Health benefits of spinach

The benefits of spinach are legion. Even Popeye knew that to survive and flourish he would need them.

You know you are doing it right when you have to fight the bugs for the young spinach-leaves; they take their share if we do not pick early in the day.

These bugs are to us the "the king's tasters;" you can be sure you will not be poisoned by insecticides. They will not touch those perfect leaves that have been sprayed; they know better.

Spinach is rich in folate, potassium and lutein for your eyes; and magnesium too.

This page was last updated by Dr Bernard Preston on 7th November, 2024.

Reviewed by Dr Jane Ackerman, DC.

First and foremost, eaten daily spinach provides a substantial amount of roughage for the large bowel. Enjoy Eggs Florentine every morning for breakfast and that constipation will become a matter for the history-books.

• How to get more fiber
  

Some raw greens and perhaps prunes too may also be necessary if you have a very sluggish colon.

In terms of nutrients one cup of spinach contains all the vitamins A and K you will need the whole day long. Moreover it has two-thirds of the folate, around a quarter of the B2 and pyridoxine; C and E too.

It is rich in the calcium that your bones demand.

Getting sufficient magnesium from your food has profound effects on the coronary blood vessels; it helps them to relax and dilate, reducing the chance of heart attack by a massive fifty-percent. It is a great benefit of spinach, one of the richest sources of the mineral^[5]. Less than half of the people on the modern industrial diet get enough.

Are you suffering from osteoporosis? Then think spinach. More important, consider prevention as most women get it; and then it is too late to do much. Kefir^[3] several times a week is also a must in our family; the very best source of calcium and so easy to make in your own kitchen.

Are you concerned about your husband's prostate gland? You should be. It is the number-one malignant tumour that kills men. And even more than broccoli, often considered the queen of prevention of neoplasms, spinach ranks as the best green that gives protection.

And how about your own bowels? Chronic inflammation of the intestine with its most awkward and nasty unexpected diarrhoea, is helped by certain specific nutrients in spinach. This link to what happens in diverticulosis is worth a read^[1].

Benefits of spinach

The benefits of spinach together with garlic and onions are what make Eggs Florentine great.

These figures are the amounts in 100g of the boiled-vegetable. They are relative, not absolute values but just to confirm that your greens contain large amounts of these important substances.

They play a vital role every day in wellness such as bone strength, blood-pressure and the state of your heart; capillaries and the eyes too. Ignore them at your peril. You will not get adequate amounts on the black and white diet; meat and potatoes. It's time to turn to colour.

Your greens also contain surprisingly large amounts of protein and the beneficial low-GI carbs that are not fattening; in short they are good food for you, your children and your mother too. Is she perhaps on the lethal tea and toast way to early frailty?

You walk into the greengrocer and you find two-packets of spinach, one with leaves looking like that on the left and the other not dissimilar to the other on the right. Which would you choose?

That's a stupid question, eh? The one on the left of course; the spinach leaf on the right has obviously been chewed by caterpillars, grasshoppers or some such creature.

Not so fast now; have you asked yourself why the leaf on the left appears untouched by the bugs but they have obviously enjoyed tucking into the one on the right? Have you considered that the unaffected-leaves may be covered with pesticide residues?

In fact neither have been sprayed. Both are organic spinach leaves from my garden but it is midwinter and the little creatures are starving. Sixty-percent of my crop looks like the one on the right.

I feel for the farmer; he sits on the horns of a dilemma. Does he throw sixty-percent of his crop away or should he spray them?

Or does he grow organic spinach and charge double? How much more would you be prepared to pay, if you knew with absolute certainty that the food on the table before you was unsprayed? Of course, you never really know unless you are personally acquainted with the farmer.

In actual fact we eat both. Once the chewed leaves have been washed and cooked, they are absolutely fine.

My point is this. After radishes, spinach is probably the easiest veggie to grow. Two  metre-long rows will provide you with daily organic greens for months; I know because from this little patch I harvest enough to make Eggs Florentine six days a week.

It is sobering that despite its very real benefits, spinach is listed in the top-twelve veggies and fruits that have pesticide residues; and for good reason. The bugs know that it is wonderful stuff.

In short the authors of Popeye were not way out; but if you want good, clean spinach, perhaps a bit chewed up by the bugs then grow it yourself.

Actually that is not strictly true. In the summer two rows of a metre each would be fine but it is winter now and growth is very slow. So I do supplement with a few leaves from the baby spinach patch that normally would go into salads only.

So in winter you would need a second small patch. Do not bother if you live in Chicago where I dwelt for four-years whilst training as a DC. Spinach won't grow when the temperature is ten below zero.

In short then the benefits of spinach abound. It is easy to grow, wonderful in many dishes with protection against malignant tumours and constipation too; this is a vegetable that we should all be eating regularly.

It's no exaggeration we eat and enjoy spinach almost every day, 52-weeks in the year from these two little patches. More have been planted and will be in production by spring.

Spinach after the first spring rains

It is astonishing how spinach responds to the first spring-rains; exuberant growth and a deepening of the colour. Perhaps it's the nitrogen in the air after stormy weather; the swimming pool also turns green.

Folate

Folate is an essential vitamin especially for young women of child-bearing age. There are concerns in the literature about overdosing from supplements so it's best to get it from your food.

The nutritious benefits of spinach include large amounts of folate; vitamin B9. Without adequate levels you'll be anaemic. Your infant may suffer from a cleft-palate or spina bifida; and die from toxic homocysteine.

