Spinach Health Benefits, Nutrition and Vegetable Facts

List of Health Benefits of Eating Spinach

Consuming a good amount of spinach helps manage your homocysteine levels, as spinach contains folic acid (vitamin B9). Folic acid is an essential vitamin that the body requires to avoid high homocysteine.
As one of the healthiest vegetables, spinach has a good amount of vitamin K that can help promote the wellness of brain function and nervous system. Besides, vitamin K is essential to maintain density of the bones.
Spinach contains many antioxidants such as flavonoids, polyphenols and carotenoids that may help prevent cancer, neurological and immune system degeneration as well as cardiovascular disease.
Antioxidants such as zeaxanthin and lutein are abundant in the vegetable and are useful to keep the eye from age-related macular degeneration and cataracts.
Fresh spinach juice is actually a natural diuretic. The vegetable juice blended with coconut water may be given to patients during bladder infections to boost urine production.
Violaxanthin and neoxanthin are two powerful anti-inflammatory epoxyxanthophylls, which are significant in controlling inflammation. They are found in substantial amounts in spinach.
Peptides in spinach are capable of effectively reducing blood pressure.
The large amount of vitamin A or retinol in spinach promotes good skin due to moisture retention, and thus preventing keratinization, psoriasis and wrinkles.

Facts about Spinach

Spinach (scientific name Spinacia oleracea) is a green leafy vegetable grown natively in Southeast Asia. The plant has been widely used as a food source for hundreds of years in Asian countries. Spinach has unique spade-shaped leaves with smooth surface like that of the flat-leaf variety, or with crinkly surface like that of the Savoy variety. If not harvested, this vegetable plant is going to seed during the end of the summer, letting the leaves to wither.

Raw spinach is edible; if you are not so interested in the nutritional value but keen only on the taste. Uncooked spinach is a regular add-on to salads. This healthful vegetable can even be cooked in many kinds of preparation, or add in to soups, quiches, burritos, casseroles, sandwiches, sauces, and other food varieties.

Spinach Nutrition Facts and Calories

Nutrition Value of 1 cup (30 g) Raw Spinach
Calories	7 kcal
Total Fat	0 g
Cholesterol	0 mg
Sodium	24 mg
Total Carbohydrates	1 g
Dietary Fiber	1 g
Sugars	0 g
Protein	1 g

Spinach Recipe for Kids

Spinach Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

750 ml vegetable stock
500 g spinach
2 potatoes
1 onion

Preparation:

Boil the stock and allow it to simmer.
Meanwhile, rinse and remove tough stalks from the spinach, peel the skin and chop the potatoes and onion, and add them to the simmering stock. Season well.
Allow it to further simmer for 12-15 minutes or until the vegetable is tender. Blend the mixture and serve.

Spinach Side Effects