Spinach, which has been in season since July, is a representative vegetable that is good for the eyes. Spinach, which has the warm sunlight of summer and nutrients from the fertile soil, contains a lot of various ▲’vitamins’ and ▲’minerals’ ingredients, so it helps the general public as well as pregnant women, growing children, and the elderly with weak immunity. Dr. Joel Perlman, a family medicine scientist in the United States, has also selected spinach as one of the most nutrient-dense foods, and it is known that if you consume just one cup of spinach a day, you can meet 100% of the daily intake of ‘vitamin K’, which is particularly lacking in Koreans.
In addition, spinach is rich in essential nutrients, such as protein, fiber, and carbohydrates. Each 100g of spinach contains 2.9g of protein, 3.6g of carbohydrates, and 2.2g of fiber. In addition, ▲vitamin E, ▲vitamin K, ▲vitamin B group, ▲iron, and ▲copper are also contained in large amounts. Spinach is an excellent vegetable for ‘improving immunity’. The ‘phytochemicals’ derived from spinach play a role in reducing ‘oxidative stress’ and ‘DNA damage’ in our body. It has an anti-inflammatory effect that facilitates the body’s metabolism and relieves inflammation, so it is particularly recommended in the summer when energy is low. .
◇ Spinach, is it better to eat raw to improve eye health?
Spinach is often eaten by blanching it with sesame oil and soy sauce, or boiling it in soup. In the West, well-washed spinach is fried in oil and enjoyed for brunch with an omelette. However, in order to ingest the ▲ ‘lutein’ ingredient contained in spinach, it is better to eat it raw, and research results are being published, which is attracting attention.
Since spinach’s ‘beta-carotene’ is fat-soluble, frying it in oil or eating it with oil helps nutrient absorption, but ‘lutein’, which inhibits retinal aging, increases absorption in the body when consumed raw. Even within the retina, ‘lutein’, which is a substance that makes up the macula, where photoreceptors are dense, is difficult to synthesize naturally in the body, so it is essential to ingest it from the outside.
There are other positive effects of eating spinach raw. A medical expert said, “If you eat ‘raw spinach’ every day, you can prevent stomach and pancreatic cancer.” Spinach’s abundant ▲’green leaf’ and ▲’folic acid’ components are excellent for suppressing cancer cells, as these active ingredients are easily lost when blanching spinach.
If you want to consume spinach’s lutein as it is, there are ways to eat it as a salad, or to make ‘spinach juice’ by grinding spinach with other ingredients such as apples or ‘squeezing it’ in a blender. Making spinach juice is simple. Put 100g spinach, 1 banana, and 200ml milk in a blender and grind it to drink. One glass of spinach juice a day is effective against cancer and anti-inflammatory, and not only maintains eye health, but also helps people who drink a lot or have a liver problem.
