyte tissue diameter, paraffin sections of 5 µM were stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Images were obtained using a SCN400 slide scanner and digital Image Hub software 561 (Leica Biosystems, Wetzlar, Germany). Adipocyte diameter was determined using ImageJ (National institutes of health, Bethesda, MD, USA). F4/80 positive areas in the adipose tissue were randomly counted after immunostaining with F4/80 antibody (Ab6640, Abcam, Cambridge, UK). All histological observations were full blind analyzed by three individuals (S.G, M.V.H and M.R). At least 5 fields/mice were randomly selected and obtained using SCN400 slide scanner and digital image hub software (Leica Biosystems, Wetzlar, Germany).
2.8. RNA Preparation and Real-Time qPCR Analysis
Total RNA was prepared from tissues using TriPure reagent (Roche, Basel, Switzerland). Quantification and integrity analysis of total RNA were performed by analyzing 1 μL of each sample in an Agilent 2100 Bioanalyzer (Agilent RNA 6000 Nano Kit, Agilent, Santa Clara, CA, USA). cDNA was prepared by reverse transcription of 1 μg total RNA using a reverse transcription system kit (Promega, Madison, WI, USA). Real-time PCR was performed with the CFX Manager 3.1 software (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) using Mesa Fast qPCR (GoTaq qPCR Master Mix, Promega, Madison, WI, USA) for detection, according to the manufacturer’s instructions. RPL19 was chosen as the housekeeping gene. All samples were performed in duplicate, and data were analyzed according to the 2−ΔΔCT method. The identity and purity of the amplified product were assessed by melting curve analysis at the end of amplification. The primer sequences for the targeted mouse genes are presented in Supplemental Table S2.
2.9. Gut Microbiota Analysis
Feces were sampled for gut microbiota analysis at 3 different time points: The beginning of the study (day 0), after 4 weeks (day 28) and at the end of the experiment (day 56). Genomic DNA was extracted using a QIAamp DNA Stool Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany), according to the manufacturer’s instructions, including a bead-beating step. qPCR was performed with the CFX96 Bio-Rad Real-Time PCR system and CFX Manager 3.1 software (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA, USA). Primers used for qPCR amplification are listed in Supplemental Table S1. The cycle threshold (CT) of each sample was compared with a standard curve made by diluting genomic DNA isolated from a pure culture of a type strain (BCCM/LMG, Ghent, Belgium; DSMZ, Braunshweig, Germany).
2.10. Bacterial DNA Sequencing
Feces from day 56 were then used for sequencing analysis. Genomic DNA extracted from fecal content of the mice was diluted at 20 ng/µL and used as template for the amplification of the V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene with the primers 515F(GTGYCAGCMGCCGCGGTAA) and 806R (GGACTACNVGGGTWTCTAAT). High-throughput sequencing of purified amplicons were analyzed using Illumina MiSeq cartridge, according to the manufacturer instructions, using 30 amplification cycles with an annealing temperature of 65 °C. As MiSeq sequencing enables paired 300-bp reads, the ends of each read overlap and can be stitched together to generate extremely high-quality, full-length reads covering the entire V4 region. The quality of the run was checked internally using PhiX, and for further analysis, each pair-end sequence was assigned to its sample using the previously integrated index. The resulting reads were processed through FROGS pipeline implemented on a galaxy instance [54,55]. The sequences were de-replicated and clustered using swarm method with an aggregation distance equal to 3 for the clustering [56]. Chimeras were removed using the Vsearch tool [56]. Sequences were then filtered to keep clusters, also called operational taxonomic units (OTUs) present in at least 4 out of 30 samples and representing 0.00005% of all sequences. The taxonomic affiliations were performed using 16S SILVA database (Silva 138, Max Planck institute, Bremen, Germany). The average number of sequences per sample was 121,510 sequences. Alpha diversity (Chao1 and Simpson) and the Jacard-Binary metric were performed using FROGS. An metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) plot using the Jacard-Binary metric was created using R. Multivariate ANOVA statistical analysis with Adonis was performed to determine the statistical differences of microbial community among the different diet groups. This test used the Jacard-Binary dissimilarly matrix as the input and was performed over 9999 permutations. The resulting p-value is the result from the comparison of the diets after 56 days of experiment. Abundance of phyla and genera was calculated as percent abundance of OTUs present in the entire microbiota.
2.11. Statistical Analysis
Mouse data are expressed as the mean ± s.e.m (standard error of mean). Statistical analyses were performed using Graphpad Prism for Windows (version 8.00; graphpad software, San Diego, CA, USA). One-way or two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed, followed by appropriate post-hoc tests (Dunnett’s or Bonferroni, respectively) when differences were significant. Bacterial DNA sequencing was analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparison test. A p-value < 0.05 was considered significant. For all analyses, exclusion decision was supported by the use of the Grubbs test for outlier detection.
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3. Results
3.1. Rhubarb Root Extract Prevents Obesity and Fat Mass Accumulation in Diet-Induced Obese Mice
Mice were fed either a control diet (CTRL), a high fat and high sucrose diet (HFHS) or a HFHS diet supplemented with 0.3% (g/g) of rhubarb (RHUB) for 8 weeks. As expected, mice fed the HFHS diet gained more weight during the 8 weeks of follow-up compared to the ones fed the CTRL diet. However, rhubarb supplementation completely prevented this diet-induced weight gain and fat mass accumulation (Figure 1a,b). At the end of experiment, mice supplemented with rhubarb (RHUB) exhibited body weights and adiposities similar to that of control-diet fed mice (CTRL) that differed significantly from that of the HFHS-group from day 42 on (Figure 1a,b). Food intake was not affected by rhubarb-supplementation and both HFHS and RHUB groups showed increased caloric intake. This suggests that protective effects of rhubarb supplementation on weight gain and fat mass accumulation could not be attributed to a reduction in energy intake (Figure 1c). However, we found that rhubarb supplementation was associated with a significantly increased fecal energy excretion (Figure 1d).
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Figure 1
Rhubarb root extract prevents obesity and fat mass accumulation in diet-induced obese mice; (a) Body weight (g) over an 8 weeks period and final body weight; (b) Fat mass gain; (g) over an 8 weeks period and final fat mass gain; (c) Total energy intake (kcal) over the 8 weeks period and mean of the water intake (mL/mouse/day); (d) Energy measured in the feces at the end of the experiment (Kcal/g feces/24 h). White, CTRL fed mice; Black, HFHS fed mice and Blue, HFHS fed mice supplemented with rhubarb. Data represent mean ± SEM. * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.005. HFHS, High fat/high sucrose; RHUB, Rhubarb.
3.2. Rhubarb Root Extract Blunts Glucose Intolerance, Hepatic Steatosis and Liver Inflammation
In response to the HFHS diet, mice developed a mild fasting hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance, both defining prediabetes (Figure 2a,b). In contrast, supplementation with the rhubarb extract completely abolished these effects. This was concomitant with an improvement in glucose load-induced hyperinsulinemia (Figure 2c), resulting in a significant reduction of the insulin resistance index (Figure 2d). Liver weight was unaffected in rhubarb-treated mice (data not shown), but diet-induced liver steatosis (determined by measuring hepatic lipid content and hepatic triglycerides) was prevented by rhubarb supplementation (Figure 2e). Hepatic cholesterol levels were also significantly reduced in rhubarb-treated mice (Figure 2f). This was associated with a significant decrease in hepatic levels of inflammatory markers such as RANTES, TNF-α, IL-6 and IFN-γ (Figure 2h). The level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) remained unchanged compared to HFHS fed mice, suggesting that rhubarb supplementation alleviated hepatic inflammation but not oxidative stress (Figure 2g). Taken together, these data show that rhubarb supplementation effectively affects glucose homeostasis and liver metabolism and prevents prediabetes, insulin resistance and liver steatosis in a mouse model of diet-induced obesity.
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Figure 2
Rhubarb root extract blunts glucose intolerance, hepatic steatosis and liver inflammation (a) Plasmatic glucose (mg/dL) measured 6 h after a fasting period. (b) Plasma glucose profile (mg/dL) measured between 30min before and 120 min after glucose loading (n = 8–10/group) and corresponding area under the curve. (c) Plasma insulin levels (µg l−1) at 30 min before and 15 min after glucose loading. (d) Insulin resistance index determined by multiplying the AUC of blood glucose by the AUC of insulin. (e) Hepatic lipid content (µg lipids/mg liver) and hepatic triglycerides (nmol/mg liver) measured by Folch. (f) Hepatic cholesterol (nmol/mg liver) measured by Folch. (g) Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in the liver. (h) Hepatic inflammation markers measured using Bioplex. White, CTRL fed mice; Black, HFHS fed mice and Blue, HFHS fed mice supplemented with rhubarb. Data represent mean ± SEM. * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.005. OGTT, Oral glucose tolerance test; AUC, Area under the curve; IR Index, Insulin resistance index; TBARS, Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances; RANTES, Regulated upon Activation, Normal T Cell Expressed and Presumably Secreted; TNF-α, Tumor necrosis factor-alpha; IL-6, Interleukin-6; IFN-γ, Interferon-gamma.
3.3. Rhubarb Root Extract Protects Against Adiposity and Adipose Tissue Inflammation
As expected, mice fed a HFHS diet accumulated significantly more fat mass during the 8-week follow-up than the control mice. However, mice for which the HFHS diet was supplemented with rhubarb root extract were resistant to excessive fat mass accumulation, and had fat pads (visceral, epididymal and subcutaneous) of similar proportions as those of the control mice (Figure 3a). Adipocyte morphology from rhubarb-supplemented mice was similar to CTRL treated animals (Figure 3b,c). Next, we performed an immunohistological F4/80 staining, in order to visualize macrophages infiltration in the subcutaneous fat depots. Histological pictures showed that rhubarb-treated mice exhibited a trend towards decrease in macrophage infiltration (Figure 3d,e). In line with these results, we found that rhubarb exerts anti-inflammatory effects in the adipose tissue. The mRNA expression of inflammatory markers Tnf, Il10, Lbp and Itgax were significantly decreased after rhubarb supplementation (Figure 3f). Rhubarb-treated mice also had lower brown adipose tissue (BAT) weight (Figure 3g) and this was associated with increased Ucp1 mRNA expression (Figure 3h), although this did not reach the significance threshold. To assess activity and number of mitochondria in the BAT, we measured the citrate synthase activity and found that rhubarb increased the activity of citrate synthase and that this is strongly correlated with BAT weight (p < 0.001) (Figure 3i). Taken together, these data suggest that the rhubarb root extract prevents diet-induced adiposity and adipose tissue inflammation.
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Figure 3
Rhubarb root extract protects against adiposity and adipose tissue inflammation (a) Adipose tissue weights (mg) measured after 8 weeks of experiment. SAT, subcutaneous adipose tissue, EAT, epididymal adipose tissue, VAT, visceral adipose tissue. White adipose tissue index measuring by adding all adipose tissue weights. (b) Representative adipose tissue Hematoxylin and Eosin staining. Scale bar, 25 µM. (c) Adipocyte size (µm3). (d) Representative adipose tissue F4/80 immunohistological staining. Scale bar, 25 µM. (e) Counting of the F4/80 positive area. (f) mRNA expression of different inflammatory markers in the adipose tissue. (g) Brown adipose tissue weight (mg) measured after 8 weeks of experiment. (h) mRNA expression of Ucp1 in the brown adipose tissue. (i) Brown adipose tissue citrate synthase activity (µmol/mg BAT/sec) and correlation between brown adipose tissue weight and citrate synthase activity. p-value and R2 come from linear regression. White, CTRL fed mice; Black, HFHS fed mice and Blue, HFHS fed mice supplemented with rhubarb. Data represent mean ± SEM. * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.005. WAT, White adipose tissue, BAT, Brown adipose tissue, CS, citrate synthase.
3.4. Rhubarb Root Extract Affects Antimicrobial Peptides and Intestinal Renewal
Next, we investigated whether the observed metabolic benefits were associated with an improvement in key markers of the gut barrier function. We previously discovered that prebiotics, such as inulin-type fructans maintain intestinal microbiota homeostasis by acting on several lines of defense of the gut barrier, such as the production antimicrobial peptides (AMP), and intestinal epithelial cells renewal [25]. We did not observe a specific alteration of several AMP in HFHS treated mice (Figure 4a). However, we found that rhubarb increased the mRNA expression of Reg3g and Pla2g2 by ~3 and ~7 fold, respectively in the colon, suggesting that rhubarb reinforces innate immunity to maintain mucosal homeostasis (Figure 4a). The mRNA expression of other AMP such as Lyz1 and Ang4 decreased in mice supplemented with rhubarb (Figure 4a). In addition, mRNA expression of Intectin, a key protein involved in intestinal epithelial cell turnover was strongly induced (~2.5 fold) in rhubarb fed mice (Figure 4b). These findings suggest that the rhubarb root extract is able to reinforce gut barrier integrity by targeting specific antimicrobial peptides, and by increasing epithelial cell renewal.
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Figure 4
Rhubarb root extract affects antimicrobial peptides and intestinal renewal (a) mRNA expression of different antimicrobial peptides in the ileum (left panel) and in the colon (right panel). (b) mRNA expression of intectin in the colon. White, CTRL fed mice; Black, HFHS fed mice and Blue, HFHS fed mice supplemented with rhubarb. Data represent mean ± SEM. * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.005.
3.5. Effects of Rhubarb Root Extract on Gut Microbiota Composition
Then, we analyzed the gut microbiota of mice from CTRL, HFHS and RHUB groups by using metagenomics analysis. At day 56, three distinct microbial communities are observed by the non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) (ANOVA performed with Adonis, F.Model = 5.5856, p < 0.0001). In line with our previous observations, MDS revealed that rhubarb root extract strongly impacts on gut microbiota composition (first axis) and this effect is superior to the one of HFHS (second axis) (Figure 5a). Interestingly, rhubarb-fed group clustered differently from HFHS group but also from CTRL mice, suggesting that rhubarb may remodel the gut microbiota independently from the diet. Then, we investigated the effect of rhubarb supplementation on alpha-diversity distribution. Chao1 and Simpson indexes showed that rhubarb-fed mice exhibited a reduced richness (p = 0.00156) and evenness (p = 0.0149), respectively (Figure 5b). Then, we deeply analyzed the composition of gut microbiota by examining phylum and genus microbial changes among the groups. Interestingly, while the Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio is almost unchanged, rhubarb-fed mice exhibited a large increase in Verrucomicrobia and a decrease in Proteobacteria phyla (Figure 5c,d). Analyses at genus level confirmed that rhubarb root extract drastically changed the composition of gut microbiota since 12 out of 28 bacterial genera are significantly affected by rhubarb supplementation (Figure 5c). Among the most affected genera, the abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila, Parabacteroides and Erysipelatoclostridium significantly increased upon rhubarb supplementation, while Ruminococcus and Peptococcus significantly decreased in rhubarb-fed mice. Therefore, we found that rhubarb root extract massively and specifically remodeled the gut microbiota, with a stronger impact on some specific genera.
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Figure 5
Effects of rhubarb root extract on gut microbiota composition (a) Non-metric multidimensional scaling (MDS) representing the Jaccard-binary differences between individuals within each group. (b) Bacterial α-diversity from fecal microbiota. Bacterial richness (Chao1 index) is shown on the left; bacterial evenness (Simpson index) is shown on the right. (c) Relative abundance obtained by OTUs of the major bacterial phyla (left) and genera (right). (d) Relative abundance of specific bacterial phyla and genera in each sample among the CTRL, HFHS and RHUB group. (c,d) Kruskal-Wallis test with Dunn’s multiple comparison test. * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.005 for HFHS vs. RHUB; # p ≤ 0.05, ## p ≤ 0.01, ### p ≤ 0.005 for CTRL vs. HFHS.
