National Institutes of Health. Vegetables are an essential part of any healthy diet. But boiled or canned spinach … According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, evidence indicates that adding carotenoids to the diet may bolster the immune system and help protect the body from illness such as cancer and heart disease 1. Spinach. Raw Nutrients of Spinach in a Blended Smoothie, How to Prepare Healthy & Easy Canned Spinach, Pennsylvania State University: Retention of Folate, Carotenoids, and Other Quality Characteristics in Commercially Packaged Fresh Spinach, Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University: Vitamin K. Do You Lose Nutrients in Spinach When You Saute It? The benefits of steaming compared to boiling … Cooked Spinach Benefits: When you eat spinach that has been heated, you will absorb higher levels of vitamins A and E, protein, fiber, zinc, thiamin, calcium, and iron. To stay slim, you can eat this tasty and healthy plant both fresh and frozen, boiled and even canned. Watch Your Garden Grow. This vitamin, named for the German word "koagulation," is essential for blood clotting, reducing your risk of nosebleeds, heavy menstrual periods, excessive bleeding and bruising. Iron fact sheet for health professionals. To take advantage of vitamin C and folate, eat the spinach fresh, and as soon as possible. Kale, forexample, requires fives minutes of steaming to draw its nutritional potential tothe maximum. Because many of spinach's nutrients, including vitamin C, folate, B vitamins and thiamin, are water soluble, spinach loses a large portion of its nutrients when it is boiled or steamed. However, boiling is not a healthy way to cook spinach because the nutrients leach into the water. With 3 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber, no fat or cholesterol and only 7 calories per cup, spinach is a highly nutritious food. Spinach is packed with beneficial nutrients, some of which of are enhanced by cooking while others are better retained in raw spinach. Like other dark green, leafy vegetables, spinach is a nutritional powerhouse. Anythingabove that mark will cause the loss of precious nutritional values. Office of Dietary Supplements. doi:10.3390/nu10111626, Vaňková K, Marková I, Jašprová J, et al. Beta-carotene and lutein are carotenoids, antioxidants that protect the body from free radicals, which are molecules that, over time, can damage the cells and lead to illness. Instead, preserve nutrients in spinach by steaming, sauteing or cooking it in the microwave oven. Your body must break down carbohydrates into sugars, proteins into amino acids and fats into fatty acids to absorb and use them. Storage tip: Even though this will make shelf life shorter, … Vitamin C has a number of beneficial functions in the human body. Enzymes in foods are broken down in your body like other proteins and serve no separate use in health. Broccoli, spinach, and lettuce may lose up to 50% or more of their vitamin C when boiled (4, 5). Nour M, Lutze SA, Grech A, Allman-Farinelli M. The relationship between vegetable intake and weight outcomes: A systematic review of cohort studies. As each of these factors increases, nutrient loss increases. Because they're water-soluble, they leach out of vegetables into the cooking water. While beta-carotene and lutein are abundant in spinach and other colorful vegetables, cooking spinach heats the cell walls of the spinach, releasing beta-carotene and lutein and making them more available to the body. Tomatoes: Cooked may be better than raw. While eating frozen and canned vegetables can help to meet the daily requirement, the best bet is to eat fresh as much as possible. Updated December 6, 2019. Vitamin A fact sheet for health professionals. Office of Dietary Supplements. Sautéing Spinach Heat 2 tablespoons (30 milliliters) of olive oil in a large skillet. Cover the pan and steam the spinach for no more than three to five minutes. Important carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin, also become more absorbable. Place fresh spinach leaves … Researchers at Pennsylvania State University discovered that after only eight days of cold storage, a bag of commercially packaged spinach loses about half of its folate and carotenoid content, even when stored at near-freezing temperatures. U.S. Department of Agriculture. Vitamin C: To reduce the loss of water-soluble, oxygen-sensitive vitamin C, cook fruits and vegetables in the least possible amount of water. Clin Nutr Res. National Institutes of Health. If you're wondering how long to boil spinach, it should only take a few minutes. To cook spinach in the microwave oven, place damp spinach in a microwave-safe bowl. Park JN, Lee JS, Noh MY, Sung MK. Finding alternative ways of preparing this leafy green will help you get the maximum nutritional benefit from eating it. After four to eight days, spinach lost nearly half of its folate, depending on the temperature at which it was stored. To saute spinach, cook it quickly in a frying pan with a small amount of heart-healthy olive oil or canola oil. Iron plays a certain role in patterned hair loss. J Korean Med Sci. After you remove the excess … Besides vitamins and nutrients, spinach is filled with nitrates and glycolipids, which may reduce inflammation. Another 2009 study found peas, cauliflower and zucchini to be particularly susceptible to a loss of nutrients through boiling, losing more than 50% of their antioxidants. Consider spinach. Updated 2017. Manufacturers generally advise that spinach should be sold within 14 days, so if you buy it during the final week of its shelf life, you could be sacrificing nutrients. Otherwise, the spinach will be greasy and soggy. How to eat spinach for weight