10 Health Benefits of Cabbage

Cabbage has been eaten for centuries, not only because it was, and is, considered a rather cheap vegetable to produce and buy, but because it is so good for your health. It has been used in medicinal practices in many cultures and it the oldest known vegetables. Cabbage is very highly nutritious and should be considered a superfood because of its health qualities. It helps ailments from headaches and skin disorders to heart, or brain diseases, even scurvy. Read more to find out exactly how cabbage is the greatest vegetable you never knew about.

Bone health

Strong bones make for a strong body. Your skeleton is what holds you together, so it is important to feed it the right foods to keep it strong and free of breaks or disease. As far as food goes, cruciferous vegetables like Cabbage contain substantial amounts of the important minerals potassium, magnesium and calcium. All three of these are very important to maintain bone health and strength. They protect your bones from degradation and are part of the prevention of osteoporosis and other bone weakening diseases.

Keeps low blood pressure

Cabbage contains lots of potassium. Potassium is important as a vasodilator, which means it opens up vessels and can ease the flow of blood. This means your arteries and veins are less likely to become constricted or get ‘stressed.’ This action means your blood pressure is kept at a ‘normal’ rate (between 120/80 and 140 /90), out of the danger zone for heart attack risk and stroke. Making healthy changes to your lifestyle and eating habits is all part of lowering a high blood pressure reading, Cabbage is one of the foods to help keep low blood pressure.

Good for the brain

Cabbage is full of and vitamin K, which is an essential fat-soluble vitamin, which has many benefits for the body. One of the major roles of vitamin K is that it regulates calcium in the bones and the brain. Studies have discovered that the role vitamin K plays in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia is considerably great. It is full of nutrients that preserve nerve damage and help with mental function and concentration; it acts as a natural defense against neural degeneration. Red cabbage is especially good for the brain as it is full of anthocyanins, which are not only flavonoids but also the purple pigment found in some vegetables.

Detox food

Detoxing the body is an important way to cleanse the system of a build up of toxins, free radicals, and uric acid. Naturally detoxing the body with good food and cutting out the bad stuff (i.e. Carbs and sugars) is a perfect option to detox without going on a fad detox diet. Vitamin C and sulfur are important in detoxing the body, as these are the main influencers of various diseases such as arthritis and rheumatism, gout, eczema and skin diseases. Eating cabbage can purify the blood and keep you healthy.

Weight loss

Many people link detoxing with weight loss, but the fact is a detox is primarily to cleanse your system and rid it of toxins. You may lose weight in the process, but it is not specifically geared to do so. However, when you include cabbage in your regular healthy eating plan, it does benefits your weight loss. Cabbage is a smart carb. It only contains 33 calories per cup and cooked cabbage is even better as it is high in fiber and low in fat. Most people think that cabbage is a boring vegetable, one more fed to animals than humans, but it is also quite tasty when cooked correctly, you just have to do some recipe research.

Cancer preventative

An anti-carcinogen is a substance, which counteracts the effects of carcinogens. These cause degeneration and cancers in living tissue. Scientific studies have proven that these preventative compounds are found in cabbage. Sulforaphane, lupeol, and sinigrin inhibit the growth of cancers and stimulate enzyme activity. Cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, bok choy, brussel sprouts, and watercress, just to name a few, are part of the Brassica genus of plants and all benefit the prevention of some cancers. The four kinds of cancer that have had studies where preventative actions have increased though eating cabbage are Prostate Cancer, Colorectal Cancer, Lung Cancer and Breast Cancer.

Anti-inflammatory

Inflammation refers to conditions where a localized area of the body become swollen and red and painful as a reaction to infection or injury. This means inflammation but also allergies, irritations, joint pain, fever, and some skin disorders. Glutamine is an anti-inflammatory agent and cabbages contain glutamine. To be specific, their cabbage leaf accumulates cadmium-binding complexes, of which, the main components is glutamine. This is why crushing a cabbage leaf and using it directly on the skin can reduce some pain from headaches when you place it on your forehead, mastitis when you place it on the infected breast if you are a breastfeeding mother, or even some joints to relieve joint pain and swelling. By crushing the leaf before application, you release all the good anti-inflammatory properties.

Good for beauty

In regards to beauty, cabbage is quite useful to maintain healthy skin, hair because of its antioxidant properties. These include vitamin C, sulfur, and anthocyanins. Eating cabbage can turn around the aging process because of the good things it contains, destroys the free radicals in the body, which play a major role in wrinkles, aging spots and other skin discoloration, hair and nail health, and skin elasticity. If you are coming from the outside in, cabbage can also be used as a facemask to feed the skin directly and help dry out oily or acne- prone skin.

Eye health

Most people will say that carrots are good for your eyes. This is completely true, but not many people know that cabbage, and other leafy green vegetables, are just as good as carrots and other red/orange vegetables with the beta-carotene pigment. This is especially prevalent for the delay of forming cataracts later in life.  Cabbage is full of beta-carotene. Apart from eye health, beta-carotene is also beneficial for reducing the risk of certain cancers.

Vitamin C

It is not commonly known is that cabbage is abundant with vitamin C, even as much as oranges. Vitamin C crosses over many, many benefits and helps the human body in various ways. Vitamin C is an antioxidant; it helps to treat ulcers and depression, it boosts your immune system, works to fight off a cold or a cough and can help to speed up the healing process if you are wounded or have damaged tissues. It is recommended that we ingest up to 90 milligrams of vitamin C per day. 100 grams of cabbage will give you 36.6 milligrams of vitamin C.  That is well on the way for your daily requirement.