• Benefits of folate

Potassium

Potassium counterbalances the effects of sodium which most of us enjoy too much of, by regulating the fluid balance in the body; hence it's very important in lowering blood-pressure.

Since less than two-percent of those on typical grocery store food are getting enough potassium, stroke and heart disease are rife. The recommended daily allowance is around 4,000mg per day.

100g of spinach contains 466 mg and one cup has 840 milligrams.

Notice that frozen spinach according to Tufts University researcher Dr Kyla Shea, has lost at least 30-percent of its potassium; in the water it was cooked in.

Other good sources are all greens, avocados and the squash family including watermelon; legumes and bananas too. Those enjoying a well-rounded diet should not be struggling to get sufficient potassium.

If you are using organic spinach then remember to keep the cooking-liquid for soups and gravies; and to make umfino.

• Enrich your grits with greens and other vegetables for more flavour.
  

It's a no-brainer; the choice is more of the health benefits of spinach or face taking blood pressure medication for the rest of your life.

• Salt versus potassium blood pressure debate
  

Potassium is involved in many other important processes according to Megan Ware; including the prevention of osteoporosis, the risk of stroke and loss of muscle mass in the elderly. A high intake reduces our overall mortality by 20-percent; that's massive.

Make sure granny is getting enough potassium to prevent frailty syndrome; the premature loss of vitality.

Magnesium

Magnesium is required for over 300 biochemical reactions in the body; you cannot be and feel well if you are not getting enough. Spinach is one of the greatest sources but do also use the water in which you have steamed it for soups and gravies.

Magnesium from nuts and seeds can augment the mineral you get from your spinach.

Causes of osteoporosis

Causes of osteoporosis are a blighter, excuse the French but this is important. It's a silent condition and once you have it, the medical treatment is worse than the disease. Just read the fosamax reviews; the marvelous benefits of spinach are part of the solution.

This is particularly true since a ten-year research project proves that calcium taken in supplements is deposited in the linings of arteries, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke significantly; but not if enjoyed from those foods rich in the mineral.

So it is ostrich-like behaviour in the extreme to assume you can take some medication later in life when your bones are starting to crumble; by then it is already too late.

The only option is prevention as most ladies who live to over seventy will be osteopaenic; and a good few men too. That means regular exercise; and plenty of calcium from your food when you are much younger.

• Leg strength and longevity
  

Starting at seventy may help but will not prevent the disease.

Do not get sucked into the belief often peddled that you can only get adequate calcium from dairy products. Just a cup of spinach contains a quarter of your daily needs. Type "causes of osteoporosis" into Site Search in the main menu above.

Also use Site Search for "Best calcium for osteoporosis."

Spinach is also one of the good sources of riboflavin; vitamin-B2. It is extremely important in the breakdown of homocysteine, a key risk factor in hip fracture. Others are dairy products, eggs and red meat; if we do not have a well rounded diet that will supply the compounds absolutely needed for the resolution of this toxic substance produced from protein metabolism. 

Riboflavin is also produced by bacteria in the gut of those with a happy tum and a diverse intestinal flora; for this reason we also recommend enjoying probiotic foods such as kefir on a regular basis.

According to Harvard a deficiency of riboflavin can lead to certain cancers^[2].

Your eyes

I was astonished that my optician remarked recently that I must be enjoying a diet high in greens. How on earth did he know? There is not a sign of cataracts or macular degeneration, said he. They are prevented by two important carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin that are richly found in your daily spinach.

What he didn't know is that we also eat fava beans throughout the year for their L-dopa content; there is a very specific receptor on the capillaries behind the retina for this compound. It prevents the proliferation of blood vessels (known as neovascularisation) that characterises AMD, the chief cause of blindness after fifty^[6].

Read more about lutein at our avocado fat page, another rich source.

Or pay a visit to lutein macular degeneration.

Night leg cramps

The happy news is that night leg cramps in older patients are greatly relieved by vitamin K; it is found mainly in dark-green leafy vegetables like spinach and fermented foods such as this kimchi.

Satiety

Satiety reflects the notion behind having enjoyed an elegant sufficiency; more important perhaps is no 11 o'clock sense of feeling famished. It is snacking on refined carbs between meals that adds on the ounces that turn into pounds; which are then stored in all the wrong places.

Our Eggs Hilton might well seem weird. But if we personally miss out on our poached omelette on a foundation of fried onions, spinach and fresh green legumes, then we are famished long before lunch; and start hunting for cookies or some such.

It is well-researched that legumes supply that satiety and together with the benefits of spinach or kale, whatever is in season, they provide for us the perfect start to the day.

It does not take a great deal of effort in the garden to make sure that you have beans or peas throughout the year in a mild climatic zone.

• Keep your spinach lasagna simple
  

Choice foods

Choice foods for men are what give their wives a realistic chance of escaping a long and lonely widowhood. One of the very important benefits of spinach is a compound called betaine you may never have heard of. Do not fuss about the complex biochemistry but a deficiency which is very common in the lousy grocery store diet, means a range of serious chronic illnesses from heart conditions to Alzheimer's Disease.

Choice foods for women give husbands a realistic chance of not having a very disabled wife on their golden wedding anniversary.

Only if really interested and wondering what is betaine then read about it; in any case if you are enjoying spinach regularly, you will be home and dry.

If you steadfastly refuse to indulge in nutritious choice foods, just where are you planning to live after the big CA or stroke arrives?

Useful links

• Nutritious breakfast menu
  
• Choline food sources, another important vitamin.
  
• Spinach vs Swiss chard
  

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