3.6. Rhubarb Root Extract Promotes the Growth of Akkermansia muciniphila in HFHS Fed Mice
Given that the most affected phylum and genus after sequencing were Verrucomicrobia and its unique representative in the gut, Akkermansia muciniphila, we were interested in precisely quantifying Akkermansia muciniphila by qPCR. Indeed, its abundance is known to be increased by some prebiotics [19,25,29,30,31,32,33], and we have previously linked this genus to the improvements of intestinal barrier, obesity and diabetes [24,34,35,36]. Given that we have previously observed a link between specific bacteria, such as Akkermansia muciniphila and the expression of several antimicrobial peptides (AMP), we specifically followed the evolution of Akkermansia muciniphila abundance from the beginning to the end of the experiment. Fecal samples were harvested after acclimatization time (Day 0), after 4 weeks of CTRL, HFHS or HFHS-RHUB diet exposition (Day 28) and at the end of the study (Day 56). At baseline (Day 0), the similar bacterial load between all groups was confirmed by measuring total bacteria by qPCR. In contrast, the quantity of fecal bacteria differed progressively from day 28 to day 56, according to diet composition (Figure 6a). Mice fed the CTRL diet showed increased number of total bacteria starting from day 28. Rhubarb supplementation, on the other hand, led to a decrease in total amount of bacteria by Day 56, resulting in a negative delta between the beginning and the end of the experiment, thereby validating the results from metagenomics analysis (Figure 6b). These findings confirm previous results, obtained after 17 days of rhubarb exposure [50]. Next, we investigated the abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila, known to be modulated by HFHS and prebiotic exposures [26,27,28]. Interestingly, we found that, while the abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila tended to decrease in CTRL- and HFHS-exposed mice, rhubarb supplementation significantly increased the abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila from day 28 (Figure 6b). The difference in abundance between day 0 and day 56 was positive only for the rhubarb-supplemented mice (Figure 6b). Moreover, metagenomics analysis revealed that rhubarb-fed mice exhibited massive increase in the relative abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila (Figure 5c and Figure 6c). When investigating whether changes in Akkermansia muciniphila composition were correlated with immunity, we found that while Akkermansia muciniphila is poorly associated with Pla2g2, Lyz1, Defa, Ang4 and Intectin mRNA expression in the colon, a positive correlation was observed between Reg3y gene expression and the abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila (Figure 6d). Interestingly, the rhubarb-fed mice who exhibited the lowest levels of Akkermansia muciniphila at the end of the experiment (qPCR and 16S sequencing) also showed the lowest mRNA expression of Reg3y. These findings suggest that one mechanism by which the rhubarb root extract could preserve intestinal barrier integrity is by reinforcing the crosstalk between Akkermansia muciniphila and Reg3y.
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Figure 6
Rhubarb root extract promotes the growth of Akkermansia muciniphila in response to HFHS (a) Total bacteria measured by qPCR at day 0, day 28 and day 58 of experiment (Left panel). Difference of total bacteria between day 56 and day 0 (right panel). (b) qPCR analysis of Akkermansia muciniphila in the fecal content (left panel). Difference in Akkermansia muciniphila between day 0 and day 56 (right panel). (c) Relative abundance (percentage of 16S rRNA gene sequences) of Akkermansia muciniphila measured in fecal content of mice after 56 days of experimentation. (d) Correlation between Akkermansia muciniphila and Reg3y, Pla2g2, Intectin, Ang4 and Lyz1 mRNA expression, respectively. The p-value and R2 come from linear regression. White, CTRL fed mice; Black, HFHS fed mice and Blue, HFHS fed mice supplemented with rhubarb. Data represent mean ± SEM. * p ≤ 0.05, ** p ≤ 0.01, *** p ≤ 0.005. R², Coefficient of determination.
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4. Discussion
There is a large body of evidence supporting the beneficial effects of plant-derived extracts and fibers on health, and particularly on the features of metabolic syndrome. However, the underlying mechanisms often remain elusive.
In this study, we assessed the properties of a polyphenol-rich rhubarb extract on the metabolic consequences in mice fed a high-fat, high-sucrose diet, which closely mimics the unhealthy human dietary pattern that leads to obesity-associated disorders [57]. We found that rhubarb supplementation (0.3 g/100 g diet that is equivalent to 8.7 mg/mice/day or 294.2 mg/kg body weight for mice and a human equivalent dose = 23.5 mg/kg) efficiently prevented diet-induced obesity, visceral adiposity, glucose intolerance, hepatic steatosis and adipose tissue inflammation induced by the HFHS diet. The overall health improvements were associated with a decrease in the expression of inflammatory genes and a lower number of macrophages in the adipose tissue, showing the anti-inflammatory potency of the rhubarb extract also in the context of obesity and glucose intolerance.
The anti-obesogenic effect of rhubarb is likely related to an increase of energy excretion/expenditure rather than to a decrease in energy intake. Indeed, we did not observe any difference in food intake, but we found; (1) an increase in the energy excreted via the feces; and (2) an increased mitochondrial activity evidenced by increased citrate synthase activity. Despite their relatively low abundance compared to white adipocytes, brown adipocytes are clinically relevant because they exhibit high metabolic activity in response to several stimuli (cold, ketogenic diet, β-adrenergic stimulation…) and this adaptive thermogenesis is pertinent in the context of obesity [58,59,60,61,62]. Recently, an increase in BAT activity has been identified as one of the mechanisms protecting mice from obesity in mice treated with an extract of camu camu, a polyphenol-rich berry [63].
We and others have found in rodents that specific prebiotics, such as inulin-type fructans and some polyphenols specifically protected mice from obesity and diabetes-associated glucose metabolic disturbances, linked to an increase in bacterial diversity [19,20,21,22,23,24,25]. Here, we found that HFHS-fed mice have lower fecal alpha-diversity levels. Surprisingly, this reduction was intensified in rhubarb-supplemented mice. These results confirm the findings from a previous study showing that the decrease in alpha-diversity in response to rhubarb supplementation was due to a lower evenness, rather than a decrease in the bacterial richness [50]. The observed metabolic effects of prebiotics have previously been linked with changes in the microbiota and are often associated with an increased abundancy of Akkermansia muciniphila, a commensal bacterium with proven health-promoting properties [19,24,25,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36]. Moreover, several herbal-based dietary intervention studies have been shown to increase the abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila [64,65].
Here, we found that although the rhubarb extract acted on the overall gut microbiota composition, the major impact was observed on the phylum Verrucomicrobia, which is represented by the genus Akkermansia muciniphila. This effect on Akkermansia muciniphila had already been described for certain rhubarb extracts under standard diet and diet-induced obesity and diabetes [50,66,67]. Under control diet, rhubarb extract supplementation led to an increase in the abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila, which was associated with metabolic improvements (increased crypt depth and mRNA expression of antimicrobial peptides) [50]. Under diet-induced obesity, high doses of a purified anthraquinone-glycoside preparation from rhubarb (400 mg/kg) or Sennoside A (an active ingredient of rhubarb) increased Akkermansia muciniphila and were as efficient as metformin on glucose tolerance, obesity and inflammation [66,67]. However, the mechanism of action of rhubarb extracts against obesity remain unclear. Although, we cannot directly attribute the rhubarb-induced metabolic improvements to the blooming of Akkermansia muciniphila, several indications imply that Akkermansia muciniphila might be involved.
First, the rhubarb crude extract is rich in polyphenols, particularly in anthraquinones, which represent the main bioactive ingredients of rhubarb, and have been described as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumoral and hepatoprotective agents [68] (see Supplemental Figure S1). Polyphenols are poorly digested in the upper intestinal tract and, as a consequence, reach the colon intact, where they can be metabolized by specific bacteria [69] and impact directly on gut microbiota composition.
Second, Akkermansia muciniphila has previously been shown to reverse HFD-induced obesity and diabetes by affecting metabolism and improving gut barrier function [24,36,70]. These findings have been supported by a recent clinical study demonstrating that Akkermansia muciniphila ameliorates several metabolic parameters in human (i.e., insulin resistance, cholesterol and markers of hepatic and systemic inflammation) [34]. Moreover, this genus has been demonstrated to be positively regulated by polyphenols in both physiological and pathological conditions [29,30,31,32,33,71,72,73]. Therefore, we speculate that Akkermansia muciniphila is involved, and perhaps even required, in achieving the metabolic improvements induced by rhubarb supplementation.
The BEST Rhubarb Drink I've Ever Had
Although, we propose that Akkermansia muciniphila is likely involved in the beneficial effects of the rhubarb extract, the mechanisms behind may have different origins. In reality, rhubarb might directly interact with goblet cells producing mucus to modulate the production of Akkermansia muciniphila. It is accepted that Akkermansia muciniphila uses intestinal mucins (proteins of the epithelial mucus layer) as its main source of carbon and nitrogen [74]. Moreover, some phenolic fractions such as proanthocyanidins modulate the abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila, while concomitantly expanding mucus thickness [75]. However, we observed no significative change in the expression of Muc2, one of the members of mucin protein family, suggesting that rhubarb exerts its prebiotic effect on Akkermansia muciniphila independent of mucus secretion (data not shown).
Another mechanism might depend on the antimicrobial peptides (AMP), also known as host defense peptides, which are secreted by the epithelial cells covering the mucosal surface (Paneth cells). Most AMP have direct antimicrobial activities, whereas others act indirectly by modulating the host defense systems [76]. They form an important component of the gut ecosystem and participate to the microbial adaptation upon diet-induced obesity [37,38,39]. The best-characterized AMP are Reg3γ, Pla2g2, Lys1, Defa and Ang4. These peptides act as a firewall against mucin-degrading species by affecting their viability [77]. We found that rhubarb supplementation led to huge increases in the expression of two critical AMP, Reg3-γ and Pla2g2. Akkermansia muciniphila had previously been positively correlated with intestinal expression of Reg3γ, a C-type lectin that specifically targets Gram-positive bacteria [24,25], a finding that we confirmed in this study. It is interesting to note that “Reg3-γ non-responders” (mice that had very low expression of Reg3-γ), also had the lowest fecal levels of Akkermansia muciniphila, suggesting that gut microbiota composition and especially Akkermansia muciniphila determined the levels of Reg3-γ, and thereby participated in improvement in gut barrier function in response to rhubarb supplementation. We cannot exclude that other bacteria are involved in the regulation of AMP, especially because Reg3-γ expression is also well-correlated with the increase in Bifidobacterium in mice fed an HFHS diet supplemented with rhubarb (data not shown). Therefore, we hypothesized that rhubarb might prevent the overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria by stimulating the crosstalk between Akkermansia muciniphila and Reg3γ, thereby participating to protect against HFHS-induced disorders.
Other intestinal agents are also involved in the regulation of gut barrier integrity. Intectin is a glycosylphosphatidyl inositol-anchored protein that is a specific resident of the small intestine. Intectin is localized on the mucosal villi, where it facilitates the rapid turnover of intestinal mucosa [78]. Here, we found that rhubarb increased the colonic expression of Intectin more than two-fold. However, this was not correlated with Akkermansia muciniphila abundance. Up-regulation in the mRNA expression of Intectin has already been demonstrated with inulin-type fibers but never with polyphenol-rich prebiotics [25]. Recently, we demonstrated that administration of Akkermansia muciniphila in mice attenuated the down-regulation of Intectin that occurred, in response to HFD [79]. This represents another mechanism by which rhubarb extract supplementation can contribute to reinforce the gut barrier function [25,80,81]. Moreover, the increased expression of Intectin is accompanied by an increase in fecal energy excretion. This led us to postulate that an increase in epithelial cell renewal may contribute, not only to maintaining barrier integrity, but also to higher energy elimination via the feces. Increased fecal energy excretion could therefore represent a potential mechanism mediating the effects of rhubarb.
In summary, this study unveiled the beneficial properties of a rhubarb crude extract in a murine model of diet-induced obesity using a high-fat/high-sucrose formulation that closely resemble the nowadays human diet. Rhubarb supplementation is sufficient to prevent all the metabolic disorders induced by the HFHS diet. Therefore, we propose that there is a close relationship between Reg3γ and Akkermansia muciniphila and that this reciprocal interaction participates in the metabolic improvements in response to rhubarb supplementation.
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Acknowledgments
We thank A. Puel, S. Genten, A. Barrois, H. Danthinne, B. Es Saadi, L. Gesche, R.M. Goebbels, I. Blave, V. Allaeys (at UCLouvain, Université catholique de Louvain) for their excellent technical support and assistance. We thank C. Bouzin and A. Daumerie from the IREC imagery platform (2IP) from the Institut de Recherche Expérimentale et Clinique (IREC) for their excellent help. P.D.C. is senior research associate from the FRS-FNRS and M.Ra. is research fellow from the FRS-FNRS.
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Supplementary Materials
The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/10/2932/s1, Supplementary Materials: Supplementary Table S1 Primer sequences.
Click here for additional data file.(83K, pdf)
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Author Contributions
M.R. (Marion Régnier), M.V.H. and P.D.C. conceived and designed the experiments. M.R. (Marion Régnier) and M.V.H. performed the experiments, data analysis M.R. (Marion Régnier), M.V.H. and P.D.C. performed the interpretation. M.R. (Marialetizia Rastelli) and F.S. performed histological analysis. A.M. (André Marette) performed bioplex analysis. T.L.R. helped for citrate synthase assay. M.R. (Marion Régnier), M.V.H. and P.D.C. wrote the manuscript. P.D.C., M.V.H., G.P., A.M. (Arianne Morissette) and N.M.D. provided intellectual input on the paper and reviewed the paper. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
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Funding
This work was supported by the SPW Walloon Region DG06 under the grant “DGO6 NUTRIMICROBIOTA C-7906 PL MARSH” Wagralim, the Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS FRFS-WELBIO) under the grant WELBIO-CR-2019C-02R.
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Conflicts of Interest
PDC is an inventor of patent applications dealing with the use of Akkermansia muciniphila and its components in the context of obesity and related disorders. PDC is co-founder of A-Mansia Biotech SA. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.
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What is Rhubarb?
Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum) belongs to the family Polygonaceae. It is herbaceous perennial that grows from short, thick rhizomes. The rhubarb stalks get its color owing to the presence of anthocyanins. The shades vary from crimson red, pink to light green.
7 Health Benefits Of Rhubarb
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Interesting Facts about Rhubarb
Though rhubarb is a vegetable, in 1947 a New York court declared rhubarb a fruit and thereby, in US, rhubarb is considered a fruit.
The leaves of rhubarb are poisonous and only the stalks are the edible part of the plant.
Rhubarb grown in hothouses or heated greenhouses are redder and sweeter than rhubarb grown in the open. They are called ‘hothouse rhubarb’.
Rhubarb stalks are used in deserts, pies, tarts, crumbles and they pair well with strawberries. In some parts of US they are referred to as ‘pie plant’.
Rhubarb contains carbon-based quinone molecules, which can carry electric charge in batteries.
Rhubarb Nutrition
Rhubarb is a source of vitamin C, vitamin K, calcium, dietary fiber, potassium and manganese.
It also contains polyphenolic flavonoids like ß-carotene, zeaxanthin and lutein. Rhubarb also contains, in small amount, B-complex vitamins like folates, niacin, riboflavin, thiamine, vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine) and pantothenic acid.
Health Benefits of Rhubarb
Supports Digestive System
Rhubarb has been used as laxative since ages. Rhubarb contains anthraxquinones compounds including rhein, and emodin and glycosides that give rhubarb its laxative and cathartic properties. Rhubarb aids in weight loss. The dietary fiber in rhubarb promotes healthy digestion and alleviates constipation.
Rhubarb has anti-diarrheal properties. Studies have shown that rhubarb tannins extract significantly decrease the fecal water content in colon and inhibit Aquaporins (AQPs) 2 and 3 expressions to alleviate diarrhea condition. Aquaporins are integral membrane proteins that form pores in the membrane of cells, mainly facilitating transport of water between cells. have a major role in regulating water transfer during diarrhea. Rhubarb is consumed to avoid strain during bowel movements so that pain from hemorrhoids or anal fissures is reduced.
Rhubarb Promotes Healthy Digestion
Lethal Blow to Cancer
Rhubarb contains pigment parietin which can suppress 6PGD (6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase) enzyme, one of the drivers for cancer growth. According to studies it was seen that half of human leukemia cells were killed in 48 hours.
Rhubarb contains quercetin, ferulic acid, resveratrol, anthraquinones and Vitamin C that exhibits strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Resveratrol is an aromatase inhibitor, which prevents estrogen-dominant breast cancers. Rhein and emodin are not just laxatives but they help to arrest cancer cell proliferation as well.
Rhubarb consumption helps to reduce stress as it fights inflammation and free radicals.
Reverses Kidney Failure in Diabetics
Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is kidney damage characterized by proliferation of mesangial cell (MC) and excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix (ECM). The treatment involves inhibition of the proliferation of MCs as well as the accumulation of ECM.
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Rhubarb contains five free anthraquinones (FARs), including rhein, emodin, aloeemodin, chrysophanol, and physcion. Studies have shown that FARs found in rhubarb can reverse the kidney damage in diabetic patients by arresting the proliferation of MCs and the accumulation of ECM.
