What are the health benefits of spinach? Spinach is a dark green, leafy vegetable which is super low in calories and packed with a ton of nutrients and antioxidants.
This healthy superfood can be eaten cooked or raw, and beautifully accompanies a wide range of dishes, including salads and pasta. Here, you will discover the top 5 benefits of adding spinach to your plate at meal times.
What are the top 5 health benefits of spinach?
Spinach packed with certain essential nutrients including vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin K, dietary fiber, flavonoids, calcium and magnesium.
All these beneficial nutrients are very important to keep your body sound and healthy. Let’s have a look at some more details on how spinach may improve your health:
May help to lose weight
Spinach is a great food to snack on if you are trying to lose weight. With only 7 calories and absolutely no fat per cup, it can successfully keep cravings at bay. Spinach is so versatile and delicious that it can be enjoyed raw on its own as a snack or steamed as an accompaniment to fish, meat and pasta dishes as well as most salads.
Spinach can be finely chopped or blended and added to many sauces, such as cheese sauce or garlic sauce. In addition, spinach is considered one of the most suitable leafy green vegetables to be blended into smoothies.
Spinach protect cells from free radicals
Spinach is a fantastic source of vitamins A and E; one cup provides more than 3 times the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A and around 20% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E.
Both vitamins A and E are essential for healthy cells in the body. In particular, vitamin A is useful for the skin, bones, teeth and eyes whilst vitamin E protects cells from free radicals (i.e. harmful substances in the environment).
Promotes bone health
Spinach is rich is vitamin K; over 10 times the recommended daily allowance in just one cup of boiled or steamed spinach! Vitamin K plays a vital function in the health of our bones, along with calcium and magnesium, which are also highly concentrated in spinach. Now you know why Popeye ate so much spinach!
May fight against cancer
One of the key health benefits of spinach is that, it fights against cancer. Spinach is high in anti-cancer agents. As spinach is rich in a multitude of flavonoids which counteract the effects of free radicals in the body, it has been found to reduce the risk of many types of cancer such as breast cancer.
Not only can spinach help to prevent cancer as a superfood, but it can also help to fight many types of cancer due to a powerful antioxidant called kaempferol which prevents cancerous cells from forming. Spinach is also high in a particular carotenoid which helps to fight prostate cancer by stopping cancerous cells from reproducing.
May improve digestive system
Finally, spinach is super for the digestive system, containing a great deal of dietary fiber in just one cup. This helps to clear out any waste that has accumulated in the intestines and digestive tracts, as well as nourishing these organs. For this reason, spinach is great for relieving constipation.
Bottom line
So, we have focused on 5 of the primary health benefits of spinach as a superfood and it should come as no surprise that spinach is generally considered to be one of the top superfoods.
With such a high content of vitamin A, E and particularly K, spinach is one of the most antioxidant rich foods available. Not to mention it is so low in calories and high in fiber that it can be enjoyed guilt-free every day!
