Spinach can really do wonders for your health. After all, Popeye wasn’t eating spinach for nothing! Researchers have identified at least 13 different flavonoid compounds in spinach that function as antioxidants as well as anti-cancer agents.
The anticancer properties of these spinach flavonoids have been sufficiently impressive to prompt researchers to create specialized spinach extracts. These spinach extracts have been shown to slow down cell division in stomach cancer cells (gastric Aden carcinomas). Spinach extracts have also been shown to reduce skin cancers (skin Papillomas) in studies done on mice.
A study that was conducted on adult women living in New England in the late 1980s showed that intake of spinach was inversely related to incidence of breast cancer.
The vitamin K that is provided by spinach is almost 200 per cent of the Daily Value in cup of fresh spinach leaves and over 1000 per cent of the Daily Value in one cup of boiled spinach. This is important for maintaining bone health.
Vitamin K1 activates osteocalcin, the major non-collagen protein in bone. Osteocalcin retains calcium molecules inside the bone. Hence it can be said that without adequate vitamin K1, osteocalcin levels will be inadequate, and bone mineralization will be impaired.