Is there any truth to the recent craze about how healthy beets are? Most beets are a deep red or purple root vegetable. This colorful vegetable remains an essential ingredient in many dishes throughout the world.
But besides being a sweet, tasty food, beets are full of a plethora of vitamins, minerals, and other essential elements needed to benefit health. They stay a delicious way to add to the diet using minimal calories.
A serving of beets provides a bit of nearly every vitamin and mineral the body requires at only forty-four calories per serving. Plus, the vegetable is high in fiber, which enables an individual to feel full and satisfied.
Health Benefits of Eating Beets
There remain a few more significant benefits to adding a routine serving of beets to one’s diet. Find out more about the health benefits of eating beets now.
1. Anti-Cancer Properties
Anti-cancer properties in food remain an easy way for individuals to reduce their cancer risk. Beets are high in anti-cancer properties like folate, which is a heart-healthy B vitamin.
Folate also assists the body in manufacturing and repairing DNA, and remains useful against cancer for that reason. Betalains, included in the red color of the beet, stop or slow carcinogen growth and increase the immune system of the body’s enzymes.
Potassium and vitamin C are also crucial elements found in beets that improve an individual’s immune system. Eating beets raw, such as in a smoothie, gives individuals the most significant amount of health benefits.
Also, individuals will still get a ton of excellent health benefits, including the anti-cancer benefits, from eating beets sliced and gently cooked or steamed. Even golden beets have the potential to help immune systems by being full of carotenoids.
2. Supports Brain Health
Eating beets also supports brain health. Beets contain nitrates, and high nitrate foods kill the bacteria that turn nitrate into nitrite.
Some researchers believe nitrites open the blood vessels, increasing oxygen levels, and blood flow to places that may not get enough blood or oxygen, such as the brain. Researchers also believe drinking beet juice may increase the brain blood flow in older adults and may have potential benefits in combating dementia.
Dementia and other cognitive issues may be caused by a lack of oxygen and blood getting to the brain as individuals age, and these recent scientific studies are hopeful that consuming beet juice and other sources of consumed beets can increase the brain health of humans as they age.
3. Prevents Digestive Health Conditions
Adding dietary fiber to one’s diet has a lot of health benefits. One of the primary reasons for adding food with dietary fiber, like beets, is it improves digestion. One cup of beets adds 3.4 grams of dietary fiber, making it an excellent source of flavorful fiber. Fiber passes through the colon, and at that point, the texture from beets either adds fiber to an individual’s stool or feeds intestinal bacteria.
Either way, eating a regular serving of beets prevents constipation and related digestive health problems while it reduces intestinal inflammation and diverticulitis.
Plus, consuming adequate amounts of fiber has been linked with preventing such chronic diseases as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and colon cancer. So, drink a smoothie containing beets, which prevents digestive conditions.
4. Reduces Chronic Inflammation
Inflammation remains a reasonable response to protect the body against infections and other foreign bodies that may enter it. Unfortunately, chronic inflammation can occur for a variety of reasons, such as eating a diet loaded with processed foods and inflammatory characteristics.
Some of these foods include high amounts of sugar, with low amounts of actual nutrition. One animal study was able to reduce oxidative stress in rats by feeding these test animals beets, both cooked and in juiced form.
Another study done on humans showed individuals with high blood pressure who ate beets or drank the juice had lower inflammation markers when tested. So, eating beets or drinking beet juice helps and reduces chronic inflammation.
5. Manages Blood Pressure
Heart disease and heart attacks, along with heart failure and strokes, are one of the primary causes of death in humans throughout the world. High blood pressure remains a top risk factor for getting each of these deadly diseases.
Eating beets on a regular basis lowers an individual’s blood pressure over a few hours. Eating raw beets rather than cooked ones is best to lower blood pressure. Scientists surmise the chemical nitrates in beets convert into dietary nitric oxide, which dilates blood vessels and lowers blood pressure.
Nitrate levels in the blood stay in an individual’s system for about six hours to regulate blood pressure, so they need to regularly consume beets to keep their blood pressure regular for a longer time. So, eating beets manages blood pressure, for a few hours at least.
Via: StandardMedia | Prevention
