Cola Nut - Or the Origin of the Second Word in "Coca Cola"
I was pleasantly surprised to find Cola Nuts being sold by
some of the local groundnut & peanut vendors. In the manner of a good host
in Cameroon I immediately stocked up on Cola Nuts in order be able to serve my
peers appropriately. And maybe also to observe the faces and grimaces of the
people trying Cola Nut for the first time – the fruity thing is quite bitter,
after all.
Well, it turns out that in Madagascar, the nut is known for
different properties than in Cameroon. Or maybe, they are the same properties,
just interpreted differently: Here, Cola Nuts are chewed in order to increase
the sexual proficiency. While that spells tough times for the expansion of
Viagra pills into Madagascar, the guy walking around and offering Cola Nuts is
also quite out of luck.
As a lazy scientist, this prompted me to do some short
research on Wikipedia, and it turns out that Cola Nut was indeed used to
provide the caffeine in early Coke and was the namesake for the second word in
the now omnipresent brand.
However, this little gem of information does not answer our
question for the uses of Cola Nut. The chemical composition listed on Wikipedia
is: Caffeine, Theobromine, Theophylline, Phlobaphens, Epicatechin, D-Catechin,
tannic acid, sugar, cellulose, and water.
We all know that Caffeine
is the mother lode of all alchemistic ingredients, so I don’t think I have to
discuss that here, but move on to the other ingredients.
Theobromine what
makes Chocolate dark and tasty, and as the Greek name already says, it’s “Food
of the gods”. It does help to widen the blood vessels, aids urination and is a
heart stimulant. Therefore it is used to treat high blood pressure and other
circulatory problems, and it has even been patented for medical use in cancer
prevention.
Theophylline is
used for the therapy of respiratory diseases like COPD and asthma, increases
heart muscle contractility and efficiency, and helps prevent sleep – so basically, it is similar to caffeine as
well.
Phlobaphene
colours the nut red, and does not have any human biological activities.
Epicatechin &
D-Catechins are also found in dark chocolate and protects the (mouse) brain
before and after a stroke, and the catechins in general are therapeutic
candidates to prevent the cognitive decline caused by HIV.
Tannic acid has
been used as a treatment for many toxic substances, such as mushroom poisonings
in the past and is still consumed to medicate bleeding, diarrhoea, dysentery,
bloody urine, coughs, and seemingly even cancer. Tannic acid is also used to
produce anti-histamins and
anti-tussives, and is also used in anti-allergen sprays.
Cellullose is
just indigestible plant-stuff, dietary fiber.
Taken together, it the Cola nut is just like dark chocolate
with caffeine – a nice bitter snack with good health benefits. Maybe I should
start a business with Cola Nuts, and then stating that the Malagasy use it to
increase sexual activity certainly won’t hurt ;-)
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