Lowers Blood Pressure
Rhubarb contains about 351 mg potassium and 14.6 mg magnesium that helps to relax the muscles and lowers elevated blood pressure. Combined with the benefits of dietary fiber and anthocyanin, rhubarb reduces the risk of heart diseases including heart attack and stroke.
Rhubarb Lowers Blood Pressure
Bone Formation
One cup of rhubarb contains 35.7 mg of vitamin K. It also provides around 8% daily value of calcium. Vitamin-K has an important role in promoting osteoblastic (bone formation and strengthening) activity. Rhubarb helps to maintain bone health. However, the absorption of calcium decreases due to oxalic acid. Regular consumption will help to maintain the ratio of bone resorption and formation. Vitamin K deficiency increases the risk of osteoporosis.
Improves Brain Health
Oxidative stress and free radicals can cause brain damage leading to stroke, Alzheimer’s disease. The antioxidant force and vitamins (C, K) present in rhubarb helps to reverse neuronal damage.
Protects Skin & Eyes
The polyphenolic compounds like lutein and zeaxanthin protects the skin and eyes from damages caused by environmental pollution and from free radicals inside the body. Rhubarb helps to keep the vision strong and reduce the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.
Rhubarb Reduces the Risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration
Caveat
Rhubarb is a laxative and long-term use might have few side effects. Consultation with dietitian is vital for long period consumption of rhubarb.
Drug Interactions with Rhubarb
Certain drugs which may interact with Rhubarb should be avoided. Below are mentioned some of the drugs which causes adverse effects.
Digoxin or Lanoxin may cause potassium loss
Medications for inflammation – Corticosteroids - reduces potassium in the body.
Oral drugs -reduces effectiveness of medication.
Warfarin -can cause diarrhea and bleeding.
Stimulant laxatives - potassium loss.
Nephrotoxic Drugs - kidney damage.
Diuretic drugs -potassium loss.
Recipe
Rhubarb stalks can be roasted. Chopped stalks are added to pies and crumbles. Relish the rhubarb and coconut mousse.
Coconut and Rhubarb Mousse
Ingredients
Rhubarb stalks - 500-700 gram
Caster sugar - 50- 100 gram
Honey- 2 tbsp
Double cream - 250 ml
Thick coconut cream - 150 ml
Method
Add rhubarb stalks to sugar and honey and cook for about 15 minutes till tender.
Spoon some of the rhubarb through a sieve and collect the juices in a bowl. This is the syrup.
Rest of the rhubarb is used as pulp.
Whip the double cream till soft peaks forms.
Add rhubarb pulp, coconut cream and rhubarb syrup.
Fold in the cream gently.
Divide the mousse into glasses and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
While serving, add desiccated coconut, broken macaroon, strawberries, and almonds. Drizzle some rhubarb syrup.
Rhubarb season is coming! Have you ever tried homemade rhubarb sauces? They are so tasty and healthy. You could spread them on toast or use them as chicken or turkey stuffing. One of my favorite rhubarb sauces is rhubarb strawberry sauce, and I top it on my yogurt, yummy!
Rhubarb is an easy-to-grow vegetable. This vegetable is commonly used in making desserts or as an ingredient in dishes. However, when it comes to cooking this vegetable, the only part that can be used is the stem. That is because its leaves have a bitter taste and contain toxic substances including oxalic acid.
The history of rhubarb began in China, Siberia, Himalayas, and Mongolia. Rhubarb root can survive even in frozen grounds. People started using the plant for medicinal purposes. Rhubarb is an important Chinese medicinal herb and has been commonly used as a laxative. Back in 2700 B.C., Rhubarb was included in Pen King’s herbal list. However, this account has been disputed since it is difficult to verify the information due to the age of the document. Based on the gathered information, it showed that even before the B.C. period, rhubarb root was already being exported from Asia. Documents indicate that Asian countries were already using rhubarb for medicinal purposes starting from the Han period.
Rhubarb has been utilized for many years and it is only in recent times people started to use it as food. In fact, the first time rhubarb was featured and used in a recipe was in 1806 or 1807, and it was used in making a rhubarb tart.
Nutrition fact of rhubarb
Rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum), fresh,
Nutritive value per 100 g.
(Source: USDA National Nutrient database)
Principle Nutrient Value Percentage of RDA
Energy 21 Kcal 1%
Carbohydrates 4.54 g 3%
Protein 0.90 g 2%
Total Fat 0.20 g 1%
Cholesterol 0 mg 0%
Dietary Fiber 1.8 g 5%
Vitamins
Folates 7 µg 2%
Niacin 0.300 mg 2%
Pantothenic Acid 0.085 mg 1.5%
Pyridoxine 0.024 mg 2%
Riboflavin 0.030 mg 2%
Thiamin 0.020 mg 2%
Vitamin A 102 IU 3.5%
Vitamin C 8 mg 13%
Vitamin E 0.27 mg 2%
Vitamin K 29.3 µg 24%
Electrolytes
Sodium 4 mg 0.5%
Potassium 288 mg 6%
Minerals
Calcium 86 mg 8.5%
Copper 0.021 mg 2%
Iron 0.22 mg 3%
Magnesium 12 mg 3%
Manganese 0.196 mg 8.5%
Phosphorus 14 mg 2%
Selenium 1.1 µg 2%
Zinc 0.10 mg 1%
Phyto-nutrients
Carotene-α 0 µg —
Carotene-β 61 µg —
Crypto-xanthin-β 0 µg —
Lutein-zeaxanthin 170 µg —
Health Benefits
Rhubarb is now considered to be a superfood. It is very low in calories, which makes it very appealing to those who are looking for healthy food for weight loss. It also has a high level of calcium that supports bone health. Plus, it is rich in fiber, helping to reduce blood cholesterol levels. Rhubarb contains many health properties and some of these properties include:
Promotes weight loss: Rhubarb is one of the vegetables that contain the least calories. 100 g of fresh petioles have only 21 calories. It contains a type of antioxidant called polyphenols including catechins, which are the same chemicals in green tea. Many studies suggest that catechins promote the fat burning process by speeding up metabolism. In addition, rhubarb is low in glycemic index and high in fiber, which prolongs the sense of fullness, stabilizes blood sugar and reduces hunger. Fiber also helps regular bowel function, which is absolutely necessary for healthy weight loss. In addition, rhubarb contains anthraquinones – rhein and emodin, which have laxative properties.
Seaweed is another super food for weight loss.
The science is in: Exercise isn’t the best way to lose weight
Powerful Antioxidant Properties: Due to its richness in anthraquinones and Vitamin C, both are potent anti-oxidants, rhubarb is capable of eliminating free radicals in your body. The Antioxidants – lycopene and anthocyanins that give rhubarb a vibrant red color are also powerful antioxidants that can benefit your heart, eyes, and immune system, and they also delay the aging process. Cooked rhubarb supplies a decent amount of lycopene while raw rhubarb lacks lycopene.
To learn more about foods rich in anti-oxidant, read A Super Charged Anti-aging Diet-Part One.
Anti-cancer Properties: The anthraquinones from rhubarb have anti-cancer properties.[1] Researchers indicate that anthraquinones not only inhibit the growth of cancer cells but also kill cancer cells. These properties can prevent the occurrence of metastases, which are secondary cancers caused by primary cancer. The rich content of lycopene in cooked rhubarb can delay the inception of lung and oral cavity cancers in those who use carcinogenic agents such as tobacco.[2]
Want to know about other amazing anti-cancer foods? Check A Super Charged Anti-aging Diet-Part Two
Lowers blood cholesterol: Rhubarb stalk has a high level of fiber and galloyl-ester, which is a cholesterol inhibiting chemical. Fiber is known to remove excess cholesterol from the walls of your blood vessels and arteries, lowering your blood cholesterol and improving your blood cholesterol profile. Therefore, including rhubarb in your diet will benefit your heart function.
Chia seeds are another amazing food to help improve your blood cholesterol.
Improves vision: Rhubarb stalks also contain polyphenolic flavonoids such as β-carotene, zeaxanthin, and lutein. These compounds are converted into Vitamin A by the human body. Lutein and Vitamin A are powerful natural antioxidants that help maintain the integrity of your skin and eyes. Your skin and eyes are the main organs of your body that are exposed to the environment. Lutein helps neutralize free radicals and delays the aging process. The regular intake of rhubarb stalks helps to delay the onset of various eye diseases.
Stabilizes Blood Clotting: Another important vitamin in rhubarb is Vitamin K. Vitamin K is necessary for normal blood clotting, and it also plays a significant role in brain and neuronal health. Low levels of vitamin K can affect blood coagulation, and also weaken bones and promote calcification of arteries and other soft tissues. Include Vitamin K rich foods such as rhubarb and green leafy vegetables not only help regulate your blood coagulation but also benefit your bone health.
Improves bone health: Rhubarb provides a good combination of calcium, Vitamin K and other minerals that help in the formation and strengthening of bones.
How to select and store rhubarb?
When you buy rhubarb from the markets, avoid those with bruises or blemishes on the surface of the stalks. Choose fresh and firm stalks with bright colors. Rhubarb variations include red, pink and green. The red stalks tend to be sweeter.
Rhubarb stalks are easy to freeze so can be enjoyed all year around. Fresh rhubarb stalks stay fresh for about 2-3 weeks in the fridge. Rhubarb is easy to grow and worth growing in your garden. This way, you will have a supply of the vegetable all year round and can enjoy rhubarb’s amazing health benefits.
How to enjoy rhubarb in many ways?Rhubarb sauce
Raw rhubarb: You can use raw rhubarb in your fruit salads or sprinkle diced rhubarb cubes over your yogurt or cereal. Due to its sour taste, it is better to pair it with sweet food such as strawberries.
Roasted rhubarb: You can roast rhubarb cubes on a baking sheet and drizzle with a bit honey or sprinkle with a pinch of coconut sugar. Roast for about five minutes, and then mix them with other greens, nuts and herbs to make a delicious salad.
Rhubarb and fruit smoothie: Add rhubarb diced along with other fruits such as berries in your smoothie recipes.
Rhubarb sauce: This is my favorite recipe and it is easy to make. Mix rhubarb chunks with strawberries cubes and cook them together until the texture is even, stirring continuously. Add half a cup of water to avoid burning at the bottom. You can also add some finely chopped ginger and a bit of coconut sugar towards the end to enhance the flavor. Rhubarb sauces can be used on yogurt or other desserts.
Rhubarb jam: You can make homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam, ginger-rhubarb jam or blueberry-rhubarb jam. Such a combination will make your jams healthier with more varieties.
Rhubarb vegetable juice: add some rhubarb in your juicer, along with celery, carrots, beets, a few garlic cloves and a piece of ginger. This healthy vegetable juice has an amazing detox power. It helps to keep your body clean and enhances your immune system as well.
Rhubarb pie:Strawberry-rhubarb pie is one of the most popular pies. You can also make other rhubarb pies such as rhubarb raspberry pie, rhubarb banana pie, rhubarb cherry pie, rhubarb peach pie or rhubarb pineapple pie…let your imagination fly.
Delicious and healthy rhubarb recipes
Rhubarb fruit salad with feta cheese
Rhubarb fruit salad with feta cheese
Ingredients: (3 servings)
Apple (cored and diced): 1
Peach (sliced): 1
Pineapple (cored and sliced): 1 cup
Blueberries (fresh or frozen): ½ cup
Fresh strawberries (hulled and halved): 10
Orange (sectioned): 1
Seedless grapes (halved): 15
Rhubarb (thinly sliced): 3 cups
Coconut sugar: ¼ cup
Water: ½ cup
Sesame seeds: 1tbsp.
Feta cheese (cut into squares): 6 oz.
Directions:
In a medium saucepan, add the water and sugar, and bring to boil over medium heat. Stir in the rhubarb, turns to low heat, cover, and simmer about 10 to 15 minutes until the rhubarb is soft. Mash the rhubarb and chill it in the refrigerator for one hour.
In a large bowl, mix the grapes, orange, strawberries, apple, peach, pineapple, blueberries and feta cheese with 2/3 cup of the rhubarb sauce. Stir gently. Drizzle with sesame seeds on top. Leave it in the refrigerator for at least two hours to allow the flavors to blend before serving.
What are your favorite rhubarb recipes? Please share with us.
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The health benefits of rhubarb may include its potential ability to promote weight loss, improve digestion, stimulate bone growth, avoid neuronal damage, boost skin health, enhance metabolism, improve circulation, and protect against cardiovascular conditions.
What is Rhubarb?
Rhubarb, a part of the Polygonaceae family of plants, is a unique looking plant with a very interesting history. Scientifically, it is an herbaceous perennial with leaves growing off the top of a thick rhizome. [1]
Although widely considered as a vegetable, in America, it is treated as a fruit, in culinary practices. The leaf stalks are actually the only parts of the plant consumed, sometimes as a dessert or an ingredient in sweet dishes.
It is cultivated throughout the year in different parts of the world and is widely available in any season. It possibly grows in greenhouses, resulting in “hothouse” rhubarb, which is sweeter and deeper red in color, while the traditional variety is grown outside. One of the main reasons why people cultivate and eat rhubarb is its astounding nutritional value. It is packed with minerals, vitamins. organic compounds, and other nutrients that make it ideal for keeping our bodies healthy.
Fresh rhubarb on a wooden table
Rhubarb is a perennial plant that has stalks similar to celery. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
What does Rhubarb Taste like?
The taste of rhubarb is somewhat similar to that of green apples, which is to say that it is tart. Usually, people add sugar to make it sweeter and then bake or cook it. Also, raw rhubarbs have a sour and acidic taste.
It is also often paired with strawberries because of the lovely pair of tart and sweet that they make. Some people also often compare the taste of it with celery.
Is Rhubarb Poisonous?
Interestingly enough, the stalks are the only things eaten from this plant. The triangular leaves are extremely high in oxalic acid, which can cause severe illnesses in people if consumed, resulting in the common belief that rhubarb is poisonous. If the plant is subject to extreme cold, the dangerous acid can migrate into the stalk, so be sure to store it in a warm or temperate space, just like the climate where it normally grows. [2]
Nutrition Facts
Rhubarb, raw
Serving Size :
100 g
NutrientValue
Water [g] 93.61
Energy 21
Energy [kJ] 88
Protein [g] 0.9
Total lipid (fat) [g] 0.2
Ash [g] 0.76
Carbohydrate, by difference [g] 4.54
Fiber, total dietary [g] 1.8
Sugars, total including NLEA [g] 1.1
Calcium, Ca [mg] 86
Iron, Fe [mg] 0.22
Magnesium, Mg [mg] 12
Phosphorus, P [mg] 14
Potassium, K [mg] 288
Sodium, Na [mg] 4
Zinc, Zn [mg] 0.1
Copper, Cu [mg] 0.02
Manganese, Mn [mg] 0.2
Selenium, Se [µg] 1.1
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid [mg] 8
Thiamin [mg] 0.02
Riboflavin [mg] 0.03
Niacin [mg] 0.3
Pantothenic acid [mg] 0.09
Vitamin B-6 [mg] 0.02
Folate, total [µg] 7
Folate, food [µg] 7
Folate, DFE [µg] 7
Choline, total [mg] 6.1
Vitamin A, RAE [µg] 5
Carotene, beta [µg] 61
Vitamin A, IU [IU] 102
Lutein + zeaxanthin [µg] 170
Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) [mg] 0.27
Vitamin K (phylloquinone) [µg] 29.3
Fatty acids, total saturated [g] 0.05
14:0 [g] 0
16:0 [g] 0.05
18:0 [g] 0
Fatty acids, total monounsaturated [g] 0.04
16:1 [g] 0
18:1 [g] 0.04
Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated [g] 0.1
18:2 [g] 0.1
Sources include : USDA [3]
Rhubarb Nutrition
According to the USDA, rhubarb provides dietary fiber, protein, vitamin C, vitamin K, B complex vitamins, calcium, potassium, and magnesium. In terms of organic compounds, the plant also contains beta-carotene (which can be enzymatically converted to vitamin A), polyphenols (which can act as antioxidants), lutein, and zeaxanthin. [4] [5]
Health Benefits of Rhubarb
Let’s see how the nutrients add up to the long list of health benefits that rhubarb imparts! [6]
May Aid in Weight Loss
Rhubarb is one of the vegetables with low calories and it is often recommended for people who are struggling to lose weight but still want to remain healthy. 100 grams of the plant contains 21 calories, so feel free to load up on it without packing on any pounds. Additionally, the fiber helps you feel full faster which may further reduce total caloric intake and promote weight loss. A study published in the Journal of Zhejiang University of Traditional Chinese Medicine showed that compounds in rhubarb may help gastric emptying which may promote weight loss. [7] [8]
May Help Keep Your Heart Healthy
The fiber present in rhubarb stalks can be helpful in lowering cholesterol levels. In an animal study published in the Nutrition Research journal, it was found that rhubarb can help in regulating cholesterol levels even if you eat a moderately cholesterol-enriched diet. [9]
May Aid in Digestion
The possibly high amount of dietary fiber found in rhubarb may guarantee a healthy digestive system by bulking up the stool, making sure that bowel movements are smooth and regular. Also, it has traditionally been used as a cure for constipation but was only recently discovered why. By easing constipation and other digestive issues, rhubarb may help prevent a wide range of more serious gastrointestinal disorders, which include bloating and cramping. [10]
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May Have Anti-Alzheimer’s Effects
According to a study published in the Brain Research Bulletin journal, rhubarb glucoside compound rhaponticin protects the body against Alzheimer’s. Furthermore, in vitro results show the positive effect of rhaponticin in preventing the harmful effects of amyloid-beta that are crucial in the formation of senile plaques. Based on this study, it is suggested that rhaponticin could possibly be developed as an agent for the management of Alzheimer’s disease. [11] [12]
May Improve Bone Health
Rhubarb is a good source of vitamin K that is associated with promoting osteotropic activity, meaning that it stimulates bone growth and repair. Combined with the potentially rich amount of calcium and other minerals found in rhubarb, the vegetable as a whole is a major player in bone protection. [13]
May Improve Blood Circulation
The trace amounts of copper and iron found in rhubarb are essential for the production of new red blood cells, necessary to maintain the total RBC count in the body. Maintaining adequate healthy red blood cells is essential for oxygenation of the body, thereby ensuring optimum function. Furthermore, according to an animal study in the Chinese Medicine Journal, rhubarb not only promotes blood circulation but also processes the effect of hemostasis. [14] [15]
Health benefits of rhubarb infographic
One of the main reasons why people cultivate and eat rhubarb is for its astounding nutritional value.
