Bottle Gourd / Lauki / Ghiya

• The bottle gourd is a common vegetable in India. It is yellowish green, having the shape of a bottle. It has white pulp, with white seeds embedded in spongy flesh.
• In India, it is known as lauki in Urdu or dhudhi or ghiya in Hindi, lau in Bengali, sorakaya in Telugu, dudhi-Bhopala in Marathi, sorekayi inKannada, and suraikkaai in Tamil.
• The dried and cored thick outer skin has traditionally been used to make musical instruments like the Tanpura, Veena etc.
• The bottle gourd is low in fat and cholesterol yet high in dietary fibre. It contains 96% water. It is rich in iron and also has vitamins C and B complex. It has sodium and potassium making it suitable vegetable for hypertensive patients. It is excellent for light, low-cal diets, as well as for small children, people with digestive problems, diabetics and convalescents.
• This vegetable is very good for balancing liver function. It is often recommended by Ayurvedic physicians when the liver is inflamed and cannot efficiently process food for maximum nutrition and assimilation.
• Bottle gourd is very valuable in treating urinary disorders. It serves as an alkaline mixture for treating burning sensation in urinary passage due to high acidity of urine. It carries the potential for breaking calculus (stones) in body.