Radish promotes circulation

Sacagawea was the Shoshone Indian who helped guide Lewis and Clark’s 1805 expedition from Montana to the Pacific. Her bravery and navigational abilities are legendary.

The route she advised for their crossing of the Continental Divide — the Yellowstone River Basin — later became the route for the Northern Pacific Railway.

Now it seems that the Sakurajima daikon (from Sakurajima, Japan), otherwise known as the “monster radish,” can use its legendary health properties to guide you to a healthier heart, and not just from the exercise involved in transporting it! The largest Sakurajima radish on record weighed more than 68 pounds with a circumference of over 3 feet.

Researchers writing in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry found that, bite for bite, the monster radish induced more nitric-oxide production than its smaller cousins. When nitric oxide is released into your bloodstream, it causes blood vessels to relax, reducing blood pressure and improving the flow of your circulatory system. So, like Sacagawea, the Sakurajima radish improves navigation — this time, of your blood supply throughout your body.

It may be tough to find the Sakurajima radish in grocery stores (they’re grayish-white and the size of pumpkins), but you might come across them at a farmers market, and you can grow your own.

Non-GMO seeds are easily purchased online.

These behemoths are a little tough, so they’re better when cooked or fermented (that’s how the Japanese prepare them), and that should give you the extra benefit of ingesting a microbiome-enhancer. Plus, the greens, raw or sauteed, are delicious!

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www.sharecare.com.