May Help Manage Diabetes
Rhubarb is low in carbohydrates and can be used in preparations that are diabetes-friendly. A 2018 study suggests the use of the essential oil extract of the rhubarb stem as an additional treatment, owing to its positive effect on fasting blood glucose levels. Another paper published in the Systems Microbiology journal suggests that rhubarb extracts can exert a hypoglycemic effect as well as improve gut microbiota. [16] [17] [18]
Other Benefits
Might Improve Vision
Rhubarb may contain beta-carotene, vitamin C and lutein, which are compounds that are beneficial for vision and protective to the retina. [19]
May Relieve Perimenopause Symptoms
This amazing plant can also help with perimenopause symptoms by reducing the occurrences of hot flashes, due to the presence of phytoestrogens. [20] [21]
May Improve Skin Care
Rhubarb being rich in vitamin A, a potential antioxidant, may help fight off free radicals and delay the signs of aging including wrinkles and fine lines. It also acts as an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial agent that may help prevent skin infections and acne. [22]
How to Store Rhubarb?
Before you store your rhubarb, you need to make sure its stalks are crisp and have a reddish tinge to them. Make sure the leaves are attached (not drooping) to ensure that it is still fresh. Once you’ve bought rhubarb, store it as follows.
Fresh
Step 1: Cut off the leaves.
Step 2: Cut off the imperfections.
Step 3: Wash and dry the plant.
Step 4: Wrap it in a paper towel or foil and refrigerate it!
How to Freeze Rhubarb?
Step 1: Chop off the leaves.
Step 2: Get rid of all the imperfections in the plant.
Step 3: Wash it properly and then dry the plant.
Step 4: Chop rhubarb into small and even pieces.
Step 5: Put it in a freezer bag and empty it of all the air.
Step 6: Put it in the freezer and use it throughout the year.
Note: Make sure to thaw and drain the frozen rhubarb before using it.
Rhubarb Uses
Rhubarb first appeared in the United Kingdom approximately 400 years ago and has since become highly prized for its unique flavor and sweet taste around the world. It is used in various dishes and recipes including the following:
Strawberry rhubarb pie
Cakes
Juices
Rhubarb sauce
Jams
Fruit wine or Sima
Compote
Rhubarb is also used for medicinal purposes in traditional Chinese and medieval Arabian and European medicine. Rhubarb has been suggested to exert eliminating heat, purging fire, treat constipation, cooling blood, treat gastrointestinal bleeding, and other diseases. The roots of this plant have been used as a laxative for thousands of years. [23]
Word of Caution: Avoid use if suffering from a pre-existing kidney condition or certain gastrointestinal conditions (as it is high in potassium), as rhubarb can make them worse. Also, be careful that children or pets do not eat rhubarb leaves. There have been some cases of death due to the toxic levels of oxalic acid contained in the leaves. Rhubarb stalks, however, are healthy and delicious, so enjoy! [24]
Benefits of Rhubarb For Weight Loss – Does It Work?
There has been debate on whether rhubarb is a vegetable or a fruit. Rhubarb has strong links to Asia but it has also become popular in North America and Europe. It can be used as an ingredient in dishes or when making desserts and smoothies. This is mainly because of its health benefits.
This article provides a detailed overview of the benefits of consuming rhubarb for weight loss.
What is Rhubarb?
Rhubarb is a celery-like vegetable with thick reddish stalks. It’s known for its sour taste and is sometimes cooked with sugar. Although there was confusion on whether it’s a fruit or vegetable, the United States Department of Agriculture officially classified it as a fruit.
Benefits of Rhubarb for Weight Loss
Rhubarb is widely accepted and consumed by healthy eaters because of its ability to aid weight loss. If you want to lose weight, you need to start including it in your diet. Rhubarb is often a recommendation for people who are serious about losing weight but still want to be healthy. Some of the benefits of incorporating rhubarb in your diet for weight loss include the following;
Rhubarb is Low in Calories
Rhubarb is one of the vegetables with the lowest number of calories. Thus, people who are struggling with weight loss while remaining healthy are encouraged to include it in their diet. On average, 100 grams of rhubarb vegetables contain 21 calories. This means you can comfortably consume as much rhubarb without worrying about packing up extra calories.
Because of its sour taste, you need to cook rhubarb with sugar that has empty calories. You may cook it along with other sweet fruits like pears, strawberries or apples to sweeten it naturally.
Rhubarb may Lower Cholesterol Levels
Rhubarb has been found to help reduce bad cholesterol. Coupled with the fact that it is low in calories, it makes a great addition to your weight loss diet. This vegetable has catechins, a compound that is also present in green tea that gives it beneficial properties. Catechins help in boosting metabolism which also plays an important role in burning body fat while promoting weight loss. Moreover, the rhubarb stalks are a good source of fiber that has the potential of affecting your levels of cholesterol.
According to a study, men who had high levels of cholesterol ate 27 grams of rhubarb daily for a month recorded a significant decrease (about 9%) in their LDL cholesterol. This is a good reason to fill half of your plate with rhubarb and fruits. Even then, this benefit is not exclusive to rhubarb alone as several other vegetables are equally effective in lowering cholesterol.
Good source of fiber
Rhubarb is great when you want to lose weight because like many vegetables it is rich in fiber. For every 100 grams (1 cup) of rhubarb, there is 2.2grams of fiber. This means when you incorporate it in your diet, you can stay fuller for a longer period meaning you won’t have the temptation to snack on unhealthy treats or eat other foods that are high in calories. If you’re trying to lose weight, it is time you considered including rhubarb in your diet.
Rhubarb’s high fiber content also presents the added advantage of boosting digestive health and offering relief for constipation.
Storage and Safety
When you buy rhubarb, you’ll notice that the leaves are almost removed. This is because the stalks are the edible part of the rhubarb plant. The leaves are poisonous so take them off if they are not already removed. You can store your rhubarb for a couple of days in the refrigerator if you want to use it within a few days. You just need to wrap it in a towel and store in a crisper. Alternatively, you can freeze your rhubarb.
Although rhubarb is low in calories, it is high other micronutrients like vitamin c, calcium, potassium, protein, vitamin K1, vitamin, folate and manganese. These make it a healthy addition to your diet as the nutritional composition, naturally low sugar content and high levels of fiber complement your diet.
Even then, you need to should rely on rhubarb for your calcium intake because it is in the form of calcium oxalate, which is a form of oxalic acid in plants. The body can’t absorb calcium efficiently. Excessive consumption of calcium oxalate can result in hyperoxaluria where you have an accumulation of calcium oxalate crystals in different organs. Moreover, it is also versatile and can be added to both savoury and sweet dishes.
Rhubarb, used for hundreds of years in Asian medicine, has been eaten in the United States as an ingredient in homemade deserts, after being harvested from backyard gardens. However, this leafy vegetable is receiving attention once again for its potential health benefits. In fact, researches have discovered that rhubarb has multiple characteristics that may make it helpful to you in your efforts to lose weight.
Characteristics
Like most vegetables, rhubarb offers a number of nutritional benefits, while at the same time being a relatively low-calorie food choice. Some of its characteristics may contribute to weight loss. Rhubarb contains a type of antioxidant called polyphenols. Included in rhubarb's antioxidant profile are catechins, the same chemicals that give green tea many of its healthy properties. Catechins are thought to aid your body in burning fat by speeding up your metabolism, according to University of Maryland Medical Center 3. Additionally, rhubarb contains a healthy dose of fiber, which contributes to good digestion, absolutely necessary for healthy weight loss.
Like most vegetables, rhubarb offers a number of nutritional benefits, while at the same time being a relatively low-calorie food choice.
Additionally, rhubarb contains a healthy dose of fiber, which contributes to good digestion, absolutely necessary for healthy weight loss.
Benefits
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, found that rhubarb is effective in lowering bad cholesterol, or LDL. The subjects of the study who experienced the health improvements ate 27 g of ground rhubarb fiber once a day for four weeks. Rhubarb's polyphenols are also thought to have anti-cancer properties, according to Sheffield Hallam University.
Eating
Rhubarb is a versatile ingredient. It can take center stage as the main ingredient in a dish, as is the case with deserts like rhubarb pie; stand alone as a side; or be added to garnish other dishes, such as being chopped and added to a fresh salad. Interestingly, researchers at Sheffield Hallam University's Biomedical Research Centre found that baking British rhubarb increased its cancer-fighting abilities. Therefore, its health benefits can be accessed by means of various preparation methods.
Rhubarb is a versatile ingredient.
It can take center stage as the main ingredient in a dish, as is the case with deserts like rhubarb pie; stand alone as a side; or be added to garnish other dishes, such as being chopped and added to a fresh salad.
Considerations
While rhubarb may contribute to weight loss and have other health benefits, some caution is required before consuming it. Rhubarb's green leaves contain poisonous oxalic acid. The website RuhbarbInfo.com recommends trimming leaves off the edible stalk right away, washing stalks thoroughly prior to eating and supervising children while preparing and eating rhubarb. Additionally, many rhubarb deserts contain large quantities of sugar. So, although rhubarb itself is a healthful food, the overconsumption of sugar along with it may lead to weight gain and/or other health problems.
While rhubarb may contribute to weight loss and have other health benefits, some caution is required before consuming it.
So, although rhubarb itself is a healthful food, the overconsumption of sugar along with it may lead to weight gain and/or other health problems.
Warning
Healthy weight loss takes place when multiple lifestyle factors are properly aligned, including regular exercise and a nutritious diet. Because your diet contributes greatly to the overall health of your body, decisions involving your diet should be made carefully, under the supervision of a trained professional, such as a physician or a registered dietitian. Always consult your physician before implementing any changes that may affect your health.
Healthy weight loss takes place when multiple lifestyle factors are properly aligned, including regular exercise and a nutritious diet.
Because your diet contributes greatly to the overall health of your body, decisions involving your diet should be made carefully, under the supervision of a trained professional, such as a physician or a registered dietitian.
Can I juice rhubarb?
Fresh vegetable juice is a convenient way to help you reach the 3 to 4 recommended servings of vegetables per day. High-end juicers can extract nutrient-rich juices from almost any type of vegetable and fruit, including rhubarb. This tart vegetable is commonly baked in pies, but its juice contains high doses of minerals such as phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc and copper, as well as vitamins such as B-complex. Rhubarb juice can be used on its own or mixed with other fresh juices.
Wash the rhubarb bunch thoroughly, removing the leaves, as they are poisonous and not safe for consumption. Separate the rhubarb stalks and cut them into smaller pieces that are approximately 4 to 6 inches in length.
Place two to three pieces of rhubarb into the juicer feed at a time. Juice the stalks completely before adding more stalks. Adding only a few at time helps to juice them more effectively.
Unplug the juicer and clean out the blade and filter after juicing a total of 4 to 5 stalks. Rhubarb stalks are very fibrous and may become caught in the juicer.
Turn the juicer back on and continue juicing all the rhubarb stalks. You should now have a partially full jug of rhubarb juice. Drink the fresh juice immediately or refrigerate or freeze it in tightly sealed containers for later use.
Things You Will Need
Knife
Cutting board
Juicer
Jug
Tip
Remove any fibers from the juicer using a small brush.
If you are harvesting fresh rhubarb to juice, choose stalks that are at least a foot long, as these are ready to be picked.
You can use the fiber left over from juicing rhubarb and other vegetables in casseroles, pasta sauces, stews, muffins and pies.
MayoClinic.com notes that vegetable and fruit juices are lower in dietary fiber and do not contain as many nutrients as eating whole produce.
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Warning
Make sure the juicer is unplugged and all parts have stopped moving before you open the top. The spinning blade and filter can cause serious harm if exposed.
Fresh vegetable and fruit juices can become contaminated with bacteria. Drink the rhubarb juice immediately or store in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Freeze any excess juice immediately.
Why is rhubarb considered a vegetable?
Rhubarb is one of the most misunderstood ingredients on menus. You’ll see it at the grocery store, but it’s difficult to find at the Farmer’s Market (both Cary and Greensboro Farmer’s Markets say it’ll be a few more weeks before we see any). It’s a perennial, but not grown everywhere. It’s a vegetable, but used like a fruit.
The oxalic acid content of rhubarb makes the leaves poisonous, and the stem, delicious. While rhubarb is grown in some cold pockets in North Carolina, good rhubarb needs the ground to freeze, and grows best in Michigan and Oregon.
Try the Lattice-Crust Rhubarb Pie with Homeland Creamery vanilla ice cream available now at Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen on the Spring’s Eternal Menu, now until May 14.
It’s a vegetable. In some places, a spring perennial. And is a key component of a delicious margarita, also adding to the confusion:
It’s naturally sour, which is not the most preferred taste sensation in America – only slightly more popular than bitter. The sour comes from its oxalic acid content.
It’s odd-looking. It’s a stalk. People don’t celebrate celery, or cardoons (another stalk that is an artichoke relative in thistle family) like they do cute fruits, like apples, blackberries and tomatoes.
What makes rhubarb a vegetable? Sugar content?
Rhubarb is a vegetable despite its prescient use in fruit pies, jams, and coulis.
Fruit is something a plant produces to nourish its the seeds.. When you pick an apple you don’t kill an apple tree, but you do have to kill the plant to eat a vegetable. For example, if you pick an onion or a beet, you’re taking the whole plant with you. When harvesting rhubarb, you pull the entire stalk from the ground, and only harvest two at a time, leaving at least five stalks for the next season’s crop.
Why is it always appearing with strawberries?
Spring is the most difficult time of year to eat fresh produce. Most plants have just begun to grow, and they are weeks from bearing edible fruit.
Rhubarb is one of the first edibles available in the spring. Its peak coincides with strawberries, so most people encounter rhubarb in one of three ways:
Strawberry-rhubarb pie
Stewed with an ice cream or custard
In a jam or chutney
The lattice crust serves two purposes: One it’s cute, and two, it allows steam to escape.
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie? Not so much.
In a strawberry-rhubarb pie, we think the rhubarb plays second fiddle. Strawberries are celebrated. They’re super sweet and need contrast. You almost never see a strawberry pie on its own. There’s no complexity. It’s like a sugar bomb.
Rhubarb, when mixed with strawberries, gives you that sourness to balance the sweetness and the complexity.
We prefer to go all the way in the other direction and make rhubarb pie. No strawberry.