loss? Office of Dietary Supplements. But raw spinach contains oxalic acid which binds to some nutrients and can interfere with their absorption in the body. 2018;2018:4069167. doi:10.1155/2018/4069167, Park SY, Na SY, Kim JH, Cho S, Lee JH. For maximum vitamin retention, use quick-cooking methods that do not include water, such as sauteing, stir-frying or blanching, to reduce the amount of nutrients lost from cooking. Colorado State University Extension. Three cups of raw spinach, for example, have 90 milligrams of calcium, whereas one cup of cooked has nearly triple the amount (259 milligrams). Getting three to five servings of vegetables every day is recommended to manage weight, protect against heart disease, diabetes and some forms of cancer. Copyright © 2020 Leaf Group Ltd., all rights reserved. Spinach. According to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the high vitamin C and folate content of spinach begins to degrade when the spinach is exposed to heat and light, or when it is stored for long periods. Once the steam starts to foam, begin your timer. Vitamin K fact sheet for health professionals. Updated 2018. Most of … Using Your Blanched Spinach Use your spinach immediately if desired. Steaming and boiling caused a 22 percent to 34 percent loss of vitamin C. Microwaved and pressure-cooked vegetables retained 90 percent of their vitamin C. They then proceeded to measure the lutein content at different times of food preparation. Raw-food advocates claim that cooking destroys important enzymes, or proteins that perform biological reactions. To cook fresh spinach in boiling water, place 1 pound washed spinach, covered, in a small amount of boiling salted water. According to Jane Higdon, PhD, of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University, adults need 90 to 120 micrograms of vitamin K daily. She writes about a variety of topics, with a focus on sustainable, pesticide- and herbicide-free gardening. University of California studies show that vegetables can lose 15 to 55 percent of vitamin C, for instance, within a week. Updated 2020. Colorado spinach. Cover the bowl loosely with waxed paper or plastic wrap, and then cook the spinach until the leaves are tender, which takes about four or five minutes. Because many of spinach's nutrients, including vitamin C, folate, B vitamins and thiamin, are water soluble, spinach loses a large portion of its nutrients when it is boiled or steamed. The nutrition facts for 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of raw spinach are ():Calories: 23 Water: 91% Protein: 2.9 grams Carbs: 3.6 grams Sugar: 0.4 grams Fiber: 2.2 grams Fat: 0.4 grams Carbs. Harvard Health Publishing. Oxid Med Cell Longev. Because all methods of cooking destroy some nutritional value, the best way to maximize nutrient intake is to eat fresh spinach raw. The leafy green is packed with nutrients, but you’ll absorb more calcium and iron if you eat … Try using boiled spinach in our velvet spinach recipe. Since spinach loses so much volume when it’s cooked, a cup of cooked spinach contains a lot more of the leafy vegetable, which may more than make up for the loss of water-soluble vitamins. 2013;28(6):934-8. doi: 10.3346/jkms.2013.28.6.934. The University of Minnesota Extension. Updated 2020. National Institutes of Health. Updated 2019. 2015;4(4):235-41. doi:10.7762/cnr.2015.4.4.235. Spinach is to be boiled only for a minute, for instance. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until tender. Spinach is most nutrient-dense when you eat it raw, but it retains more vitamins with some cooking methods than with others. The best way to reap the many benefits of this healthy vegetable is to enjoy it both raw and cooked. Spinach. Fiber is not lost during boiling, so 1/2 cup of boiled carrots supplies 9 percent of the recommended daily intake for women and 6 percent for men. Dyer began her writing career as a staff writer at a community newspaper and is now a full-time commercial writer. Cooking spinach can decrease its nutritional value, but some cooking methods are better than others. As a result, cooking ve… University of Illinois Extension. Boil it on the stove, and it can lose up to 70 percent of its folic acid . The same portion of boiled carrots has at least 7 percent of an adult's daily vitamin K, 5 percent of vitamin B-6, 4 percent of potassium and 3 percent of vitamin C. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. // Leaf Group Lifestyle, Benefits of Eating All Raw Vegetables & Fruits, University of the District of Columbia Center for Nutrition, Diet and Health: Spinach. Because it is a fat-soluble vitamin, little of it is lost when cooking spinach. To maximize the amount of nutrients you get, buy fresh, locally grown spinach. However, boiling is not a healthy way to cook spinach because the nutrients leach into the water. Pendick D. 5 steps for preventing kidney stones. Folate, a type of vitamin B, helps maintain healthy skin and supports various functions, including the immune system and production of red blood cells. Place spinach in a steamer or heatproof colander, then put the steamer in a saucepan over about an inch of boiling water. In a general sense, yes spinach loses some nutrients when you cook it. While beta-carotene and lutein are abundant in spinach and other colorful vegetables, cooking spinach heats the cell walls of the spinach, releasing beta-carotene and lutein and making them more available to the body. The ingredients you add to cooked spinach contribute to its overall nutritional value. In the latter cases, after heat treatment, of course, there will be several less vitamins and minerals. Microwaving spinach in very little moisture retains nearly all of the nutrients in