Spinach

Spinaches are green leafy vegetables, known by most as the food of Popeye, the sailor of comics and cartoons that eats spinaches in order to become very strong. This has created the belief that spinaches bring large amounts of iron but the truth is a bit different, in fact spinaches contain this mineral, but it is not easily assimilated unlike other sources of iron such as, for example, the meat. But beyond this, spinaches are a food that has other properties and therefore should always be present in a healthy diet. The spinaches indeed contain mineral salts such as potassium, magnesium, copper, zinc, selenium, as said before iron but with a minor role, and phosphorus. These vegetables are also a source of vitamins, the A, B, C, and a lot of vitamin K, important for its role in regulating blood clotting and bone health, antioxidants such as chlorophyll and folates, or vitamin B9. Folates are very important during pregnancy because they reduce the risk of hypertension in the mother and protect the fetus from other malformations. But folates are not only usefull during pregnancy, they play also a key role in synthesizing proteins and DNA and can reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer, as evidenced by the Global Fund for Research on Cancer. A diet that includes a regular intake of spinaches reduces the risk of developing the diabetes of type 2, non-insulin dependent diabetes, which tends to occur later in life or in the case of overweight. This property has been demonstrated by a study performed by University of Leicester, UK, and published on the British Medical Journal magazine. The study Epic (European prospective investigation into cancer and nutrition study) has also been shown that the daily consumption of green leafy vegetables, including spinaches, protects women from the risk of developing breast cancer. Finally, spinaches are also useful against constipation because they are fiber-rich. The ideal would be to eat fresh, raw spinaches, by adding them chopped to salads, but if you want to cook the spinaches, be sure to cook them very quickly and use a little water. Dress spinach with olive oil and lemon juice.