Health Benefits Of Swiss Chard

Health Benefits Of Swiss Chard

In the Islands of Canary, around 350 BC, people found this vegetable. Then in the early eighteenth century, it was led to the United States of America. And now, the swiss chard is commercially grown in Europe and North America. Swiss Chard belongs to the family of beet, which is technically called a Chenopodiaceae family. It has some other names depending upon the region; other words are spinach beet, silver beet, mangold, crab beet, seakale beet, and perpetual spinach. You can take swiss chard raw or add it to the salads, or you can cook it as well. There are many benefits of the swiss chard that makes it a super vegetable. It has properties of an antioxidant and helps in the prevention of many diseases.

Nutritional Information

The nutritional information of swiss chard is remarkably impressive. Like spinach, it has thiamin, niacin, zinc, calcium, pantothenic acid, selenium, riboflavin, vitamin B. But all these components of swiss chard are lower than in spinach. On the other hand, ingredients like zeaxanthin, carotene beta, alpha antioxidants, lutein, and choline are more compared with their composition in spinach. If you are consuming one normal-sized cup a day of swiss chard, then it will cover your 44 percent of the daily requirement for vitamin A; not only this, it will also cover twenty percent of your daily requirement for vitamin C. Another interesting fact about swiss chard is that you do not need to add salt to it because it is already saltish by containing a hundred milligrams of sodium. The in-depth information about nutrients of the swiss chard is as under:

Health Benefits of Swiss Chard

1. Helps in Heart Health

Using swiss chard daily shows that cardiac-related diseases can be prevented by almost sixteen percent compared to those who do not use swiss chard. Swiss chard is highly antioxidant and has the ability to reduce the inflammation levels in the body. Due to this, the person's blood pressure remains routine, and the health of the heart gets insurance as this vegetable is full of minerals that are responsible for the proper blood flow in the veins and regulates the heartbeat. These minerals are potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, and calcium. Moreover, swiss chard contains high values of nitrates that are beneficial for those people who are suffering from the problem of hypertension or high blood pressure. It also helps in maintaining the level of cholesterol in the body, which is the most important thing for the health of the heart.

2. Healthy Bones

If you want to have strong bones, you need to take calcium and vitamin K; these two components are essential for bones. Swiss chard is full of them; only the consumption of one cup will give you enough vitamin K and calcium that would be enough for the whole day. Swiss chard can prevent getting fractures because it has the ability to generate osteocalcin that is a type of protein that makes bones healthy and strong. It also regulates the metabolism of the bones and prevents you from those bone related problems that may arise in older age. Along with this, minerals like potassium, iron, magnesium, vitamin C, and vitamin A are extremely helpful in maintaining the health of the bones.

3. Improves Function of Brain

Swiss chard is enriched with antioxidants, especially betalain. This component in swiss chard helps in the prevention of damage to DNA and restricts the free radicals that can cause mutation in the brain cells. In this way, many diseases of the brain are prevented, and the most common prevention is from Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s illness. If you consume swiss chard in one of your daily meals, then the phylloquinone, nitrate, lutein, folate, and kaempferol will help you from many brain-related diseases, especially in older ages.

4. Helps in Prevention of Diabetes

There are some flavonoids in the swiss chard that generate an enzyme that is responsible for metabolizing carbohydrates, and due to this function, the blood sugar level is maintained in the body. Swiss chard also controls the working of the pancreas and production of insulin the body to stabilize the blood sugar level. There is also a high number of fibers in the swiss chard. Due to the presence of fiber, the process of sugar excretion gets slower down in the body, and in this way, the blood sugar level remains normal.

5. Great Source of Antioxidants

Swiss chard is a rich source of different antioxidants, including polyphenol, betaxanthin, betacyanins, and flavonoid. There are thirteen different kinds of polyphenol in the swiss chard. Research also proved that different varieties of swiss chard contain nineteen distinctive styles of betaxanthin and nine types of antioxidant betacyanin. Apart from these, one the most important antioxidant, flavonoid, is spread in the leaves of swiss chard. This antioxidant present in the leaves is known as syringic acid. In this modern era, where so many treatments are invented, it is also under discussion that syringic acid can help diabetic patients. It is also proved that this acid maintains the sugar levels in the blood. Further, swiss chard helps the body in many numerous ways as it is blessed with beneficial nutritional values. Swiss chard lessens the risk of cancer, contains antioxidants that are anti-aging, good for heart issues, helps in eye diseases and skin infections, so on and so forth.

6. Lowers the risk of cancer

It is discussed previously that swiss chard leaves are power packs of antioxidants; these leaves contain antioxidants that have the ability to fight cancerous cells in the body. Swiss chard is the richest source of antioxidants including.

• Beta-carotene
• Apigenin flavonoids (quercetin, carotenoids and vitexin)
• And a high amount of betalains.

Swiss chard can control cancerous cells in the body in many ways; for example, it hinders the growth of cells that develop cancer in the body and sustain fibroblasts. Fibroblasts are considered as the crucial cells that nurture healthy tissues. The above-mentioned antioxidant can prevent the growth of certain types of cancers in the human body. It helps to prevent the cancer of the colon, breast, and lungs, ovaries, endometrial, and prostate. Research has also been done on the seeds of swiss chard that maybe it can help in the treatment of cancer, but no proved results have yet come out.

7. Helps in digestion

Another important effect of swiss chard’s nutritive values is that it helps the body in digestion by

• Decreasing inflammation in food pipe
• Maintaining and controlling bowel process
• And excreting toxic substances from the body.

It is asserted that an antioxidant, betalains, works as the detoxifier and reduces the intensity of inflammation and supports the health of the gut overall. The presence of fiber in the cooked leaves of swiss chard makes it more healthy. The amount of fiber in this leafy plant maintains the levels of sugar in the blood, upgrades colon health, and reduces the chances of diarrhea and constipation.

8. Improves muscle and nerve function

Swiss chard improves the functions of nerves and muscles as its leaves are a rich source of minerals like calcium, potassium, magnesium, etc. It is necessary to add swiss chard to your daily meal as it fulfills the 38% of daily need of magnesium. Magnesium helps in the circulation of blood, reduces the chances of cramps in the muscles, and it can also protect the body from the pains that can trigger due to the insufficient amount of magnesium in the body. Swiss chard also helps to deal with the nervous system issues like depression, mood swings, headaches, insomnia, high blood pressure, and eventually, diabetes.

Potential Side Effects

Swiss chard is beneficial for many diseases and makes your body healthy. But these benefits are not the same for all people. If you have a kidney disorder, then you should avoid consuming swiss chard due to its oxalates. These oxalates can combine themselves with calcium and form stones in the bladder.

If you have allergy problems with any of the related family vegetables, then there are chances that you might get allergy symptoms after consuming swiss chard. Allergy symptoms could be itching in the throat, tingling in the mouth, rashes on the skin, and stomach pain.

Final Words

Swiss chard is the most beneficial vegetable and makes your health good enough that your body can fight against many diseases. It helps prevent heart attack, controls the blood sugar level, maintains the health of the brain, makes your bones strong, and is also suitable for digestion. To avoid the risks of the swiss chard, you should clean it thoroughly before using it. And avoid its consumption if you have kidney diseases and are allergic to it.

References

https://www.nutrition-and-you.com/swiss-chard.html

https://draxe.com/nutrition/swiss-chard-nutrition/

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/284103#health_benefits