Legend of the creation of the tree Kola said that the kola nut was originally a food of the gods. Once, during a visit to the land, one of the gods left the nut that people found it. Since then, the tree kola and fruit of this plant began to be used for magic stimulant (aphrodisiac). Also, people found a lot of benefits of bitter kola for weight loss.
Kola nuts grow on trees, which belong to the plant family called the Clusiaceae or Guttiferae. This beautiful evergreen tree can reach a height of 20 meters. It is something like wide-spread chestnut, as it has hanging branches with broad ‘leathery’ oblong leaves, yellow flowers and star-shaped fruit. The fruiting tree starts only in the tenth year of life of a tree and it gives about forty kilograms of nuts a year. Kola nuts are large enough in length. They may be about 5 cm.
The homeland of the bitter kola nuts is considered to be the west coast of Africa. This plant is still quite unpretentious and easy to catch on in other circumstances, starting growing, for example, in India, Ceylon, Seychelles, Zanzibar, the Antilles and Australia.
Today, bitter kola nut is spread almost all over the world. And it began its journey around the world with black people who were brought to the slave trade to the New World so that exotic nut appeared in Central America. English sailors brought kola nut to India, Ceylon, the Seychelles, and other places.
The Dutch began to grow wonderful nuts in Java, and the Germans cultivated it in Cameroon. Europe met with kola nuts at the end of the XVIII century, and by the middle of the XIX century, the miraculous properties of this plant (tone of the muscles of the heart) and began to be applied in a practical European medicine.
Now especially large plantations of kola nuts are located in Guinea. The farmers purposefully grow and care for fruit-bearing trees all year round. Nuts require special care, as if it is dropped from a height onto the ground it can be broken – it is not allowed. Therefore, people have bent different networks under the trees or put bags mitigating the drop of nuts.
After collecting the nuts are transported to the city where they are sorted and washed thoroughly to get rid of the possibility of settling insects in them. Such meticulous care is conducted due to the fact that a large number of harvested nuts is exported. Thus, bitter kola nuts bring a stable income for traders, because depending on the quality of the nut and its size, the cost of the fruit can vary between 200 and 500 Guinean francs, that is 4-11 cents per nut. Every year this nut is becoming more and more popular. The reason is that bitter kola and weight loss have already become almost the synonyms. Because of its huge benefits for health people are buying more and more bitter kola nuts.
It is a plant with the pronounced tonic properties. It is used in order to enhance muscle power, stimulate the heart and central nervous system.
Fresh kola seeds contain water, cellulose, starch, tannins, protein, fats, caffeine, essential oils, as well as a small amount of glycoside Kolatina and theobromine. It is the combination of caffeine and theobromine from Kolatina which determines the exciting action kola nuts as a natural tranquilizer.
In medicine, kola nut extract is used in a dry or liquid form, as well as a tincture. Also, there are tonic pills. Chocolate with ground kola nuts is used as a tonic by skiers, climbers, and hikers.
For many years, the Europeans believed that the stories about the miraculous properties of kola nut were simple colonial fairy-tales. They began to treat this fruit seriously only after the French army lieutenant colonel gave a report to his superiors, which described the extraordinary properties of exotic fruit in details. He reported that in the process of climbing the mountain Kang, he had eaten powdered kola nuts, which helped him to move on without interruption and fatigue for 12 hours. This fact became an incitement to a detailed study of unusual plants.
How to use bitter kola?
Kola nut can be called unique energy stimulant due to its high content of caffeine. European travelers of the XVI century described the unique qualities of this nut, which could not only completely suppress the feeling of hunger, but also relieved fatigue, as well as gave a charge of vivacity for a long time. Travelers noted that the natives were chewing this nut incessantly. It helped to lose weight and eat much less.
Indeed studies have shown that under the influence of substances contained in the nut, it can improve brain function, increase concentration, which is especially important, for example, before the exam or responsible work. Bitter kola helps you to get clear thoughts; help get rid of fatigue and sleepiness. You do not waste your time having snacks as you do not feel hunger.
So people from tropical Africa (chewing just one grain of bitter cola nut) could walk about 80 kilometers a day under the scorching sun. The natives believe that the life-giving nut is able to quench your thirst, clean water, replace meat, increase potency, carry out detoxification after excessive alcohol consumption, lose all extra fat and so on.
But, not all are equally related to kola nuts and some consider it a health hazard, because people are constantly getting used to chewing the nuts, practically abandons the normal food.
Recent studies have shown that the kola nut is useful in the treatment of functional diarrhea (occurring in the nervous system). In some African tribes, during more than a thousand years people are used to chewing a piece of the nut before each meal to improve digestion.
Caffeine is a part of kola nut which helps curb appetite and improves digestion. It ultimately leads to weight loss. It speeds up the metabolism, the body is charged with energy for the long term. And it is without food. Looks like a miracle!
The damage from the kola nuts’ possible side effects is very dangerous. People may get dyspepsia: heartburn, nausea, and vomiting due to excessive production of stomach acids; insomnia due to stimulation of the nervous system; high blood pressure.
Bitter kola nuts are eaten both fresh and dried. They were historically used to increase the physical strength during long multi-day trips, in order to suppress hunger, as well as the activation of all the vital functions of the body.
The small amount of kola nut is safe, but its excessive and long-term use can cause addiction, nervousness, and insomnia, due to its caffeine content.
You can lose weight due to bitter kola, but you should not forget about eating other healthy products: low-fat meat, yogurts, vegetables, and fruit. Otherwise, you may lose weight and get a lot of health problems in one ‘package’.
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