Health Benefits, Vitamins and Minerals in Spinach

Spinach is chock full of important nutrients. Adding spinach to your juicer will add a light green hue to your juice, along with plenty of vitamin K. As a matter of fact, you can get all of your daily vitamin K intake – and then some!- by simply adding spinach to your morning juice. This is the vitamin that is essential for the vitality of your blood, and it is important in maintaining clotting ability as well. Spinach will also add Vitamin A to your diet, which is the most important vitamin when it comes to your vision, such as color perception and night vision capability. If you were to juice just one single cup of spinach every day, you can ingest around 377% of the recommended daily allowance for vitamin A.

Health Benefits of Spinach

• Spinach is rich in essential amino acids, iron, calcium, vitamin A, and folic acid. It is the most inexpensive source of protein, providing as much protein as meat, fish, eggs, chicken do in the same quantity. Spinach is also an excellent source of fiber.
• Spinach is also rich in lutein which helps protect against eye ailments such as macular degeneration and cataracts, the leading causes of blindness in old age.
• The vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, and riboflavin help reduce inflammation associated with arthritis, asthma, heart disease.
• Studies show that the vitamin A and vitamin C in spinach may help prevent atherosclerosis and diabetic heart disease by reducing free radicals and preventing oxidation of cholesterol that would otherwise stick to the walls of the blood vessels.
• Magnesium in spinach can help reduce high blood pressure and reduce the risk of heart disease.
• Spinach has a cooling and soothing effect on the body. It also has a laxative effect because of the fiber.
• The folic acid in spinach makes it very valuable during pregnancy as it helps in the healthy development of the fetus and reduces the risk of abortion and accidental hemorrhage. Spinach provides a lot of nutrition to lactating mothers and improves the quality of the milk.

Amount

• One cup of raw spinach contains  0.7 grams of fiber.

Protein  -  0.86 grams

Calories  -   7

Minerals Contained

• Potassium - 167 mg
• Phosphorus - 15 mg
• Magnesium - 24 mg
• Calcium - 30 mg
• Iron - 0.81 mg
• Sodium - 24 mg
• Zinc - 0.16 mg
• Copper - 0.039 mg
• Manganese - 0.269 mg
• Selenium - 0.3 mcg
• Also contains small amounts of other minerals.

Vitamins Contained

• Vitamin C - 8.4 mg
• Niacin - 0.217 mg
• Vitamin B1 (thiamine) - 0.023 mg
• Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) - 0.057 mg
• Vitamin B6 - 0.059 mg
• Pantothenic Acid - 0.02 mg
• Folate - 58 mcg
• Vitamin A - 2813 mg
• Vitamin K - 144.9 mcg
• Vitamin E - 0.61 mg
• Contains some other vitamins in small amounts.