We make it with a lattice crust for two reasons: One, it’s cute. Two, it vents the pie so the filling can thicken up and the steam can escape.
A sour sweet
Whether you eat sour dishes to aid in digestion or you just prefer to end your meal with something less sweet, a dessert like rhubarb pie is always a welcome sight, with its delightful balance of sweet and sour.
We do a couple of things here with rhubarb that you can start doing at home, too. Recipes posted below.
Rhubarb margarita
Rhubarbecue sauce tastes like a sauce from down east and we put it on our grilled shrimp
Stewed rhubarb — chop it up, sauté, deglaze with a little bit of water, dry white wine or sweet white wine. Sprinkle with sugar. Reduce and serve it with ice cream.
RECIPES
Rhubarb Margarita
1 fl oz Rhubarb Syrup (see recipe)
2 fl oz Tequila
¾ fl oz Cointreau
juice from 1 wedge of lime
½ fl oz sour mix
1 wheel of lime
Salt rim of a martini glass. Add all ingredients (except lime wheel) to a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with lime wheel.
Makes – 1
Rhubarb Syrup
½ pound rhubarb
¼ cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
Wash and dice rhubarb to ¼ inch. In a sauce pot combine rhubarb and water. Simmer for 10 minutes or until tender. Puree in food processor and strain through fine chinois, discard solids. In a sauce pot combine pureed rhubarb and sugar. Simmer until dime sized bubbles appear. Remove from heat and cool.
Makes – 1 ½ cups
Rhubarbecue Sauce
1 2/3 pounds rhubarb
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups light brown sugar
1 teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Clean and chop rhubarb. Combine all ingredients in a sauce pot and simmer for 30-45 minutes or until rhubarb is completely soft. Puree in blender and strain through a medium-hole strainer. Discard pulp. Place puree in a sauce pot and simmer until dime size bubbles appear. Cool.
What is the healthiest way to eat rhubarb?
Can you eat rhubarb raw? Of course! Here's how to enjoy the plant au naturel.
You can turn rhubarb into all kinds of crisps, tarts and crumbles. You can even make rhubarb jam. When it comes to cooking and baking, rhubarb is so versatile. But you don’t need to heat your rhubarb to enjoy it. So if you’re wondering can you eat rhubarb raw?, the answer is you bet!
What Part of the Rhubarb Can You Eat?
Stick to the stems if you’re eating rhubarb raw—the leaves are poisonous. I repeat: Rhubarb leaves are poisonous. The leaves contain oxalic acid, which can be fatal to both people and pets if consumed in large amounts. (But don’t stress, we’re talking several pounds’ worth of leaves).
To learn more about this vibrant vegetable, look through our rhubarb guide.
How to Eat Rhubarb Raw
In its raw state, the “pie plant” is pretty sour. Think Granny Smith apple sour! This is one of the reasons it’s often paired with sweeter fruits, like strawberry. To eat rhubarb solo, dip the stalk into sugar or honey to help mellow out that tart taste. You can also whip up a raw rhubarb compote and add it to your morning bowl of homemade yogurt. Its biting acidity goes beautifully with sweet ripe strawberries (of course), mangoes and even coconut.
Rhubarb is a wicked good way to kick up the crunch factor in salads, too. Its sharp flavor makes a mouthwatering foil in sweet fruit salads, but it’s a delight in green salads, especially when paired with fennel. You can even add thin strips of raw rhubarb to a slaw.
Can you eat raw rhubarb stems?
What is rhubarb?
Botanically, rhubarb is a vegetable (it’s related to sorrel and dock) but its thick, fleshy stalks are treated as a fruit, despite their tart flavour.
Rhubarb grows in two crops. The first, forced rhubarb, arrives early in the year and is grown under pots in what’s known as the ‘Rhubarb Triangle’ around Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford. Its stalks are watermelon pink in colour with pale, lime-green leaves, and it is the more tender and delicately flavoured of the two.
The second, called maincrop rhubarb, is grown outdoors and arrives in spring. Its stalks are deeper red and tinged with green, while its leaves are bright green. It has a more intense flavour and robust texture than the forced variety.
Although it can be eaten raw, rhubarb tends to be too tart this way, and it’s usually best when cooked with plenty of sugar. It goes well with both ginger and strawberries.
How to prepare rhubarb
Rhubarb leaves contain a poison called oxalic acid, so should never be eaten – cut them off and discard. Maincrop rhubarb can sometimes have tough, stringy ribs, so after washing it, strip these off with a small, sharp knife and slice the stalk thinly or thickly as required. Forced rhubarb should be tender enough not to need peeling – just wash, then trim the top and bottom of the stalks and slice.
How to cook rhubarb
Stew or poach (8-10 mins) or roast (15 mins for forced, 20 for maincrop) rhubarb. Use it to make crumbles, pies or jam. Roast and purée to make rhubarb fool.
Rhubarb can also be added to savoury dishes, as its tartness can stand up to fatty meats like pork and duck well. Try it with pork chops, rhubarb & grains in a new twist on a traybake, or raw and finely chopped as a salsa to go with pan-seared duck breasts and greens.
How do you eat rhubarb stalks?
I’ll admit that, like most, I take my rhubarb in strawberry-rhubarb pie. I think the best pie I have ever had came from a little country store called Heart ‘N Hand just outside of the town of Skaneateles in the Finger Lakes region of New York. My husband and I ceremoniously sliced into it two summers ago on our wedding day.
But whenever I see rhubarb in the grocery store, I am instantly reminded of another delicious memory—my first encounter with the rosy stalks. I think I was maybe 12 years old, with my mom at a farmer’s market, when she bought me a bundle. I chomped into a stick like it was celery, and my face puckered from its tartness. I liked the taste. Plus, there was something so Laura Ingalls about gnawing on the raw stalks.
If you are thinking about picking up a bundle (as I now am!) or have some rhubarb in your garden or CSA box that you don’t know what to do with, I did a little research. Of course, there are plenty of baked options (pie, cobbler, crisp, even muffins), but my intent is to offer up a few more unusual options.
1. Raw: Before you do any cooking with rhubarb, you ought to at least try it raw. (Note: Be sure to remove all the leaves, as they are poisonous.) Many suggest dipping the stalk in sugar or some other sweet, such as honey, maple syrup or agave nectar, to mellow its tartness a touch. Sprinkling diced rhubarb over yogurt or cereal is an option too.
2. Stirred: Rhubarb, like cranberries, can add a tart zing to a smoothie, and if you puree the vegetable, it can be added to a margarita as well. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver suggests making a jam by slicing rhubarb and cooking it with a couple tablespoons of water, blending and cooling it, and then adding champagne or prosecco for a rhubarb bellini. For a tasty nonalcoholic beverage, Serious Eats starts out by making a similar rhubarb syrup but instead adds it to freshly-steeped iced tea, topping it off with strawberries.
3. Smothered: Rhubarb sauces, chutneys and salsas add a unique flavor to savory dishes. Food writer (and occasional Smithsonian contributor) Kim O’Donnel says that rhubarb chutney—a good way to make use of rhubarb before it wilts—complements salmon, trout, roast chicken, turkey, duck and pork chops. It sounds easy too. She cooks one-inch pieces of rhubarb with orange juice, vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon and dates.
A surprisingly butterless recipe from Paula Deen for grilled chicken with rhubarb salsa calls for a salsa that mixes together rhubarb, strawberries, jalapeno, lime juice, cilantro and olive oil. Yum! But perhaps the most creative condiment is rhubarb aioli, which award-winning chef Vitaly Paley of Paley’s Place in Portland, Oregon, pairs with pork. He folds a rhubarb reduction into his homemade garlic mayonnaise.
4. Roasted: Raw julienned rhubarb can be added to a garden salad, but several recipes I have found instead suggest roasting chunks of rhubarb on a baking sheet drizzled with honey or sprinkled with sugar for about five minutes, letting them cool and then tossing them in with greens. These same recipes (example: from Martha Stewart) recommend a killer combination of rhubarb, toasted walnuts, goat cheese, arugula and fennel.
5. Dried: This one is rather time-intensive, and requires a dehydrator, but the fruit-roll-up-loving kid in me likes the sound of the rhubarb leather one commenter on Backpacker.com describes. Basically, to make it, you cook rhubarb in water, with a cinnamon stick, and add sugar to taste, until it is the consistency of applesauce. Then, you pour it into dehydrator trays lined with parchment paper and dry at 135 degrees for nine hours.
When should you eat rhubarb?
Don't cut those rhubarb stalks! Here's why it's a bad idea, and how to harvest rhubarb the right way.
That rhubarb in your garden is ready—so what’s the best way to harvest? Depending on where you learned how to harvest rhubarb, you might assume that it’s fine to simply cut the stalks off. But wait! Harvest rhubarb the right way—it’s easy to do and best of all, it benefits the plant. (Psst! Learn how to grow rhubarb in your own backyard.)
Leave that knife in the drawer. It’s all about the pull and twist! When stalks are sliced off with a knife, the part of the stalk left behind withers away… and that’s it. In contrast, twisting and pulling off the stalk allows it to separate from the bottom of the plant near the roots. This tells the plant to regrow a new stalk in its place, giving you a more fruitful harvest and a healthier rhubarb plant.
How to Harvest Rhubarb
Find a stalk on your rhubarb plant that’s ready to be picked. Grasp the stalk near the bottom. Lean it to the side and in one motion gently twist and pull the stalk up. The stalk will pop and separate from the rhubarb plant at the root, and come cleanly away.
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The twisting and pulling motion should be gentle. If the rhubarb stalk doesn’t come away immediately, grasp it lower and try leaning it in the other direction. If you find that the whole plant is coming out of the ground when you pull the stalks, pack it more firmly into the soil around the roots.
Remember that only the rhubarb stalks are edible, so cut off the rhubarb leaves and discard them.
When to Harvest Rhubarb
Give new rhubarb plants at least a year before harvesting for the first time. When you’re looking at the stalks, the color doesn’t indicate readiness, so don’t worry if your rhubarb stalks are not completely red. Instead, look at the length. The stalks are ready to harvest when they’re between 7 and 15 inches long.
The best time to harvest rhubarb is during the months of May, June and early July. After this, it’s best to let the plant be, so it can regrow and recharge to survive the winter. You can cut the flower stalk away before it blooms to help extend the harvesting season.
When you’re gathering your rhubarb, remove no more than two-thirds of the plant. You want to be sure there’s some left to grow back next year!
Now that you know the correct way to harvest rhubarb, gather an armload, stash some in the freezer for later on and then cook up your favorite comforting rhubarb recipe!
When your garden is overflowing with tart, rhubarb goodness, turn to these vintage recipes grandma used to make. You’ll find the recipe details for the sweets in this video in the following 5 slides. Still hungry? Check out grandma's best vintage cookie ideas.
How do I use rhubarb?
Rhubarb is a mysterious plant, and if it’s weirdly celery-looking state has left you scratching your head, you’re not alone. Ready to get more acquainted with this seasonal treat? Here’s the 401 on how to use rhubarb.
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How to Buy Rhubarb
If you have no idea what rhubarb looks like, the best way to describe it is as pinkish green with celery-like stalks. Look for stalks that are fresh and crisp with shiny skins. Avoid limp stalks with split ends, which indicates a lack of freshness.
When is Rhubarb in Season?
Rhubarb is only around for a short while, so enjoy it when you can! Rhubarb is in season from mid spring through early summer, from about April to June. In the United States, rhubarb is mostly grown in the northeast, so if you live outside of that region, you might have to hunt for yours!
How to Prep Rhubarb for Cooking
To prepare rhubarb, trim the leaves first. Never eat the leaves of rhubarb, as they have toxic levels of oxalic acid and should not be eaten! Wash the stalks and cut off the leaves near the base.
Check the rhubarb for any blemishes and use a vegetable peeler to remove them.
Cut rhubarb into 1/4 inch pieces in preparation for a sauce or pie. You want to store the rhubarb in stalk form so that it will stay fresh longer. Cut it right before using.
How to Cook with Rhubarb
Rhubarb is technically a vegetable but is usually prepared as a fruit would be. It's often used in sauces, pies, muffins, and cakes. Its tart flavor lends itself to sweet pairings. The most basic way to prepare rhubarb is as a sauce or loose jam. Rhubarb sauce can be served as a side to meat or served over ice cream or pound cake.
The most important thing to know about how to cook rhubarb is that is must be cooked down. The fibrous texture of this vegetable is too tough to enjoyably chew. But when cooked down and sweetened up, rhubarb is a real delight.
More Rhubarb Recipes
rhubarb meringue pie
From breakfast to snack time to dessert, there are lots of ways to use rhubarb. Add it to blondies, cook it into a pie, or even serve it up in a drink. Head over to our tastiest and best rhubarb recipes here.
Is stewed rhubarb healthy?
Rhubarb (scientific name Rheum rhabarbarum) is a vegetable that many people use like a fruit in cooking and recipes. Though native to Asia, it grows in other parts of the world, including the United States. The plant prefers cooler environments as it doesn’t fare well in the heat.
The long red leafstalks grow in the spring, peaking in mid-April. Only the stalks of the plant are edible. The leaves contain toxins and high concentrations of oxalic acid. The stalks themselves are fleshy, sour, and acidic. While you can eat them raw, many people prefer them cooked.
Rhubarb has a long history, with roots in ancient Chinese medicine. It was also used in ancient Arab, Greek, and Roman civilizations. Today, it is popular in jams, pies, compotes, and even drinks.
Health Benefits
Rhubarb is an excellent source of vitamin K, which is an essential vitamin for bone health and blood clotting. The vitamin A in rhubarb may also help to fight free radicals that cause skin damage and premature aging, keeping your skin looking healthy and youthful. It’s also high in antioxidants, and many other important vitamins and minerals that provide a variety of health benefits.
Improve B one H ealth
The vitamin K content of rhubarb helps you maintain strong, healthy bones. Vitamin K is important for bone formation and it can help prevent osteoporosis.
Protect H eart H ealth
Rhubarb is an excellent source of fiber, which helps to lower cholesterol. Studies show that rhubarb helps lower your bad cholesterol levels as well as your total cholesterol. Lower cholesterol levels reduce your risk for heart disease and heart attack. The vitamin K in rhubarb may also aid in preventing the calcification of blood vessels. The antioxidants in the vegetable also provide anti-inflammatory effects, which can further help to protect your heart health.
Aid D igestion
The fiber in rhubarb helps keep things moving through your digestive tract, preventing problems such as constipation. It also contains compounds called sennosides, which act as natural laxatives. The tannins in rhubarb also provide anti-diarrheal effects.
Prevent Cancer
The antioxidants in rhubarb help fight free radicals in the body, which may help to protect against oxidative stress and cell damage. The free radical-fighting properties of antioxidants may reduce your risk of developing certain types of cancer.
Reduce I nflammation
The antioxidant compounds in rhubarb help to fight inflammation. These properties may be helpful to people with systemic inflammatory reaction syndrome. Another study found that the anti-inflammatory properties of rhubarb extract can help improve wound healing.
Nutrition
Rhubarb is rich in antioxidants, particularly anthocyanins (which give it its red color) and proanthocyanidins. These antioxidants have anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer properties, which help protect you from many health-related issues such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Other nutrients in rhubarb include:
Calcium
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin K
Potassium
Folate
Manganese
Magnesium
Nutrients Per Serving
A half-cup serving of rhubarb contains:
Calories: 13
Protein: 1 gram
Fat: 0 grams
Carbohydrates: 3 grams
Fiber: 1 gram
Sugar: 1 gram
Things to Watch Out For
Rhubarb is high in calcium oxalate. While the substance is mainly in the leaves, it’s also found in the stalks. Too much calcium oxalate in your diet may lead to hyperoxaluria, which is the buildup of oxalate crystals in different organs. These crystals may also promote the formation of kidney stones and increase your risk of kidney failure.
Rhubarb’s vitamin K content may also interfere with the blood-thinning medication warfarin. It can reduce the effectiveness of the medication, so be sure to talk with your doctor if you want to incorporate rhubarb into your diet.
How to Eat Rhubarb
You may find fresh rhubarb in your grocery store’s produce section when the vegetable is in season, which is typically from April to June.
When choosing rhubarb, look for stalks that are firm and crisp. Avoid ones that are limp or have blemishes. Look for ones with small leaves, which indicate a younger plant, but be sure to remove the leaves before cooking or eating.
