Celery is recognized as a powerful assistant in lowering blood pressure and taking care of blood vessels, and I believe many hypertension patients have this on their table, but did you know that the celery leaves, which are often discarded, have a nutritional value that should not be underestimated?
According to the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Nutrition Facts Database, celery has only 12 calories per 100 grams after removing the stems and leaves, and also contains 1.3 grams of dietary fiber, 313 milligrams of potassium ions, 83 milligrams of calcium ions, and 398 micrograms of beta-carotene, making it a high potassium, high fiber vegetable.
Whether it’s a home-cooked beef stir-fry with celery or a celery stir-fry with dried beans, people who don’t like the bitter taste of celery leaves are used to throwing them away and stir-frying them again.
But you know what, don’t throw away the celery leaves in a hurry!
According to the Dutch Food Nutrition Facts website, celery leaves have one times more vitamin C than stems and 10 times more folic acid than celery stems, making them slightly more nutritious.
Celery is high in potassium and fiber, with 4 benefits to report
The unique flavor of celery is the reason why many people love it. If you can use celery as a daily source of vegetables, it has the following 4 benefits.
Benefit 1: Lower blood pressure
The most widely known effect of celery is to lower blood pressure. According to a Swiss study published in the journal Hypertension, supplementation with foods high in potassium can help lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients with hypertension.
In the study, 917 patients who were not on blood pressure-lowering medications were studied and found that supplementation with high potassium foods reduced systolic blood pressure by 4.7 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 3.5 mmHg, especially in patients with higher blood pressure, which reduced systolic blood pressure by 6.8 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure by 4.6 mmHg.
In addition, the dietary fiber contained in celery can also reduce the absorption of sodium in the intestine and help relax the smooth muscle of blood vessels, which will naturally lower blood pressure when blood vessels are relaxed.
Benefit 2: Antioxidant
The general impression is that beta-carotene, which belongs to the flavonoid family, is only found in red-colored foods, but in fact, every 100 grams of celery contains 398 micrograms of beta-carotene, which is much higher than that of ordinary vegetables.
It is known that beta-carotene has antioxidant and free radical effects, and can be converted to vitamin A after absorption in the intestine to prevent night blindness and vision loss. However, beta-carotene is a fat-soluble vitamin, so remember to add some oil when consuming it for effective intestinal absorption.
Benefit 3: Blood sugar control
Celery, which contains 1.3 grams of dietary fiber per 100 grams, is a high-fiber vegetable with a low glycemic index (GI), which delays the rise of blood sugar after meals and increases the feeling of satiety, making it suitable for type 2 diabetes patients.
Benefit 4: lowering blood lipids
Dietary fiber is a powerful function, but also in the intestines to cover the fats eaten, and will be expelled from the body, to avoid the intestines to absorb cholesterol, so that the blood vessels greasy.
Although celery is good, but some people should not eat more. The nutritionists warned that celery is a high potassium vegetable and should not be eaten by kidney patients with limited potassium; the unique coumarin in celery has an anti-coagulant function and should not be eaten by people taking anti-coagulant.
It is important to note that although high potassium celery helps stabilize blood pressure, the food only has a “complementary” effect, and patients with hypertension cannot rely solely on celery to lower their blood pressure.
Recommended reading:
