Spinach’s Extensive Nutritional Profile Leads to Many Benefits

How Spinach is Good For Your Health

Nutrient Content

Vitamins

Excellent Source of (Daily Recommended):

• Vitamin K – 181%
• Vitamin A – 56%

Good Source of (Daily Recommended):

• Folate – 15%
• Vitamin C – 14%

A Source of:

• Vitamin E – 3%
• Riboflavin – 3%
• Vitamin B6 – 3%

Minerals

Good Source of (Daily Recommended):

• Manganese – 13%

A Source of:

• Magnesium – 6%
• Potassium – 5%
• Iron – 5%
• Calcium – 3%

Other

Also a Source of:

• Fiber – 3%
• Omega-3 Fatty Acids
• Antioxidants – Kaempferol, Quercetin, Zeaxanthin, Lutein

*All nutritional information found at ( 1 )

How Spinach Prevents Chronic Disease

Spinach, like many vegetables, prevent several chronic diseases that plague America today. Most notably, spinach helps to prevent cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

How Spinach Prevents Cancer

In general, vegetables are recommended to be consumed daily in order to help prevent cancer. Spinach is a great resource to incorporate into your diet to prevent various cancers.

• Spinach prevents cancer primarily through its antioxidants. Antioxidants will fight against free radicals, which are often a co-factor in the growth of cancer cells. As the free radicals continue to damage various tissues, the cancer cells proliferate until they infiltrate several parts of your body. ( 2 )

• Specifically, spinach is high in vitamin C content. Vitamin C has been shown to fight against a number of cancers, including lung, breast, and blood cancers. ( 3 , 4 , 5 )

• Spinach is also high in quercetin. Quercetin is an antioxidant that fights off the free radicals and is known as a “scavenging free radical” destroyer. ( 6 )

  • Quercetin also provides additional apoptotic activity in tumor cells. This means that it will cause the tumor cells to die. ( 7 )

  • Quercetin has been shown to prevent lung and colorectal cancers in many different studies. More studies must be done to confirm quercetin’s effects on ovarian cancers. ( 8 )

• Spinach is also rich in an antioxidant called kaempferol. Kaempferol has been shown to reduce several cancers, including skin, liver, and colon cancers. It primarily focuses on increasing apoptotic activity within tumor cells. ( 9 )
• Moreover, spinach is rich in two compounds, MGDG and SQDG, which have been shown to decrease the size of tumors in cervical cancer. ( 10 )
• As you can see, spinach is linked to a variety of benefits that help prevent cancer. Many studies have additionally linked spinach consumption to a decreased risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer. ( 11 , 12 )

How Spinach Prevents Diabetes

• Spinach is high in fiber content. As a result of fiber, you don’t eat as much since you feel fuller after a meal. So, you won’t face these drastic blood-sugar spikes after a meal. With limited sugar content and high fiber, it does not impact your blood sugars, and prevents blood sugar spikes by slow digestion( 13 )

• In addition to this, the antioxidants in spinach play a significant role in relieving type 2 diabetes.

  • Studies have shown that spinach consumption can relieve inflammation. Also, spinach consumption has showed promising results in preventing insulin resistance. ( 14 )

  • Studies have also shown that spinach plays a vital role in glucose metabolism, so you can keep your glucose levels in check after a spinach-filled meal. ( 15 )

How Spinach Prevents Cardiovascular Disease

• Spinach can help prevent several cardiovascular diseases. Specifically, spinach contains a lot of nitrates. Nitrates have been shown to lower and maintain your blood pressure levels. In turn, this helps decrease your risk of heart disease.

  • Specifically, one study showed that spinach reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels by up to 5 mmHg. ( 16 ) Regularly consuming spinach can keep nitrate levels high, as they are broken down slowly and help maintain high levels of circulating nitrates.

• Also, spinach is rich in Vitamin K1. This is an essential vitamin for blood clotting prevention. Blood clotting is often the result of high LDL cholesterol and your blood vessels being blocked by clumps of LDL cholesterol. Spinach is one of the richer sources in vitamin K1 compared to other fruits and vegetables (i.e., lettuce). So, be sure to incorporate spinach into your diet! ( 17 )

Spinach Promotes a Number of Health Benefits

Spinach not only help to prevent diseases, but support and promote the function of several important systems in our bodies.

How Spinach Promotes Immune Health

• Spinach is especially rich in vitamin C content. Vitamin C is essential to improving your immune health because it increases the number of white blood cells that are found throughout your body. White blood cells act as one of our primary immune response systems by destroying and killing infected cells and particles. ( 18 )

• In addition to vitamin C, kaempferol helps improve your immune health by acting as a critical regulator in the repair pathway. Kaempferol focuses on eliminating the foreign cells and helps you fight off infections. ( 19 )

How Spinach Promotes Eye Health

• Spinach has a number of different nutrients that contribute to eye health and relieve you of diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, which is often the cause of blindness in older adults.

• First off, spinach is rich in vitamin A and beta carotene. Beta carotene acts as the precursor for vitamin A, and both of them help improve your overall vision, especially night vision. ( 20 )

• In addition, spinach is high in zeaxanthin and lutein, which are carotenoids. These carotenoids help provide the rich colors in some of the vegetables and protect your eyes from experiencing damage that is often caused by sunlight. Specifically, they have been shown to prevent macular degeneration and cataracts from forming in your eyes. ( 21 )

• Some studies have even shown that zeaxanthin and lutein can reverse existing eye damage. However, more studies need to be done to confirm these findings. ( 22 , 23 )

How Spinach Promotes Bone Health

• Spinach is a source calcium and magnesium. Magnesium helps to regulate calcium in the body.  Calcium is responsible for promoting bone health and keeps your bones healthy and dense. Maintaining healthy levels of calcium in your body is essential for the prevention of diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis. ( 24 , 25 )

How Spinach Promotes Skin Health

• As mentioned before, spinach is high in vitamin C content. Vitamin C has been shown in a number of studies to prevent sunburns and wrinkles from forming on your skin as you become older. ( 26 )

How Spinach Promotes Digestion

• Spinach is made up of rich content in fiber and water supply. Specifically, spinach is high in insoluble fiber levels. The insoluble fibers will help promote gut health, as it makes food travel through your gut more easily. As a result, you are less at risk for constipation, and you maintain regular bowel movements. ( 27 )

How Spinach Prevents Anemia

• Anemia is a condition when there is not enough iron in your system to help carry oxygen from your lungs to different parts of the body. Common symptoms of anemia include immense fatigue, stomach pain, and drowsiness. Spinach has good iron content, so it can help prevent anemia by providing you the iron intake you need for the day. ( 28 )