Green Leafy Vegetables

Green leafy vegetables

Green leafy vegetables include spinach, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, parsley, watercress, endive, fennel, kale, and chard, and beet, carrot, collard, dandelion, and mustard greens. All of these vegetables are a source of the major vitamins and minerals, and depending upon the richness of the soil they are grown in, may provide a good amount of various trace minerals all necessary to human growth and development. These vegetables also provide roughage, necessary for proper elimination. In green leafy vegetables, the darker leaves are generally richer in nutrients vitamins A, C, E, K, B-2, other B vitamins including folic acid and pantothenic acid, Iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese, calcium, copper, and other minerals. The vitamin A provided by these vegetables is an aid to growth, good eyesight, health of the skin and of the mucus membranes of the sinuses, throat, and digestive tract, especially in making these areas resistant to infection; vitamin A is important during pregnancy and while breast feeding. The vitamin C aids in strengthening connective tissues and walls of blood vessels, in healing and resisting infection, and in formation of strong, non brittle bones and healthy skin. The vitamin E provided by leafy greens may be an aid in reducing the body’s need for oxygen, in strengthening muscles, especially heart muscles, and the walls of blood vessels, in promoting the formation of healthy tissue after an injury, and in protecting the red blood cells, important in the avoidance of anemia. Some studies have tentatively linked vitamin E deficiencies with muscular disorders, such as muscular dystrophy, and with lessening of reproductive powers. Vitamin K, provided by leafy greens, is a factor in the proper clotting of blood. B-2 and the other B vitamins are essential for production of energy, for growth, and for the health of the nervous system; they are also an aid to the proper health of the heart, kidneys, liver, and all he glands. In addition, the B vitamin folic acid aids against pernicious anemia, in the formation of red blood cells, and in healing and for proper protein metabolism; pregnancy and oral contraceptives both increase the body’s need for folic acid. Pantothenic acid aids in general B vitamin functions and also helps with the efficient burning of fats and with the transformation of sugar and fat into energy, thus, aiding against low blood sugar. This acid has also been re ported to be useful against graying hair in some cases  possibly because those individuals had a higher need for this vitamin. The iron provided by these vegetables acts as an aid against iron deficiency anemia. Potassium is an important nutritional factor in green leafy vegetables, aiding in maintaining proper muscle tone, especially important for the heart muscles, and in enzyme reactions, notably those that are necessary in changing sugar to energy and in the storage of starch (glycogen) for future energy; this mineral may also aid against water retention high blood pressure, low blood sugar, and colic in infants, The magnesium and manganese in green leafy vegetables can aid in the proper functioning of muscles and of the nervous system, as well as being important in the body’s enzyme reactions during the synthesis of protein and the utilization of fats and carbohydrates. Calcium, the only mineral in green leafy vegetables not depleted by contact with water, is important in the formation and maintenance of bones and teeth, in proper blood clotting, in the maintenance of vitality, and in relaxing the nerves, regulating heart action, and decreasing sensitivity to pain. The copper and other trace minerals, if present, aid in the development of bones, nerves, and connective tissues and are important in many bodily functions.

Green leafy vegetables can be eaten raw in salads, thereby maintaining nutritional value to a greater degree, or they can be cooked. (For proper handling, storage, and cooking of vegetables, see vegetables.) Properly coked green leafy vegetables can provide a newly isolated vitamin element called the antistress factor; thought to be one of the B complex vitamins, it seems to be an aid the maintenance of the body and of bodily functions under conditions of stress.