Black sesame is often used in diets all over the world. Sprinkle some on rice, salad, cereal, noodles or any other dishes. Sesame is often added to bread, cakes, biscuits, yogurt or smoothies and sweets. Many traditional dishes use sesame seeds. For example, hawa is a popular candy in the Middle East; Sesame paste is made from lightly roasted seeds with shells. In Japan, black sesame seeds are usually sprinkled on sushi rolls. Black sesame seeds are used to make dried Mexican seasoning. Black sesame is also very popular in China and Korean cooking.
Black sesame is a good source of dietary fiber, and two tablespoons can provide 8% of the daily demand. Fiber is the part of food that the body cannot digest or absorb. It remains the same. Adding a lot of water to digested food can soften feces and help prevent constipation. Black sesame can help the digestive system to work normally, and also help to relieve irritable bowel syndrome, such as hemorrhoids, diverticulitis and other gastrointestinal diseases. In addition, dietary fiber has been proved to reduce colon cancer.
Another advantage of black sesame is that it is rich in healthy fat sources. The body needs the energy provided by fat to perform many important biological and physiological processes related to the heart, muscles, blood cells and nervous system. The body also needs fat to absorb fat-soluble nutrients. Every 2 tablespoons contains 1.3 grams of saturated fat. The intake of saturated fat should be limited to less than 10% of the total daily calories. In addition, black sesame does not contain trans fats. Sesame contains 50% to 60% of high-quality fat. Every 2 tablespoons contains 4 grams of polyunsaturated fatty acids and 3.4 grams of monounsaturated fat. Replacing saturated fat with unsaturated fat may help lower low density lipoprotein (bad) cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease.