The asparagus comes from the lily genus. It comes in different sizes, color, and varieties. It is such a popular vegetable ingredient in the west and is famously associated with steaks. Other dishes go well with asparagus, too, like fried dishes, red meat dishes, pasta, and so on. Food enthusiasts say it goes best with red meat dishes that have red wine to add tanginess to it.
We know asparagus as the scrumptious vegetable in our steaks but what are its health benefits and nutritional content?
Asparagus is Packed With Nutrients
Asparagus is packed with nutrients but has low-calorie content. Which means, this vegetable is quite healthy and will not worsen underlying conditions linked to calorie-related illnesses. To be exact, asparagus contains nutrients including vitamins E, C, K, iron, zinc, riboflavin, and folate. These micronutrients are beneficial in our body and possess characteristics which have unique functions in the various chemical processes in our body.
Asparagus Fights Off Free Radicals and Diminishes the Signs of Aging
Asparagus is such a good fighter of free radicals and the illnesses it might be brought up in the future due to its high antioxidant content. It is an antioxidant super booster because it has vitamins E, C, glutathione, flavonoids, and polyphenols. All these super antioxidants help fight off free radicals and other kinds of oxidative stress your body might undergo in the future.
An antioxidant is such an important agent in our body because, in a way, it helps lower our risk of acquiring cancer in the long run. Our body has free radicals roaming within it. A leveled amount of free radicals in our body poses no harm but if the number of free radicals suddenly spiked up, it might render some negative effects. These effects might include sudden flare-ups, inflammation, and worst of all, cancer.
There is another variety of asparagus which has more antioxidants than any of its alternative – it is the purple – colored asparagus. The color purple in the asparagus is due to the high antioxidant content called anthocyanins. This antioxidant agent does not only provide the protection from antioxidant flare-ups and chronic inflammation, but it also prevents the worsening of heart-related ailments.
Asparagus Might Help Improve the Functions of the Digestive System
The reason why asparagus is good for your digestive health is due to the high fiber content all its variety has. Fiber is good for the stomach for it cleanses any residues in your intestines and colon. It also regulates the consistency of your stool for better bowel movement and stool elimination. Our stomach has friendly bacteria on it. These healthy bacteria help in metabolism and digestion. These bacteria also uphold the immunity of our stomach from bacteria. For them to do this, they need to feed on fiber to keep them functioning regularly. This is where asparagus comes in. Asparagus has fiber in it, and thus, helps feed bacteria.
The other good thing about fiber is how good it is in taking care of your heart. First things first, it does not contribute to the ballooning cholesterol in your bloodstream but rather, it helps lower the level of blood cholesterol in your body. This, in turn, is good for the heart for a leveled cholesterol means a normal level of blood pressure and plaque floodways.
Asparagus is Good for Expecting Mothers
As mentioned above, asparagus has a healthy dose of micronutrients within and that includes folate. The fact that it has folate, makes it a viable option for expecting mothers because folate is such an essential part of pregnancy. On the initial stage of pregnancy, folate has a crucial role in DNA and red blood cell development of the child. This role is especially crucial since it should be present already once the cell starts to develop.
On the middle and later stages of pregnancy, folate has a crucial role still, in fact, it is important all throughout the process of child development. Mothers are in fact chowing on fruits and vegetables with folate in them due to prevent the dreaded neural tube defects. These defects might plague expecting mothers if possible, in their span of expectancy, there is a time of folate delinquency. These defects lead to random but bad physical disabilities and defect on the unborn child.
Asparagus Prevents High Blood Pressure
High-blood pressure will never be good especially for adults. If you already have an onset of heart-related illness like stroke or fatty heart, then you might want to not aggravate it by high-blood pressure. For people who are not diagnosed yet with any heart -ailment but as experienced series of high-blood pressure attacks, it might be a good idea to turn to your doctor for an explanation. High blood pressure is an indication of high- cholesterol level in your bloodstream and early onset of any heart -related ailment. Heart-related ailment like stroke is also one of the leading causes of the spiked mortality rate in the whole world. To prevent this, we need to be wiser as consumers and turn to healthier picks like Asparagus.
Believe it or not but asparagus helps lower high blood pressure. This is because asparagus is rich in potassium, a nutrient which helps relax the walls of our vessels and slowly eliminate salt. All this process helps prevent high – blood pressure from happening. Researches are still mixed about this idea. However, eating high in fiber and potassium whole food like asparagus good for the heart and the overall wellness of the body. Regardless of whether this idea is made into a fact debunked, one thing is for sure – potassium helps regulate your blood pressure by maintaining it in a leveled manner.
Asparagus Can Help You Cut Back On Your Weight
For now, there is still no solidified research which tells us that asparagus indeed can help cut back our weight. However, there are telling characteristics that might point the potential link to asparagus on cutting back on weight. The fact that has low calories says a lot why it will help cut back on weight. This is due to the fact that asparagus is not contributing massively to body mass. The second thing which leads one to believe that it is possible for asparagus to cut back on weight is the fact that almost all of the asparagus components is made up of water. Now, water might add to the water weight of the body but it is temporary and will least likely to not contribute to body mass.
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Written by Daisy Coyle, APD on April 4, 2018
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