Can lettuce help with bone loss?

What is LETTUCE? Identification name: Lactuca sativa L. Family: Asteraceae Habitat: native to Europe Medicinal parts: leaf, juice of leaf Key chemical constituents: it contains terpenoids, flavonoids, phenols, vitamins, minerals, organic substances. Properties and uses: it is antimicrobial, antioxidant, neuroprotective, hypnotic. The juice of the leaf has dilating properties of the cerebral arteries and respiratory system. Lactucarium is similar to codeine, it has a calming, inhibitory effect on breathing, but as it is weaker than codeine, it is less dangerous. For that reason, the juice is used for spasmodic coughs, whooping cough, and asthma. The juice is also a valid medicine to detoxify from excessive alcohol use as it acts on the nerve centers. It is used in forensic medicine for pain, stomach problems, inflammation, urinary tract infections. Curiosity: it was first cultivated by the Egyptians. The milky bitter juice is collected, which flows from the stem, from the base of the major leaves and from the core, breaking them, and serves to make lactucarium, which is a calming but not addictive narcotic. This drug has calming, diuretic, counter-stimulant, hypnotic-soporific action, similar to that of opium, poppy, and other narcotics, but milder without presenting the dangers of these. The whole lettuce plant, minus the roots, also has the same properties as lettuce, although weaker. Wanting to use it fresh, it works in decoctions adjusting by eye. They make calming poultices. The white juice in lettuce activates prolactin, the hormone that enables to produce milk. Indian scientists claim that lettuce beneficially influences the building of pregnancy hormones (progestogens) and helps prevent miscarriages. Caution: Dioscorides says too much of lettuce can cause dullness of sight.

Travelling in the space for a long period can cause bone loss. LETTUCE was genetically modified to produce the parathyroid hormone that prevents bone loss, and it was found easy to grow under microgravity. Growing vegetables in the spaceship reduces the costly supply of vegetables and medications to astronauts.

​References Genetically modified lettuce is the future of food and drugs in space, scientists say. Let us explain. ABC Science, 27 Mar 2022. mmm Genetically modified lettuce is the future of food and drugs in space, scientists say. Let us explain - ABC News Frattola, Ida. Piante Medicinali Italiane. Edizioni Planta Medica, 2001. Culpeper, Nicholas, and Steven Foster. Culpeper's Complete Herbal. Sterling Publishing Co., 2019. Jashemski, Wilhelmina Feemster. A Pompeian Herbal. Ancient and Modern Medicinal Plants. University of Texas Press, 1999. Storl, Wolf D. A Curious History of Vegetables: Aphrodisiacal and Healing Properties, Folk Tales, Garden Tips, and Recipes. North Atlantic Books, 2016. Palma, Luigi. Fitoterapia Essenziale. Palma 1979. Noumedem, J. A. K., et al. "Lactuca sativa." Medicinal spices and vegetables from Africa. Academic Press, 2017. 437-449.