Don’t cut the stalks until you’re ready to use the rhubarb, or else the vegetable may dry out. To store them, place whole stalks into a sealed plastic bag in the refrigerator. Use them within one week. If you want to preserve your rhubarb for later use, cut it and store the pieces in the freezer until you’re ready to use them.
You can eat rhubarb in a number of different ways, including raw, blended into a smoothie, or cooked into a rhubarb jam. Other ways to enjoy the vegetable include:
Baking it into a pie or crumble
Making rhubarb ice cream
Adding rhubarb to fresh juices or homemade kombucha
Blending it into a sauce for meat or poultry
Pureeing and dehydrating it to make rhubarb leather
Roasting rhubarb with a drizzle of honey and tossing it in a salad
May Protect Against Cancer
Because rhubarb stalks are rich in antioxidants, eating them may help protect against some types of cancer. Antioxidants help to repair cells from free radical damage, which can lead to cancer. Add rhubarb to the yummy list of superfoods you can grow yourself.
Is eating raw rhubarb good for you?
From glowing skin to stronger bones, rhubarb benefits are as plentiful as the stalks in your backyard!
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An extensive array of ripe red rhubarb stalksTRAIT2LUMIERE/GETTY IMAGES
Lowers Cholesterol
Too many rhubarb dessert recipes aren’t great for your health but adding a little to your diet could improve cholesterol levels. One study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that eating rhubarb stalks lowered cholesterol levels in men with high cholesterol. It was especially helpful in reducing LDL or bad cholesterol.
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Fresh rhubarb and strawberries on a wooden undergroundCHRISTIAN-FISCHER/GETTY IMAGES
Aids Digestion
The tannins in rhubarb stalks have been found to improve digestion and gut health. Rhubarb is also rich in fiber to help prevent constipation. If you could use a little help in that department, check out more foods that make you poop.
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RhubarbNATALIABULATOVA/GETTY IMAGES
Strengthens Your Bones
Rhubarb stalks are rich in vitamin K, a key nutrient in improving bone density and lowering the risk of fractures. Try pairing your rhubarb dessert with the benefits of pineapple for an extra dose of bone-strengthening nutrients.
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An overhead close up shot of a strawberry rhubarb pie and a slice. DEBBISMIRNOFF/GETTY IMAGES
Protects from Free Radicals
Move over kale and blueberries; there’s a new antioxidant powerhouse in town! A study in the International Journal of Food Science and Technology found that a serving of rhubarb has more antioxidants than a cup of packed kale. That means more protection from harmful free radicals that can lead to chronic disease.
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Raw Organic Red Rhubarb Ready to UseBHOFACK2/GETTY IMAGES
Brightens Skin
The antioxidants in rhubarb won’t just protect against chronic disease; they’ll make you look younger too! The nutrients support collagen production for firmer, brighter skin. And while you’re snacking on your favorite rhubarb treat, check out the health benefits of avocado in a face mask for naturally glowing skin.
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Preparation homemade refreshing strawberry,lime and rhubarb lemonade with mintSARSMIS/GETTY IMAGES
Fights Inflammation
Rhubarb stalks contain anthocyanins, the compound that gives them their deep, red color. A study in the Annual Review of Food Science and Technology found that eating foods rich in anthocyanins was associated with less inflammation and more protection against chronic diseases like diabetes.
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RhubarbNATALIABULATOVA/GETTY IMAGES
Improves Liver Health
The compounds in rhubarb stalks improve our gut health and can even protect the liver from harm. A study in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research found that taking rhubarb extract is linked with improved liver health among study participants who reported binge drinking alcohol.
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Fresh rhubarb in white bowl on wooden tableNADEZHDA_NESTEROVA/GETTY IMAGES
Boosts Heart Health
The anthocyanins found in rhubarb stalks can boost heart health by reducing inflammation and preventing atherosclerosis, the narrowing and hardening of blood vessels. Need a little protein with your rhubarb pie? Try sprinkling chopped nuts on top; the health benefits of almonds protect your heart, too.
Can you eat too much rhubarb?
From its Himalayan home in Tibet, rhubarb got a lift to Europe with Marco Polo, and was introduced in America around 1820. Hardy and resilient, rhubarb is now grown in temperate climates around the world. One of only a few perennial vegetables, rhubarb plants often produce for years with little care.
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My rhubarb patch is comprised of six mostly green-stemmed plants rescued from an abandoned site a few years ago (not all rhubarb is red). Transplanted into fertile soil, the plants have thrived despite accidental crowding. The GrowVeg.com Garden Planner will suggest that you plant rhubarb crowns at least 3 feet (90 cm) apart, and I highly recommend following its advice. In most gardens, three widely spaced rhubarb plants will produce as well or better than five crowded into the same space.
Twice a week from April to June, I gather the stalks, taking about two stalks per plant at each cutting. I discard the leaves in my compost pile, though pest-plagued gardeners might consider using them to make an insecticidal tea. The leaves contain so much oxalic acid and anthraquinones that they are poisonous to eat, but a tea may make a good pest-deterrent spray. Rhubarb roots should be considered poisonous, too, unless used by a skilled practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine.
Rhubarb flower bud
Rhubarb flower buds can be removed from the plant
Rhubarb plants often send up monstrous flower buds, which are considered a delicacy in parts of central Asia. I can find no information on the chemical properties of this particular plant part, so I compost the buds after cutting them off. Removing the flower stalks encourages the plants to use their energy to produce more gigantic leaves.
Rhubarb’s Dietary Dilemma
Rhubarb stems contain much less oxalic acid than the leaves, and little or no anthraquinone. So, they are safe to eat in reasonable quantities, and provide vitamins A and C. But eating too much rhubarb too often might not be a good idea because of possible stress to kidneys and inflammation of joints. It is estimated that an adult would need to eat several pounds of rhubarb to feel ill effects, with 20 to 25 pounds (9 to 11 kg ) of fresh rhubarb as a lethal dose.
Possible death by rhubarb is an entirely modern fear, because until refined sugar became cheap and widely available, rhubarb’s pungent sour flavor naturally kept people from eating too much. Limiting how much sugar you eat will limit your rhubarb intake, too. The sugar dilemma has also led me to rediscover several old uses for rhubarb, and maybe some new ones, too:
Rhubarb juice works as well as lemon or lime juice to prevent discoloration of apples, bananas, and other cut fruits. Fresh or frozen and thawed, small pieces of rhubarb smashed in a garlic press readily give up their juice.
Rhubarb may help prevent cancer when baked or stewed for 20 minutes. Adding slivers of candied ginger turns roasted rhubarb into a big-flavor condiment.
In a recent study, daily doses of rhubarb extract reduced hot flashes in menopausal women. Unlike other natural remedies, rhubarb extract does not contain estrogen.
Rhubarb juice may be helpful as a weight loss aid. Ten years ago, a study published in the Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine found that a rhubarb supplement was as effective as fenfluramine (a then-popular diet drug that has since been taken off of the market because of cardiac side effects)in promoting weight loss.
Harvested rhubarb stalks
I like strawberry rhubarb pie as well as the next person, but rhubarb juice may be the tastiest way to help yourself to rhubarb’s health benefits. To make it, bring a quart (liter) of water to a boil, and add a handful of fresh or frozen rhubarb pieces (the equivalent of two stalks). Turn off the heat, and strain when cool. Sweeten just enough to make the rhubarb-ade drinkable, pour over ice, and add a sprig of mint. You have springtime in a glass.
By Barbara Pleasant
Is rhubarb like celery?
What is rhubarb?
Despite its similar appearance to celery, rhubarb is no relation. These pink thick stalks are classed as a fruit, and actually part of the leafy sorrel, knotweed and buckwheat gang.
How do you cook rhubarb?
Rhubarb can be stewed but tends to go all mushy – so why not roast it instead? Wash and chop your rhubarb into finger-sized pieces and pop in an ovenproof dish. Sprinkle generously with sugar, cover with foil and roast on high for 20 minutes. Or try this roasted rhubarb recipe – delicious with vanilla ice cream or creamy mascarpone cheese.
What is the rhubarb triangle?
It’s not a culinary version of the Bermuda triangle! The rhubarb triangle is an area of West Yorkshire that’s famously been cultivating rhubarb for over 100 years. Mysteriously, debate rages as to the definitive location of the triangle's apexes – so you’d better pack your compass after all.
When is rhubarb in season?
Forced rhubarb (watermelon pink, with pale green leaves) is on the scene from February to April, but maincrop rhubarb (deeper red stalks tinged with green) lasts through April to July.
What is rhubarb good for?
Historically, rhubarb has been known as a laxative. But don’t worry, only consuming huge quantities will have you running to the loo. That aside, it’s also full of lutein (a compound that’s good for your skin and eyes), as well as containing vitamin K and, strangely enough, calcium. Rhubarb is also used in the theatre – as the ‘crowd’ on stage is often asked to repeat "rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb" to reproduce the sound of background chatter.
How do I grow rhubarb?
If you’re a virgin vegetable grower, rhubarb is hardy and runs riot with little attention. Give yourself a head start with one-year-old plants known as crowns and plant in late autumn to early winter. Rhubarb flowers look pretty, but be brutal and deadhead them as soon as they appear – all they’ll do is weaken your plant.
Chuck away those poisonous leaves and get cooking with rhubarb stalks – here are some top rhubarb recipes:
What does rhubarb taste like?
A prolific and precocious springtime "fruit," rhubarb looks like stalks of pinkish green or even magenta celery. Its flavor is much more tart, making it ideal company for sugar in sweet dishes like crisps, compotes, and pies (from which it gets its second name, "pie plant"). Rhubarb also lends a puckery-tart fruitiness to savory dishes and pairs very nicely with pork and poultry. In the United States, rhubarb grows best in northern states from Maine south to Illinois and west to Washington state. Around the world, rhubarb is grown in China and across Europe.
What Is Rhubarb?
Rhubarb is a member of the Rheum genus of plants. Though it's a hardy perennial vegetable, it's used more like a fruit. In fact, a New York customs court judge ruled in 1947 that it is legally a fruit, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) officially classifies it as such. The plant is a popular addition to backyard gardens and easy to grow (even difficult to get rid of when you want to). It requires a cold winter to thrive and produces its familiar brilliantly colored stalks—ranging from red to pink to pale green—in the spring.
Only the stalks of the rhubarb plant are eaten because the large, triangular leaves are poisonous. They contain a higher concentration of oxalic acid than foods like spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower (which have perfectly safe levels). It's also thought that rhubarb leaves may contain a more potent unidentified toxin. While you'd likely have to eat a large amount of the leaves for it to be lethal, even small amounts can cause nausea and vomiting. To be safe, do not eat or serve the leaves and keep them out of reach of children and pets. Once the leaves are removed, the rhubarb just needs to be cut and trimmed to your needs. Rhubarb is usually sold by the pound, ranging from $1.50 to $4 per pound. The price usually depends on availability from the season's harvest.
How to Cook With Rhubarb
Rhubarb is easy to prepare. Due to their toxicity, trimming and discarding the leaves is essential. Wash the stalks well and trim off the dry ends too. While it's tempting to peel the fibrous skin as you chop the stalks, try to resist this. The skin holds lots of color and flavor.
Two things happen to rhubarb when it's cooked: Its juices thicken, and it falls apart into fraying shreds of translucent fibers. Heavily cooked rhubarb has the perfect jellied consistency for rhubarb jam, as well as chutneys and compotes. It isn't so attractive when stir-fried or arranged on a tart. Quick heat yields tender but cohesive rhubarb pieces with rich flavor and a natural, glossy sheen.
Organic rhubarb stalks
CJP / Getty images
A tray stacked with stalks of fresh rhubarb.
Strawberry rhubarb pie with a lattice crust, ready for the oven
Rhubarb pizzas on English muffins with almond slivers
Freshly picked rhubarb and a rhubarb cocktail
What Does It Taste Like?
Raw rhubarb has a very tart taste that most people find unpleasant. For this reason, it's almost always cooked with sugar to counteract the sour flavor.
Rhubarb Recipes
Rhubarb's tart fruitiness makes it perfect to use in desserts, and it's most often paired with strawberries. Its intense tartness makes it a nice foil for savory dishes, too. If you don't feel like cooking, try a simple snack and dip pieces of rhubarb in honey or sugar or boil it to make rhubarb juice.
Rhubarb Crisp
Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Cake
Marinated Pork Fillet Roasted on Rhubarb
Where to Buy Rhubarb
Hothouse rhubarb is available most of the year, while field-grown stalks are available in early spring, typically from April through June. The Pacific Northwest is lucky enough to have a second harvest of rhubarb between June and July. The short growing season means you should enjoy it when you see it. It's often available at farmers markets and can be found in grocery stores. It is usually sold loose by the stalks. The stalks are the size of large individual celery stalks and are sold by the pound. Rhubarb may be sold in bulk by individual farmers if they have a bumper crop or had a particularly good growing season. Whatever the color, the stalks should be heavy and crisp with taut, shiny skin. Watch out for rubbery, fibrous, and dry stalks.
Rhubarb can be grown and harvested from a home garden. Leave the plant the first year and do not harvest it. In the second year, you can take a small harvest, and by the third year, you can harvest the full crop. Harvest stalks that are at least 1-inch thick and leave the rest. To harvest, cut the stalks at the soil line or pull out individual stalks as needed. You can harvest the whole crop at the same time or harvest in succession over a four to six week period. Plants can remain productive for eight to 15 years unless affected by pests or diseases.
Storage
Store trimmed stalks in loose plastic in the crisper drawer of the fridge, where it will keep for about a week. Many cooks prefer to wash it only before using it, but if you do it prior to storing, ensure the rhubarb has dried completely. To freeze, cut the rhubarb stalks into 1-inch chunks and seal in an airtight bag. Frozen rhubarb will keep for up to a year at 0 F.
Rhubarb vs. Chard
At first glance, it can be easy to mistake rhubarb for some varieties of chard, specifically ruby red chard, which also has red stems and is often included in bundles of rainbow chard. The two are very different, however. First of all, chard is a member of the beet family, though it's not used as a root vegetable.
The stalks of both plants are edible, though only chard's leaves can be eaten. If you can compare the two side by side, you will notice that chard's leaves have more prominent veins and that the color extends all the way through. Rhubarb's veins tend to blend in with the leaf, though this depends on the variety. Taste is the biggest difference: Where rhubarb is profoundly tart, chard tastes more like spinach.
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Varieties
Many varieties of rhubarb exist, including some with green stalks that are surprisingly sweet. There are two basic types of rhubarb found in markets and larger grocery stores: the older, traditional variety with thicker, greener stalks, and the more intensely colored, slender-stalked variety, sometimes called hothouse rhubarb. The deep red stalks certainly make for brighter, more attractive dishes, but the concentrated color indicates stronger tartness. The greener stalks have a nicely balanced, mellow flavor.
what is rhubarb
Rhubarb is the fleshy, edible stalks (petioles) of species and hybrids (culinary rhubarb) of Rheum in the family Polygonaceae, which are cooked and used for food.[2] The whole plant – a herbaceous perennial growing from short, thick rhizomes – is also called rhubarb. Historically, different plants have been called "rhubarb" in English. The large, triangular leaves contain high levels of oxalic acid and anthrone glycosides, making them inedible. The small flowers are grouped in large compound leafy greenish-white to rose-red inflorescences.
