What Are The Health Benefits of Botanical Drinks?
You have probably heard the word botanicals used before, especially in connection with alcohol-free drinks. That is because botanicals play a very important role in flavouring a lot of the available alcohol-free drinks - particularly spirits. But what actually are botanicals? And what are the benefits of drinking botanical drinks?
What Are Botanicals?
But what are botanicals? Botanicals are any part of a plant that can be used in drinks, cosmetics, tea, medicine etc. They can be the leaf of a plant, the root, the stem, or the essential oil, it is really any part of a fresh or dried plant.
But how do they differ from spices and herbs? Well, both spices and herbs fall into the category of botanicals, but they form their own subcategory. Herbs are counted as any plant with leaves, a stem and a flower. Spices typically come from the root, stem, seed, fruit, flower or bark of a plant. Botanicals come from any part of any type of plant.
Botanicals help provide flavouring, fragrances, and health benefits and can even be used medicinally. Using botanicals to flavour drinks is a great way of getting extra health benefits into drinks and reconnecting with more natural substances in our consumption.
What Are Some of The Benefits of Modern Day Botanicals?
Modern-day botanicals offer a whole range of different health benefits. They can be used medically both as preventative and reactive substances, meaning that drinking botanical drinks regularly can be a great way to improve your general health and well-being.
Here are just some of the great health benefits of botanical drinks:
Improve Your Skin
Many botanicals are very rich in antioxidants which help to protect your skin from harmful UV rays. Alongside this, some botanicals help stimulate collagen synthesis which helps keep your skin looking young, free from wrinkles and supple. Collagen synthesis also plays a hugely important role in keeping your muscles healthy and strong.
Plant oils help keep the skin hydrated, creating a protective barrier in skin cells and helping them maintain enough water to function properly.
They Can Be Anti-Inflammatory
Chronic inflammation in the body can cause all sorts of short-term and long-term health problems. The good news is that many botanicals added to alcohol-free drinks are actually anti-inflammatory in nature.
Botanicals like ginger, elderflower and ashwagandha, popular in alcohol-free spirits limit inflammation by limiting the production of cytokines and the activity of cyclooxygenase enzymes. Cytokines are important small proteins that play a role in controlling inflammation. When there are too many cytokines you can start having inflammation-related problems such as auto-immune illnesses. Using botanical drinks to help lower your level of cytokines has been shown to be beneficial.
Rich in Antioxidants
Many of the most used botanicals in alcohol-free drinks are very rich in antioxidants. Commonly used, antioxidant-rich botanicals in alcohol-free drinks include red fruits, green tea, ginseng, dandelion, ginger etc.
But why are antioxidants good for your body? Well, antioxidants hunt down the free radicals in your body. Free radicals are molecules brought into your body that increase oxidative stress and harm your body and DNA. Antioxidants help get rid of free radicals and therefore reduce the negative consequences of oxidisation.
In practical terms, a diet rich in antioxidants helps reduce your risk of heart disease, cancer and many other diseases.
They Promote Hydration
Many botanicals help improve your hydration levels. Some, such as elderflower, do this by lowering the stress and inflammation levels in your body, allowing it to naturally retain more water, others contain lots of electrolytes.
Electrolytes are essential minerals for our body to function correctly. They are most known for helping our body retain more water and balancing the pH of our bodies. Botanicals such as lemon balm, elderflower and nettle to name just a few, help keep our electrolyte levels up and increase hydration.
Improve Digestive Health
Many botanicals play a useful role in improving digestive and gut health. They do this in various different ways. Some botanicals help to balance your gut flora, allowing your body to have a healthy balance of macrobiotics in your stomach.
Others promote the growth of digestive enzymes, allowing your body to fully and efficiently process the food you eat and get the most out of the nutrients in that food.
Botanicals such as dill, ginger, peppermint, fennel and caraway help to reduce stomach bloating and stomach cramping. This can be particularly useful if you have something like IBS or are feeling nauseous.
Who knew that drinking alcohol-free botanical-rich drinks could be so good for your digestive health?
Improve Immune System Function
There are various ways in which botanicals can help increase immune system function. Many botanicals contain strong anti-virals, anti-fungals or anti-bacterials which the body uses to combat infections. Anti-virals such as lemon balm work by stopping viruses from entering your cells. All of these help your immune system respond to infections and illness.
Other botanicals, such as echinacea work as immune modulators. This means that they can help either calm your immune system or power it up. Modulators allow your immune system to be able to respond more fully when a threat enters your body but will make your body less likely to start attacking itself when there is no threat.
Explore The Alcohol-Free Lifestyle With JOMO
Want to enjoy all the amazing health benefits of botanicals in a delicious drink? Then it’s time to start exploring the world of alcohol-free drinks.
Sign up for a JOMO subscription box and you will receive a box filled to the brim with different alcohol-free goodies directly to your front door.
Each box contains:
One full-sized alcohol-free spirit (many of these contain botanicals)
Recipes, mixers and garnishes to accompany the spirit
A range of ready-to-drink alcohol-free beverages
Delicious snacks
A magazine with everything you need to know about the products in your box!
What are you waiting for? Sign up and find the joy of missing out.