How Healthy Is It?

Asparagus, scientifically known as Asparagus Officinalis, belongs to the lily family. This popular vegetable exists in different colors, ranging from green to purple and white. It is used in diets around the globe, including portions of pasta, frittatas, and stir-fries.

In the ancient era, asparagus was well-known as an aphrodisiac, and probably for some good reasons. This soft and succulent, savory vegetable is high in stimulating a blend of nutrients that cleanse the urinary tract, aid boost energy, and neutralize excessive ammonia deposition, which may cause fatigue and sexual distaste.

A glass of cooked asparagus has up to 40 calories, 4 g of fiber, 4 g of protein, and 404 mg of potassium (potassium is beautiful for blood pressure). Asparagus is also high in a compound known as asparagine, which is believed to improve blood flow and also helps to reduce blood pressure.

Asparagus is exceptionally high and well balanced in and folate (vitamin B9) and vitamin K, even among all nutrient-rich vegetables. “Asparagus is very high in anti-inflammatory properties,” said a San Diego-based nutritionist. It also offers a wide range of antioxidant compounds, including ascorbic acid (vitamin C), vitamin E, beta-carotene, and the minerals manganese, zinc, and selenium.

Also, the vegetable contains the great amino acid “asparagine,” which is far way pertinent in the function and development of our brain, according to a journal Neuron’s study published in 2013. It also has in it chromium, a micro mineral that aids insulin functioning of glucose transportation. It is also very rich in glutathione, an active detoxifying compound that may help kill cancer cells. For these reasons, asparagus may combat or protect one against certain cancers like breast, bone, lung, and colon cancers.

Asparagus is very low in calories at about 20 cal per serving; it has no fat and is very low in sodium. It can either be taken raw or cooked; however, cooking might affect its health benefits. A 2011 Food Chemistry study publication examined blanching it up (cooking asparagus shortly in boiling water) and discovered a significant difference in these veggies depending on the duration the vegetable was submerged. In conclusion, the longer the blanching of the asparagus, the more beautiful nutrients it lost, though cooking asparagus for just too short a time led to hard stalks. Furthermore, the bottom, middle, and tip sections of the spears had different significant sensitivities to blanching periods, with the very tip have the tendencies of losing nutrients quickly. The researchers of the study, therefore, suggested blanching different asparagus segments for different periodic length.

Here are some vital nutrition facts for the vegetable, according to the United States Food and Drug Administration, which oversees food labeling.

Just about 90 grams (half a glass cup) of cooked asparagus has:

• Protein: 2.2 grams
• Calories: 20
• Fiber: 1.8 grams
• Vitamin C (ascorbic acid): 12% of the RDI
• Fat: 0.2 grams
• Vitamin A: 18% of the RDI
• Vitamin K: 57% of the RDI
• Potassium: 6% of the RDI
• Phosphorous: 5% of the RDI
• Folate (B9 vitamin): 34% of the RDI
• Vitamin E (tocopherol): 7% of the RDI

Let’s travel down the health benefits of this amazing vegetable;

It Fights Cancer

This vegetable plant, alongside avocado, kale, and Brussels sprouts, is a rich source of glutathione, a brilliant detoxifying component that aids the rapid death of cancer cells and other foreign compounds like free radicals. This is why eating asparagus may fight certain forms of cancer (such as breast, bone, lung, colon, larynx, and cancers) and protect you against them all.

Good Source of Antioxidants

Antioxidants are compounds that aid the protection of our cells from the deadly effects of free radicals and its resulting oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress donates to aging, serious inflammation, a lot of diseases, and even cancer. Like other vegetables, this asparagus is very high in antioxidants. These include tocopherol (vitamin E), ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and glutathione, and also various polyphenols and flavonoids.

Asparagus is high in the flavonoids like isorhamnetin, quercetin, and kaempferol. These compounds have been discovered to have anti-inflammatory, antiviral, blood pressure-lowering, and anticancer effects in a good number of test-tube, human, and animal studies.

What’s more, purple asparagus contains powerful pigments called anthocyanins, which give the vegetable its amazing color and play antioxidant roles in our body. A high intake of the anthocyanin has been seen to lower blood pressure and risks of heart attacks and other heart diseases.

Eating asparagus, together with some other fruits and vegetables, can provide our body with a lot of antioxidants to aid good health.

Heart Health

Asparagus is very good for our hearts in a good way. Asparagus is very high in vitamin K, which is essential to the blood clot. And asparagus’s raised amount of B vitamins also regulate homocysteine (an amino acid) too much of which might be a serious challenge to the heart, as per Harvard University School of Public Health.

Asparagus is also loaded with over 1 gram of digestible fiber per cup, which helps lowers the risk of some heart diseases, and asparagine (an amino acid) helps flush our body off excess salt. Finally, asparagus possess an excellent anti-inflammatory feature and also great levels of antioxidants, both of which help to reduce risks of heart diseases.

Asparagus And Weight Loss

Not just that, the asparagus will become very low in calories and fat, but it also has a lot of indigestible and digestible fiber, making it a very good choice should you wish to lose weight. Since your body digests fiber slowly, it thus keeps you satiated in between meals.

Dietary fiber also controls constipation and help lower cholesterol. To maximize its calorie-torching attribute, add it with a long-boiled egg: the mixture of fiber-rich asparagus alongside the egg protein will leave you with a long satiation feeling.

Asparagus Is a Brain Booster

Yet another anti-aging feature of this spring vegetable is that it is helpful to our brain against cognitive degradation. Like all other leafy vegetables, asparagus gives folate (Vitamin B9), which works alongside cobalamin (vitamin B12) to combat cognitive deterioration. In a Tufts University’s study, adults with good levels of vitamin B9 and B12 had higher performance on an examination of mental flexibility response speed. If your age above 50, ensure to be getting enough vitamin B12: your tendency of absorbing it reduces with age.

Support a Healthy Pregnancy

Asparagus is a great source of vitamin B9, also known as folate.

Just half a glass of asparagus gives adults 34 percent of their daily folate requirement and pregnant mothers with up to 22 percent of their daily requirement.

Folate is a vital nutrient that aids red blood cell formation and DNA production for healthy growth and fetal development. It’s also pertinent during the early months of pregnancy to make sure that the healthy development of the fetus is always on point.

Getting enough vitamin B9 (folate) from foods like asparagus, green vegetables, and also fruit protects us against several neural tube defects, such as spina bifida.

Neural tube defects often lead to a wide range of debilitating complications, ranging from lack of bowel control to learning issues to lack bladder control to physical disabilities. Adequate folate is so vital just before pregnancy and early pregnancy that folate (vitamin B9) supplements are always recommended to make sure women meet their daily requirements.

Regulating Blood Sugar

Note that vitamin B6 may affect your blood sugar levels, and you are advised to take caution should you have diabetes or persistent low blood sugar. However, folks with unhealthy levels of blood sugar can benefit from asparagus’s strength to regulate it.

Asparagus Boost Your Libido

If you are searching for asparagus benefits for male folks that aid their performance on bed, consider adding asparagus to your succeeding date-night diet. Asparagus is a pure and natural aphrodisiac due to the presence of pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and folate (vitamin B9) in it, which helps to boost sexual urge, also plus vitamin E  (tocopherol), which stimulates sex hormones, such as testosterone in men and estrogen in women.

Anti-aging Benefits

Glutathione, an antioxidant, is known to slow down the aging process; and that the folate produced by asparagus works alongside cobalamin (B12) to prevent cognitive decline. A study discovered that older folks with great levels of B12 and folate performed best during an evaluation of mental flexibility and response speed than those with reduced levels of vitamins B9 and B12.