The precise origin of culinary rhubarb is unknown. The species Rheum rhabarbarum (syn. R. undulatum) and R. rhaponticum were grown in Europe before the 18th century and used for medicinal purposes. By the early 18th century, these two species and a possible hybrid of unknown origin, R. × hybridum, were grown as vegetable crops in England and Scandinavia. They readily hybridize, and culinary rhubarb was developed by selecting open-pollinated seed, so that its precise origin is almost impossible to determine.[3] In appearance, samples of culinary rhubarb vary on a continuum between R. rhaponticum and R. rhabarbarum. However, modern rhubarb cultivars are tetraploids with 2n = 44, in contrast to 2n = 22 for the wild species.[4]
Although rhubarb is a vegetable, it is often put to the same culinary uses as fruits.[5] The leaf stalks can be used raw, when they have a crisp texture (similar to celery, although it is in a different family), but are most commonly cooked with sugar and used in pies, crumbles and other desserts. They have a strong, tart taste. Many cultivars have been developed for human consumption, most of which are recognised as Rheum × hybridum by the Royal Horticultural Society.[6]
Contents
1 Etymology
2 Cultivation
2.1 Historical cultivation
3 Cultivars
4 Uses
4.1 Food
4.2 Nutrition
4.3 Traditional Chinese medicine
5 Phytochemistry and potential toxicity
5.1 Oxalic acid
6 Pests
7 In Zoroastrian mythology
8 Gallery
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links
Etymology
The word rhubarb is likely to have derived in the 14th century from the Old French rubarbe, which came from the Latin rheubarbarum and Greek rha barbaron, meaning 'foreign rhubarb'.[7] The Greek physician Dioscorides used the Greek word ῥᾶ (rha), whereas Galen later used ῥῆον (rhēon), Latin rheum. These in turn derive from a Persian name for species of Rheum.[8] The specific epithet rhaponticum, applying to one of the presumed parents of the cultivated plant, means 'rha from the region of the Black Sea'[8] or the river Volga, Rha being its ancient name.[9]
Cultivation
Young rhubarb flowers
Rhubarb is grown widely, and with greenhouse production it is available throughout much of the year. It needs rainfall and an annual cold period of up to 7-9 weeks at 3°C (37°F), known as ‘cold units’, to grow well. The plant develops a substantial underground storage organ (rhubarb crowns) and this can be used for early production by transferring field-grown crowns to warm conditions.[10] Rhubarb grown in hothouses (heated greenhouses) is called "hothouse rhubarb", and is typically made available at consumer markets in early spring, before outdoor cultivated rhubarb is available. Hothouse rhubarb is usually brighter red, tenderer and sweeter-tasting than outdoor rhubarb.[11] After forcing for commercial production, the crowns are usually discarded.[10] In temperate climates, rhubarb is one of the first food plants harvested, usually in mid- to late spring (April or May in the Northern Hemisphere, October or November in the Southern Hemisphere), and the season for field-grown plants lasts until the end of summer.
In the United Kingdom, the first rhubarb of the year is harvested by candlelight in forcing sheds where all other light is excluded, a practice that produces a sweeter, more tender stalk.[12] These sheds are dotted around the "Rhubarb Triangle" between Wakefield, Leeds, and Morley.[13]
In the northwestern US states of Oregon and Washington, there are typically two harvests, from late April to May and from late June into July;[14] half of all US commercial production is in Pierce County, Washington.[15] Rhubarb is ready to consume as soon as harvested, and freshly cut stalks are firm and glossy.
Rhubarb damaged by severe cold should not be eaten, as it may be high in oxalic acid, which migrates from the leaves and can cause illness.[16]
The colour of rhubarb stalks can vary from the commonly associated crimson red, through speckled light pink, to simply light green. Rhubarb stalks are poetically described as "crimson stalks". The colour results from the presence of anthocyanins, and varies according to both rhubarb variety and production technique. The colour is not related to its suitability for cooking.[17]
Historical cultivation
A bundle of rhubarb
The Chinese call rhubarb "the great yellow" (dà huáng 大黃), and have used rhubarb root for medicinal purposes for thousands of years.[18] It appears in The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic, which is thought to have been compiled about 1,800 years ago.[19] Though Dioscurides' description of ρηον or ρά indicates that a medicinal root brought to Greece from beyond the Bosphorus may have been rhubarb, commerce in the plant did not become securely established until Islamic times. During Islamic times, it was imported along the Silk Road, reaching Europe in the 14th century through the ports of Aleppo and Smyrna, where it became known as "Turkish rhubarb".[20] Later, it also started arriving via the new maritime routes, or overland through Russia. The "Russian rhubarb" was the most valued, probably because of the rhubarb-specific quality control system maintained by the Russian Empire.[21]
The cost of transportation across Asia made rhubarb expensive in medieval Europe. It was several times the price of other valuable herbs and spices such as cinnamon, opium, and saffron. The merchant explorer Marco Polo therefore searched for the place where the plant was grown and harvested, discovering that it was cultivated in the mountains of Tangut province.[19] The value of rhubarb can be seen in Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo's report of his embassy in 1403–05 to Timur in Samarkand: "The best of all merchandise coming to Samarkand was from China: especially silks, satins, musk, rubies, diamonds, pearls, and rhubarb...."[22]
The high price, as well as the increasing demand from apothecaries, stimulated efforts to cultivate the different species of rhubarb on European soil.[21] Certain species came to be grown in England to produce the roots.[23] The local availability of the plants grown for medicinal purposes, together with the increasing abundance and decreasing price of sugar in the 18th century, galvanised its culinary adoption.[21] Grieve claims a date of 1820 in England.[23] Rhubarb was harvested in Scotland from at least 1786, having been introduced to the Botanical Garden in Edinburgh by the traveller Bruce of Kinnaird in 1774. He brought the seeds from Abyssinia and they produced 3000 plants. [24]
Though it is often asserted that rhubarb first came to the United States in the 1820s,[25] John Bartram was growing medicinal and culinary rhubarbs in Philadelphia from the 1730s, planting seeds sent to him by Peter Collinson.[26] From the first, the familiar garden rhubarb was not the only Rheum in American gardens: Thomas Jefferson planted R. undulatum at Monticello in 1809 and 1811, observing that it was "Esculent rhubarb, the leaves excellent as Spinach."[27]
Cultivars
The advocate of organic gardening Lawrence D. Hills listed his favourite rhubarb varieties for flavour as ‘Hawke's Champagne’, ‘Victoria’, ‘Timperley Early’, and ‘Early Albert’, also recommending ‘Gaskin's Perpetual’ for having the lowest level of oxalic acid, allowing it to be harvested over a much longer period of the growing season without developing excessive sourness.[28]
A homemade rhubarb pie
The Royal Horticultural Society has the UK's national collection of rhubarb that comprises 103 varieties. In 2021-22 this was moved from southern England to the more northern garden RHS Bridgewater where winter cold and rainfall are better suited for rhubarb.[29] The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit:[30]
’Grandad's Favourite’[31]
’Reed's Early Superb’[32]
’Stein's Champagne’[33]
’Timperley Early’[34]
Uses
Rhubarb, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 88 kJ (21 kcal)
Carbohydrates
4.54 g
Sugars 1.1 g
Dietary fiber 1.8 g
Fat
0.3 g
Protein
0.8 g
Vitamins Quantity%DV†
Thiamine (B1) 2%0.02 mg
Riboflavin (B2) 3%0.03 mg
Niacin (B3) 2%0.3 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5) 2%0.085 mg
Vitamin B6 2%0.024 mg
Folate (B9) 2%7 μg
Choline 1%6.1 mg
Vitamin C 10%8 mg
Vitamin E 2%0.27 mg
Vitamin K 28%29.3 μg
Minerals Quantity%DV†
Calcium 9%86 mg
Iron 2%0.22 mg
Magnesium 3%12 mg
Manganese 9%0.196 mg
Phosphorus 2%14 mg
Potassium 6%288 mg
Sodium 0%4 mg
Zinc 1%0.1 mg
Other constituents Quantity
Water 94 g
Link to USDA Database entry
Units
μg = micrograms • mg = milligrams
IU = International units
†Percentages are roughly approximated using US recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA FoodData Central
Rhubarb is grown primarily for its fleshy leafstalks, technically known as petioles. The use of rhubarb stalks as food is a relatively recent innovation. This usage was first recorded in 18th to 19th-century England after affordable sugar became more widely available.[21][23]
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Commonly, it is stewed with sugar or used in pies and desserts, but it can also be put into savoury dishes or pickled. Rhubarb can be dehydrated and infused with fruit juice. In the United States, it is usually infused with strawberry juice to mimic the popular strawberry rhubarb pie.
Food
The species Rheum ribes has been eaten in the Islamic world since the 10th century.[35]
In Northern Europe and North America, the stalks are commonly cut into pieces and stewed with added sugar until soft.[36] The resulting compote, sometimes thickened with corn starch, can then be used in pies, tarts and crumbles. Alternatively, greater quantities of sugar can be added with pectin to make jams. A paired spice used is ginger, although cinnamon and nutmeg are also common additions. In the United Kingdom, as well as being used in the typical pies, tarts and crumbles, rhubarb compote is also combined with whipped cream or custard to make rhubarb fool. In the United States, the common usage of rhubarb in pies has led to it being nicknamed "pie plant", by which it is referred to in 19th-century cookbooks.[37] Rhubarb in the US is also often paired with strawberries to make strawberry-rhubarb pie, though some rhubarb purists jokingly consider this "a rather unhappy marriage".[37]
Rhubarb can also be used to make alcoholic drinks, such as fruit wines or Finnish Rhubarb sima (mead). It is also used to make Kompot.[38]
Nutrition
Raw rhubarb is 94% water, 5% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and contains negligible fat (table). In a 100-gram (3+1⁄2-ounce) reference amount, raw rhubarb supplies 88 kilojoules (21 kilocalories) of food energy, and is a rich source of vitamin K (28% of the Daily Value, DV), a moderate source of vitamin C (10% DV), and contains no other micronutrients in significant amounts (table).
Traditional Chinese medicine
In traditional Chinese medicine, rhubarb roots of several species were used as a laxative for several millennia,[39] although there is no clinical evidence to indicate such use is effective.[40]
Phytochemistry and potential toxicity
The roots and stems contain anthraquinones, such as emodin and rhein.[18] The anthraquinones have been separated from powdered rhubarb root for purposes in traditional medicine,[39] although long-term consumption of the plant has been associated with acute kidney failure.[40]
The rhizomes contain stilbenoid compounds (including rhaponticin), and the flavanol glucosides (+)-catechin-5-O-glucoside and (−)-catechin-7-O-glucoside.[41]
Oxalic acid
Rhubarb leaves contain poisonous substances, including oxalic acid, a nephrotoxin.[40] The long term consumption of oxalic acid leads to kidney stone formation in humans. Humans have been poisoned after ingesting the leaves, a particular problem during World War I when the leaves were mistakenly recommended as a food source in Britain.[42][43][44] The toxic rhubarb leaves have been used in flavouring extracts, after the oxalic acid is removed by treatment with precipitated chalk (i.e., calcium carbonate).
The LD50 (median lethal dose) for pure oxalic acid in rats is about 375 mg/kg body weight,[45] or about 25 grams for a 65-kilogram (143 lb) human. Other sources give a much higher oral LDLo (lowest published lethal dose) of 600 mg/kg.[46] While the oxalic acid content of rhubarb leaves can vary, a typical value is about 0.5%,[47] meaning a 65 kg adult would need to eat 4 to 8 kg (9 to 18 lbs) to obtain a lethal dose, depending on which lethal dose is assumed. Cooking the leaves with baking soda can make them more poisonous by producing soluble oxalates.[48] The leaves are believed to also contain an additional, unidentified toxin,[49] which might be an anthraquinone glycoside (also known as senna glycosides).[50]
In the petioles (leaf stalks), the proportion of oxalic acid is about 10% of the total 2–2.5% acidity, which derives mainly from malic acid.[12] Serious cases of rhubarb poisoning are not well documented.[51] Both fatal and non-fatal cases of rhubarb poisoning may be caused not by oxalates, but rather by toxic anthraquinone glycosides.[40][51][52]
Pests
The rhubarb curculio, Lixus concavus, is a weevil. Rhubarb is a host, damage being visible mainly on the leaves and stalks, with gummosis, and oval or circular feeding and/or egg-laying sites.[53]
Hungry wildlife may dig up and eat rhubarb roots in the spring, as stored starches are turned to sugars for new foliage growth.
In Zoroastrian mythology
According to certain Middle Persian Zoroastrian texts dealing with the creation of humankind, Mashya and Mashyana, the first human couple, first manifested on the earth as conjoined homunculi growing attached to a (ghostly) rhubarb plant. When Gayomart, the prototype of humanity, finally died as a result of the machinations of Ahriman the principle of evil and Jeh the demonic whore, he fell onto his left side and ejaculated onto the ground. The sun's rays gradually purified his semen, two parts being cared for by the messenger deity Neryosang and one part by Spendarmad, Amesha Spenta of the Earth. After the passage of forty years, Spendarmad's portion gave rise to the rhubarb plant bearing the human couple, who were then animated by the supreme deity Ohrmazd by means of the Farr ('kingly glory').[54][55]
5. After Gayomard had emitted his seed as he lay dying, they filtered the seed by means of the light of the Sun; Neryosang guarded two parts of it, and Spandarmad accepted one part; and [it remained within the earth] for forty years.
6. [On the completion of forty years,] Mashye and Mashyane grew up from the earth in the astral body of a rivas (= rhubarb) plant having one stem of fifteen leaves, in such wise that their hands rested behind over their shoulders, and they were joined to each other, of the same height, and of the same product.
7. Betwixt them both light came up; and they were of such uniform height that it [was] not evident which was the male and which the female, and [with] which [of them] was the light [given by] Ohrmazd, [that is, the light onto which the seed of the mortal being was affixed.]...
9. Then both of them changed from the astral body of a plant in to the astral body of a man, and that light, which is the soul, entered spiritually into them, that is, verily, they had grown up in the semblance of a tree, whose fruit was the ten races of mankind.
Iranian or Greater Bundahishn ( 8th–9th century CE )
selected verses from Chapter 14: 'Concerning Humankind'
( extract from the English translation by Behramgore Tehmuras Anklesaria ).[56]
What happens if you eat a lot of rhubarb?
Rhubarb is a vegetable known for its reddish stalks and sour taste.
In Europe and North America, it’s cooked and often sweetened. In Asia, its roots are used medicinally.
This article provides a detailed overview of rhubarb, including its uses and potential health benefits.
What is rhubarb?
Rhubarb is renowned for its sour taste and thick stalks, which are usually cooked with sugar.
The stalks range in color from red to pink to pale green and have a consistency that’s similar to celery.
This vegetable requires cold winters to grow. As a result, it’s mainly found in mountainous and temperate regions around the world, especially in Northeast Asia. It’s also a common garden plant in North America and Northern Europe.
Several varieties and species exist. In the West, the most common variety is called culinary or garden rhubarb (Rheum x hybridum).
SUMMARY
Rhubarb is a vegetable grown for its thick, sour stalks, which are usually eaten after being cooked with sugar.
How is it used?
Rhubarb is an unusual vegetable because it’s very sour and slightly sweet.
In fact, it’s easily mistaken for a fruit. Adding to the confusion, rhubarb is officially classified as a fruit by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) (1Trusted Source).
Due to its sour taste, it’s rarely eaten raw. Instead, it’s normally cooked — either sweetened with sugar or used as an ingredient.
It wasn’t until the 18th century, when sugar became cheap and readily available, that rhubarb became a popular food.
Before that, it was mainly used medicinally. In fact, its dried roots have been utilized in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years.
Only the stalks are eaten, most commonly in sweet soups, jams, sauces, pies, tarts, crumbles, cocktails, and rhubarb wine.
As sweet rhubarb pies are a traditional dessert in the United Kingdom and North America, this vegetable is sometimes called “pie plant.”
SUMMARY
Rhubarb is a vegetable often categorized as a fruit. Due to its sourness, it’s regularly sugared for use in jams and desserts.
Nutrient content of rhubarb
Rhubarb is not especially rich in essential nutrients, and its calorie content is low.
However, it is a very good source of vitamin K1, providing around 26–37% of the Daily Value (DV) in a 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving depending on whether it’s cooked (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source).
Like other fruits and vegetables, it’s also high in fiber, providing similar amounts as oranges, apples, or celery.
A 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving of cooked rhubarb with added sugar contains (3Trusted Source):
Calories: 116
Carbs: 31.2 grams
Fiber: 2 grams
Protein: 0.4 grams
Vitamin K1: 26% of the DV
Calcium: 15% of the DV
Vitamin C: 6% of the DV
Potassium: 3% of the DV
Folate: 1% of the DV
Although there are decent amounts of calcium in rhubarb, it’s mainly in the form of the antinutrient calcium oxalate. In this form, your body can’t absorb it efficiently (4Trusted Source).
It is also moderately high in vitamin C, boasting 6% of the DV in a 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving.
SUMMARY
A 3.5-ounce (100-gram) serving of cooked rhubarb provides 26% of the DV for vitamin K1. It’s also a good source of fiber. Otherwise, it’s not a significant source of essential nutrients.
Health benefits of rhubarb
Studies on the health benefits of rhubarb are limited.
However, a few studies have examined the effects of isolated rhubarb stalk components, such as its fiber.
May lower cholesterol levels
Rhubarb stalks are a good source of fiber, which may affect your cholesterol.
In one controlled study, men with high levels ate 27 grams of rhubarb-stalk fiber every day for a month. Their total cholesterol dropped by 8% and their LDL (bad) cholesterol by 9% (5Trusted Source).