spinach 1. A March 2007 study looked at the effects of boiling, steaming, microwaving and pressure cooking on the nutrients in broccoli. A cup of spinach gives you 145 micrograms of vitamin K, exceeding your daily requirement. Because all methods of cooking destroy some nutritional value, the best way to maximize nutrient intake is to eat fresh spinach raw. Steaming and sautéing are low-fat ways to cook vegetables. To keep it healthy, stir-fry it with other vegetables. Instead, preserve nutrients in spinach by steaming, sauteing or cooking it in the microwave oven. Vitamin C has a number of beneficial functions in the human body. Steaming maintains the quality of spinach because the leaves cook in steam and not water. Folate, a type of vitamin B, helps maintain healthy skin and supports various functions, including the immune system and production of red blood cells. Chlorophyll-mediated changes in the redox status of pancreatic cancer cells are associated with its anticancer effects. Food allergy overview. Although cooking degrades some nutrients, absorption of the remaining nutrients is increased. To saute spinach, cook it quickly in a frying pan with a small amount of heart-healthy olive oil or canola oil. Vegetable blanching directions and times for home freezer storage. According to the United States Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Database, each cup provides you with supplemental amounts of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc, as well as a wide array of antioxidant vitamins. M.H. Updated 2020. 2018;10(11). Cooking … When using frozen spinach, you can reduce vitamin C losses by cooking it directly from the freezer without thawing it first. American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. Just because your mom boiled spinach when you were a kid ~shudder~ that doesn't mean that's how you should eat it. To get the most out of consuming them, it's important to understand the effect of cooking on nutrients. The SF Gate puts it like this, “Because many of spinach’s nutrients, including vitamin C, folate, B vitamins and thiamin, are water soluble, spinach loses a large portion of its nutrients when it is boiled or steamed. Using fresh baby spinach, they used steaming, frying, or boiling it up to 90 minutes. Nutrients. Vitamin C and many of the B vitamins are the most unstable nutrients when it comes to cooking. Colorado Farm to Table. For other uses, cook spinach (fresh or frozen) by steaming, microwaving, stir-frying or sautéing to retain folate and vitamin C. Boiling spinach in a pot of water can cut these vitamins’ content in half. You can also serve it blanched, briefly dipping it into boiling water and quickly removing it, with a dash of olive oil and Parmesan cheese. Maia Appleby is a NASM-certified personal trainer with more than 15 years of experience in the fitness industry. Creamed spinach, which involves mixing spinach with butter, heavy cream, onions and garlic, adds hundreds of calories and several grams of fat to each serving, diminishing the nutritional value of the spinach. Harvard Medical School. Health Benefits of Spinach . Updated 2013. FoodData Central. Not only is that the slimiest and most boring way to … If you boil … Association between usual vitamin K intake and anticoagulation in patients under warfarin therapy. The leftover vegetable water also contains nutrients and can be used for cooking other dishes. Boiling spinach for more than 25 minutes, which was recommended in some 19th century cookbooks, isn’t the answer, as water can leech nutrients from the leaves. Even though cooked spinach packs in a large volume of leaves, it's still low in calories. A 47% drop in folate occurred in eight days at … Heat the oil first. Her articles have been published in a wide variety of print magazines and online publications, including the Gale Encyclopedia of Nursing and Allied Health, New Moon Network and Bodybuilding.com. How to Keep Iron Nutrients in Spinach When Cooking. These nutrients include folate, vitamin C, niacin, riboflavin, and potassium. Microwave it with just a little water, and you’ll retain nearly all its folic acid. Factors that affect nutrient loss in cooking include cook time, temperature and amount of liquid used. Minerals are elements that are unchanged by heating. CALORIC RATIO PYRAMID™ This graphic shows you what percentage of the calories in a food come from carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and alcohol. Saute the spinach, stirring constantly, until the leaves are crisp-tender, which takes about two to three minutes. The skillet should … Because microwaving generally includes a short cooking time and uses less heat, it retains more nutrients than conventional methods. It helps maintain healthy bones, tendons, muscles and blood vessels, and like beta-carotene and lutein, acts as an antioxidant that protects the body from free radicals. She is an Oregon State University Master Gardener and Master Naturalist and holds a Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction writing. Updated 2020. Beta-carotene and lutein are carotenoids, antioxidants that protect the body from free radicals, which are molecules that, over time, can damage the cells and lead to illness. Benefit from eating it all rights reserved the effect of cooking destroy some value. It raw, but it retains more nutrients than conventional methods you 're wondering how long to boil spinach they. Using boiled spinach in a microwave-safe bowl number of beneficial functions in the cases... Sautéing are low-fat ways to cook spinach because the nutrients leach into the.! 5 minutes or until tender generally includes a short cooking time and less! 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