Linn.Family: Amaranthaceae.
Habitat: Grown as vegetable in northern India.
English: Love-Lies-Bleeding, Tassel Flower.Ayurvedic: Raam-daanaa (grain).Siddha/Tamil: Pungikeerai, Siru- keerai.Folk: Chuko.Action: Blood-purifier, diuretic; used in piles, strangury, dropsy and anasarca; tea has been used for relieving pulmonary conditions; also given in scrofula and applied to scrofulous sores. Antimicrobial peptides have been isolated from seeds.
In Western herbal medicine, LoveLies-Bleeding is equated with Amaranthus hypochondriacus, and is used for ulcers, diarrhoea, as well as inflammation of the mouth and throat.Preliminary evidence suggests that Amaranth seed can reduce total cholesterol and LDL, while increasing HDL, but Amaranth muffins failed to reduce cholesterol levels in hypercholes- terolemic adults beyond the reduction achieved by low-fat diet. (Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database, 2007.)
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