This beneficial effect is not exclusive to rhubarb fiber. Many other fiber sources are equally effective (6Trusted Source).
Provides antioxidants
Rhubarb is also a rich source of antioxidants.
One study suggests that its total polyphenol content may be even higher than that of kale (7Trusted Source).
The antioxidants in rhubarb include anthocyanins, which are responsible for its red color and thought to provide health benefits. Rhubarb is also high in proanthocyanidins, also known as condensed tannins (8, 9Trusted Source).
These antioxidants may be responsible for some of the health benefits of fruits, red wine, and cocoa (10Trusted Source, 11Trusted Source).
SUMMARY
Rhubarb is a good source of fiber and antioxidants. Studies show that rhubarb fiber may lower cholesterol, but research on its health benefits is otherwise limited.
Why does it taste sour?
Rhubarb is probably the most sour-tasting vegetable you can find.
Its acidity is mainly due to its high levels of malic and oxalic acid. Malic acid is one of the most abundant acids in plants and contributes to the sour taste of many fruits and vegetables (8).
Interestingly, growing rhubarb in darkness makes it less sour and more tender. This variety is known as forced rhubarb, which is grown in spring or late winter.
SUMMARY
Rhubarb is exceptionally sour, making it hard to eat raw or without sugar. The sour taste is mainly due to malic acid and oxalic acid — though forced rhubarb is much less sour than other varieties.
WERBUNG
Safety and side effects
Rhubarb is among the richest dietary sources of calcium oxalate, the most common form of oxalic acid in plants.
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In fact, according to folk tradition, rhubarb should not be harvested past late June, as oxalic acid levels are said to rise from spring to summer.
This substance is particularly abundant in the leaves, but the stalks may also contain high amounts, depending on the variety.
Too much calcium oxalate can lead to hyperoxaluria, a serious condition characterized by the accumulation of calcium oxalate crystals in various organs.
These crystals may form kidney stones. Sustained hyperoxaluria can lead to kidney failure (12Trusted Source).
Not everyone responds to dietary oxalate in the same way. Some people are genetically predisposed to health problems associated with oxalates (13Trusted Source).
Vitamin B6 deficiency and high vitamin C intake may also increase your risk (14Trusted Source).
Additionally, growing evidence suggests this problem is worse for those who lack certain beneficial gut bacteria. Interestingly, some gut bacteria, such as Oxalobacter formigenes, degrade and neutralize dietary oxalates (15Trusted Source, 16Trusted Source).
Although reports of rhubarb poisoning are rare, make sure you consume it in moderation and avoid the leaves. What’s more, cooking your rhubarb may reduce its oxalate content by 30–87% (17Trusted Source, 18, 19Trusted Source, 20Trusted Source).
SUMMARY
Rhubarb may be high in oxalates and should be eaten in moderation. Notably, cooking reduces its levels of oxalates. Make sure to avoid the leaves.
How to cook rhubarb
Rhubarb can be eaten in a number of ways. It is usually used in jams and desserts, which contain plenty of added sugar.
That said, it’s easy to use in low-sugar recipes — or even cooked with no sugar at all.
A few creative ideas include rhubarb salad and healthy rhubarb crumble. You can also add this vegetable or its jam to your morning oatmeal.
SUMMARY
Rhubarb is a popular ingredient in crumbles, pies, and jams — foods that are usually loaded with sugar. However, you can also find rhubarb recipes with little or no added sugar.
The bottom line
Rhubarb is a unique vegetable that people use in cooking and baking.
Since it may be high in oxalate, you should avoid eating too much of it and try to select stalks from low-oxalate varieties. If you are prone to kidney stones, it might be best to avoid rhubarb altogether.
On the bright side, rhubarb is a good source of antioxidants, vitamin K, and fiber.
Additionally, its sour taste makes it a perfect ingredient in jams, crumbles, pies, and other desserts.
What are the benefits of eating rhubarb?
Rhubarb is a colorful and flavorful, yet under-appreciated, vegetable that is at its peak this time of year. Though not common in most people’s diets, this tart plant may offer cancer-preventive properties.
The edible part of the rhubarb plant — the stalk — contains anthocyanins, which yield its bright red color. Anthocyanins are a type of flavonoid found in foods such as berries, red onions, black beans, red grapes and black plums. They act as antioxidants in test tube studies, but in the human body, their protection seems more likely to come from their role in cancer-preventive cell signaling. Anthocyanins have demonstrated protective effects on blood vessels and blood pressure, and recent research suggests that anthocyanins may offer anti-cancer benefits, too.
Rhubarb is also a great source of vitamin K1, which is important for blood clotting and bone health. A half cup of cooked rhubarb provides more than one-third of the recommended dietary intake of vitamin K1, along with two grams of fiber (which helps prevent colorectal cancer), some calcium and vitamin C.
Rhubarb originated in China, where its roots were first harvested and dried for medicinal use. It is now grown either outdoors or in greenhouses in temperate climates throughout northeast Asia, North America and northern Europe. Stalks may be harvested starting in their second growing season. The stalks range in color from green to red and have large, green leaves.
If you grow your own rhubarb, be careful to avoid the leaves, as their high levels of oxalic acid make them poisonous. At lower concentrations, this compound isn’t harmful for most people. But the amount in rhubarb leaves can cause severe vomiting and at very high levels, it could be fatal.
Rhubarb is commonly eaten in sweet desserts — most famously known for combining with strawberries in pie — to counterbalance its strong tartness, but don’t be afraid to get creative. Try cooking down chopped rhubarb with a little lemon juice and sugar into a compote to top plain yogurt, oatmeal or goat cheese. Or, bake it into whole-grain muffins in place of another fruit and add a little ginger or cinnamon. For a savory option, chop and add rhubarb to diced red onion, a splash of balsamic vinegar and a little mustard to create a zesty sauce for your favorite fish.
For a refreshing drink without added sugar, try this Rhubarb Orange Refresher made with rhubarb syrup that is reminiscent of a Mexican agua fresca.
Rhubarb Orange Refresher
Ingredients:
3 cups fresh rhubarb, cut crosswise in 1/2-inch slices, about 3/4 lb.
4 cups cold water
1 cup strawberries, sliced
1 cup orange juice
4 mint sprigs, for garnish
Sweeten to taste with agave, honey or sugar (optional)
Directions
In a large, stainless steel or other non-reactive saucepan, combine rhubarb and water. Cover and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes. Set covered pot aside to steep for 10 minutes.
Set large strainer over bowl. Pour contents of pot into strainer and drain liquid into bowl. Using back of wooden spoon, press very lightly on rhubarb, just to extract liquid that drains easily. Pressing too firmly will make infusion cloudy. Discard pulp. Pour liquid, about 4 cups, into jar or other container, preferably glass, and let sit until room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.
To serve, measure 3 cups rhubarb infusion. Pour 1/2 cup into pitcher, add strawberries, and muddle until combined. Pour in remaining rhubarb infusion and orange juice. Divide among 4 ice-filled, tall glasses. Garnish each glass with mint sprig, if using. For single serving, in a glass, combine 1/4 cup rhubarb infusion with 2 strawberries, and then add remaining 1/2 cup infusion, 1/4 cup orange juice and ice.
Makes 8 servings
Per Serving:
30 calories, 0 g total fat, 0 g saturated fat, 7 g carbohydrate, 1 g dietary fiber, 1 g protein, 0 mg sodium
Rhubarb benefits are slowly gaining popularity. It was widely used in traditional Chinese medicine for soothing stomach-related ailments. In North America and Europe, it is used to boost brain health and strengthen bones. While there is a constant debate whether rhubarb is a vegetable or a fruit, its benefits are well-known. Learn more about the health benefits of rhubarb. Continue reading.
In This Article
What Is Rhubarb? How Is It Good For You?
What Are The Health Benefits Of Rhubarb?
Why Does Rhubarb Taste So Sour?
Is Rhubarb Poisonous?
What Are The Side Effects Of Rhubarb?
What Is Rhubarb? How Is It Good For You?
Rhubarb looks like red celery (kind of), but has large leaves and is often considered a fruit (there’s some confusion here, but we will get to it later). The stem of the plant is usually cooked, which can be eaten raw as well.
One serving of rhubarb meets 45% of your daily vitamin K needs – the nutrient supports bone health. The vitamin C in rhubarb wards off infections, and the vitamin A and lutein in the fruit (or veggie, whatever) boost vision health. There are other ways it can be quite good for you and your family. We will get there now.
Did You Know?
Though rhubarb is botanically a vegetable, in 1947, the United States gave it a legal designation as a fruit to avoid the high tariffs levied on imported vegetables.
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What Are The Health Benefits Of Rhubarb?
1. Rhubarb Relieves Constipation
Rhubarb helps in relieving constipation
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Shutterstock
Being a natural laxative, rhubarb can be used to treat constipation. Studies show that rhubarb possesses antidiarrheal effects, thanks to its tannin content (1). It also contains sennosides, compounds that act as stimulative laxatives (2).
Rhubarb also contains high amounts of dietary fiber that can boost digestive health.
2. Strengthens The Bones
We already saw that rhubarb packs a good dose of vitamin K, which plays a role in bone metabolism and helps prevent osteoporosis. Vitamin K is also important for bone formation. One study talks about how vitamin K can reduce fracture risk (3).
Rhubarb is also a decent source of calcium (one cup meets 10% of the daily requirement), another mineral crucial for bone health.
3. Boosts Brain Health
The vitamin K in rhubarb limits neuronal damage to the brain – and this can happen to the point of preventing Alzheimer’s. As per a study, rhubarb can help in the treatment of inflammation in the brain (4). This makes it a preventative measure against Alzheimer’s, stroke, and ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
4. Rhubarb Aids Weight Loss
Rhubarb was found to reduce bad cholesterol, and since it is a low-calorie food choice, it sure can be a great addition to a weight loss diet. It also contains catechins, the same compounds in green tea that give it its beneficial properties. Catechins are known to boost metabolism, and this also helps burn body fat and aid weight loss.
Rhubarb is also a good source of fiber, another nutrient important for weight loss. Because of its laxative properties, rhubarb is a prominent ingredient in certain weight loss formations (5).
5. Helps Combat Cancer
Animal studies have shown that physcion, a concentrated chemical in rhubarb that gives its stems their color, can kill 50% of cancer cells in a matter of 48 hours (6). We need more research on this before we come to a conclusion, though.
The cancer-fighting properties of rhubarb are particularly enhanced when it is baked – baking it for 20 minutes has shown to dramatically increase its anti-cancerous properties (7).
6. Might Aid Diabetes Treatment
Some research has shown that compounds found in the stems of rhubarb can help improve blood sugar levels and even lower cholesterol. The active compound, called rhaponticin, was found to be beneficial to diabetics.
7. Protects The Heart
Rhubarb benefits heart health
Merken
Shutterstock
Being a good source of fiber, rhubarb has shown to lower cholesterol levels. Consuming rhubarb stalk fiber was found to reduce bad cholesterol by 9% (8).
Other studies talk about the active compounds in rhubarb that protect the arteries from damage, which might otherwise lead to cardiovascular disease. Some sources say that rhubarb can also lower blood pressure.
8. Rhubarb Can Improve Vision
There is less information on this. However, rhubarb contains lutein and vitamin C, both of which work well for vision.
Did You Know?
Rhubarb reached Europe through the Silk Route in the 14th century. And it was brought to North America by the European settlers in the early 1800s.
9. Can Aid Kidney Health
One study shows how rhubarb supplementation can improve the therapeutic effects in the treatment of stage 3 and stage 4 chronic kidney disease (9).
But since rhubarb contains some oxalic acid, it can cause or aggravate kidney stones. Hence, please consult your doctor before you consume it.
10. Relieves PMS Symptoms
Studies show that rhubarb can relieve hot flashes, and this is especially true in the cause of perimenopause (10). Rhubarb also contains phytoestrogens, and some research says such foods can help relieve symptoms of menopause.
11. Delays Skin Aging
Rhubarb is a storehouse of vitamin A. This natural antioxidant helps in neutralizing free radicals and delays the symptoms of aging (like wrinkles and fine lines). Thus, rhubarb keeps your skin youthful and glowing by preventing the cell damage by free radicals.
Rhubarb is a natural antibacterial and antifungal agent and helps protect your skin from various infections. Raw rhubarb, in the form of a paste, had been advocated by alternative medicine practitioners as a topical application for various skin infections. You can make a paste of rhubarb stems and apply to your face. Leave it on for 15 minutes and wash off with cold water. Repeat every morning.
12. Rhubarb Works As A Natural Hair Coloring Agent
Rhubarb root contains a good dose of oxalic acid that is known to render a light brown or blonde hue to the hair. The presence of oxalic acid makes the hair color last longer and does not harm the scalp.
Add about three tablespoons of powdered rhubarb roots to two cups of water and simmer it for 15 minutes. Allow it to rest overnight. Strain the liquid in the morning and rinse your hair with this mixture for an awesome hair color.
These are the benefits. Adding rhubarb to your diet can be a good idea after all. But we have one important question to be answered.
Why Does Rhubarb Taste So Sour?
Not just sour – but excruciatingly sour. In fact, it is the most sour-tasting vegetable out there. And this is because of the high amounts of malic acid and oxalic acid in it. Malic acid is commonly found in most fruits and vegetables, and it imparts the sour taste to most of these foods.
Quite interestingly, growing rhubarb in darkness was found to make it less sour.
Well, okay. But did you hear anyone say that rhubarb could be poisonous? They are not completely wrong.
Is Rhubarb Poisonous?
The leaves are. Not the stalks that we recommend you to eat. The leaves are very rich in oxalic acid (more than the stems), and this makes them toxic. Other compounds in rhubarb leaves, called anthraquinone glycosides, can also make the leaves toxic.
Symptoms of toxicity include a burning sensation in the mouth and throat, eye pain, difficulty in breathing, diarrhea, weakness, and even vomiting. Death can occur, although it is quite rare as one needs to consume too many rhubarb leaves for that.
So, how do you eat rhubarb?
Simple. Just focus on the stalks. You can eat the stalks raw. Just dip them in some sugar or honey. You can also juice it. Or even make rhubarb tea – by steeping the stalks in hot water for 20 minutes and then draining the liquid.
Talking about dosage, 20 to 50 milligrams of rhubarb per 1 kg of body weight is considered safe.
All good. But like everything else, rhubarb has its share of side effects that you must know.
What Are The Side Effects Of Rhubarb?
Can Be Harmful For Children
Even though rhubarb stalks contain very less oxalic acid, they still can be harmful for children under 4 years of age.
Issues With Pregnancy And Breastfeeding
Rhubarb can be unsafe if used in quantities more than those found in foods.
Might Aggravate Diarrhea Or Constipation
Excess of rhubarb can aggravate these conditions.
Kidney Stones
Due to the presence of oxalic acid, rhubarb might aggravate kidney stones.
Liver Problems
Rhubarb can make the problem worse in people who have liver issues.
The benefits of rhubarb are gaining attention slowly. It is majorly used to soothe stomach-related ailments in traditional Chinese medicine. It is rich in vitamins A, C, and K. Rhubarb can relieve constipation and boost bone, cardiovascular, eye, and kidney health. It also delays the signs of aging and is a natural hair coloring agent. However, this sour-tasting vegetable can be harmful to children and pregnant or breastfeeding women. It can also aggravate kidney stones and liver problems in susceptible individuals. Also, do note that rhubarb leaves are poisonous – and must be avoided. Nevertheless, moderate consumption of rhubarb can offer you important benefits.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to select rhubarb?
Look for rhubarb with firm and crisp stalks and shiny skins. Avoid stalks that have split ends. Go for the one with smaller leaves as they indicate a younger plant. Don’t eat the leaves, though.
Can rhubarb leaves kill you?
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Yes, but only if you eat 11 pounds of the leaves at a time, which is highly unlikely. Even otherwise, we suggest you don’t eat the leaves.
References
“The diarrhoeogenic and…”. ScienceDirect.
“Constipation and herbal medicine”. US National Library of Medicine.
“Bone health and osteoporosis…”. US National Library of Medicine.
“Rhubarb extract has a protective role…”. US National Library of Medicine.
“Claims rhubarb pigment…”. NHS Choices.
“Induction of Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis by Physcion…”ResearchGate.
“Cholesterol lowering effects of…”. US National Library of Medicine.
“Evaluation of rhubarb supplementation…”. US National Library of Medicine.
“Rhubarb may cool hot flashes”. WebMD.
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