Beets (Beta vulgaris) belong to the same family like spinach, quinoa, mash and chard. Its leaves and roots are also edible parts. The leaves are actually the most nutritious part of the plant, although they have a slightly bitter taste when cooked, and they also spoil faster. Fresh beets have a bright colour, firm texture and produce sweet flavour when cooked. Organic beets are more nutritious than non-organic.
If you don’t want their health benefits to decrease, keep them refrigerated for few days and use them while they are still fresh.
Nutritional Benefits of Beets
- Raw beets are highly rich in vitamins A, B1, B6, C and minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, sodium, and copper, which are essential for good health.
- The leaves and the roots are very low in calories and contain small amount of fats. What’s more, they are rich with large quantities of dietary fibre, which help in maintaining good digestive system and in minimizing the effects of cholesterol.
- Garden beets are an outstanding source of folate, which helps in the synthesis of DNA in the cells and helps prevent neural tube defects in newborn babies.
- Beets are an excellent source of powerful antioxidant elements that help neutralize free radical cells that cause chronic diseases like cancer.
Health Benefits of Beets
- Anti Cancer: The pigment betacyanin – responsible for beetroots’ bright purple colour – contains strong antioxidant properties that fight cells that cause cancer. Beetroots are also a source of dietary fibre and amino acid, which makes this vegetable very effective in battling with various types of cancer, especially colon cancer;
- Stroke: Foods rich in potassium like beets help decrease risks of stroke. Deficiency of potassium exposes the body to stroke risks.
- Fights Anaemia: Anaemia is a condition which is caused by lack of enough red blood cells in the blood to carry and supply oxygen. Beets are very rich in iron, a vital mineral needed in the formation and production of red blood cells. They are also rich in copper, which helps the body produce iron.
- Infant Development: Just like avocado and spinach, raw beets are very rich in folate, which is important for the development of infants’ nerves system. It helps in the prevention of neurological defects of infants’ spinal column. Folate deficiency could lead to a condition called neural tube defect.
- Constipation: Beet greens and roots are rich in roughage, which helps ease or prevent constipation. Roughage balances the water levels in the large intestine and boosts good bowel movement.
- Prevent Blindness: Beetroots contain bête-carotene which helps prevent age related blindness.
- Stomach Ulcers: The vitamin A in beets activates the stomach mucus membrane to secrete thick mucus that prevents the corrosion between stomach walls and the digestive acid.
- Blood Pressure: The potassium in beets helps to control and regulate blood pressure. Potassium balances the sodium levels in the blood and decreases risks of high blood pressure. The fibre helps decrease LDL and serum cholesterol that cause high bloods risks.
- Cleansing Effects: The iron and choline in beets act like cleansing agents. They clean and detoxify the entire system, especially the liver and the bile. This is very important because the cleaning of the liver and bile helps prevent food poisoning, vomiting, or hepatitis. A glass of beet juice mixed with lemon is a fantastic cleansing agent.
- Healthy Heart: By increasing the level of good HDL cholesterol, beets fibre decreases the cholesterol and triglycerides which increase risks for heart related cardiovascular diseases.
Safety note:
Beet greens contain high levels of oxalic acid, which interferes with the absorption of calcium and iron, which are necessary for red blood cells formation and strong bones. People with osteoporosis or anaemia should limit their consumption of beet leaves. Other people who should limit their intake of beets are those with a history of kidney stone, because oxalic acid is crystallized as oxalate stone.
