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Never mind its shocking taste, drinking ‘jamu’ is good for you
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arious studies have shown that the blend of Indonesian medicinal herbs and spices contained in jamu (traditional herbal drink) can have a positive impact on your physical health.
For instance, various research studies on turmeric, a major jamu ingredient, have shown that turmeric contains active anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial substances.
Meanwhile, ginger – another jamu staple – contains lots of vitamin C and magnesium, which could help boost your body’s immune system, keeping bacteria and viral infections at bay.
Curcumin has a slightly repellent aroma, yet is highly useful for your physical health, helping you with digestive problems, such as gastric acid issues.
Beras kencur (rice and galangal) has proven its efficacy in helping people to overcome influenza and boost their stamina thanks to its rich antioxidant content.
According to BioFarma research integration project senior manager Neni Nurainy, while waiting for the clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine to finish, people can start developing the positive habit of drinking jamu regularly to boost their immune system.
“Indonesia is a country with the second greatest biodiversity in the world [second only to Brazil]. There are various medicinal plants which we can use as antiviral herbs. We can also extract the essences of these plants to turn them into disinfectants,” Neni said during a webinar held on Nov. 18 themed "Vaccine and Herbal Medicine: Can They Go Hand-in-Hand?".
The webinar was organized by the National Economic Recovery and COVID-19 Mitigation Committee, supported by the Communications and Information Ministry and Siberkreasi, a national digital literacy movement.
The event was also held in collaboration with Forum Sista, a local women’s discussion platform launched by user-generated content-based discussion platform Kaskus, as well as the Magdalene Learning Club launched by Indonesian feminist publication magdalene.co. The webinar was moderated by Jawa Pos TV news anchor Puri Anindita.
Therefore, she said, jamu consumption could supplement the efficacy of a COVID-19 vaccine in preserving people’s health.
Yet, despite the nutritional goodness of jamu, many people, especially youngsters from the millennial generation (born between 1981 and 1995) and Generation Z (born between 1996 to 2012), have a hard time drinking the concoction regularly because of the widely circulating myth that it tastes bitter and horrible. In fact, jamu is an acquired taste: You may not like it the first time you taste it, but you will soon habituate yourself to its strong flavors.
According to Nova Dewi Setiabudi, the chief executive officer of the Suwe Ora Jamu restaurant, on average, people only like to drink turmeric or beras kencur because these are among the better-tasting jamu types; which is a shame, since Indonesia has an abundance of jamu flavors with different health properties.
“A lot of people, for instance, are unwilling to consume Daun kelor (moringa leaves) because it tastes bitter. Yet, the bitterness comes from a substance which carries a lot of antioxidants,” according to Nova, referring to the leaves’ content of riboflavin, better known as vitamin B2.
Simply put, just push through the shock you go through when you taste jamu for the first time, as it is very good for your health.
Nova said that her restaurant ran several educational activities to make jamu popular among younger generations, such as concoction-making classes and social media campaigns telling stories behind the concoctions. She also helped publish a book about the drink’s history.
Despite its attempts to retain jamu’s relevance in this day and age, some things about the concoction are non-negotiable: “We cannot compromise the essence of jamu. Adding preservatives or any additives to the concoction is a big no-no. We have to remember that the word jamu derives from an Old Javanese phrase jampi husodo or prayers for one’s health,” Nova asserted.
Yet, one has to be mindful that as a medicinal drink, jamu may not be suitable for everyone, Metropolitan Medical Center nutritionist Raissa Edwina warned. She said as quoted by kompas.com that jamu could cause allergic reactions or blood coagulation problems for certain people.
It is also important to be aware of the ingredients inside drinks marketed as healthy: for instance, many variations of jamu are full of large amounts of sugar, increasing the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. Therefore, Raissa advised people to make their own herbal drinks at home or purchase them from trusted sources to ensure the drinks were not full of artificial ingredients.
Furthermore, sports nutritionist Emilia Achmadi told thejakartapost.com in an article published in April 2020 that while herbal drinks could be used as a supplement to boost one’s immunity, these was no substitute for COVID-19 treatment.
Emilia said that herbal drinks had yet to be clinically proven as a cure for a disease.
In this vein, Nova acknowledged that the health effects of jamu were slowly and cumulatively built in the body; therefore, it was no magic bullet.
“Drinking jamu alone won’t protect the body from illness; one must also practice good hygiene, exercise routinely, consume a balanced diet, get enough rest and adhere to physical distancing standards,” Emilia told thejakartapost.com.
