What Are The Health Benefits of Spinach?

The ingestion of vegetables is important for good health. Do you know about the benefits of consuming spinach?
What Are The Health Benefits of Spinach?

Last update: 22 November, 2020

There’s no doubt that eating vegetables is good for your health. This is due to the fact that a healthy intake of fruits and vegetables is associated with a lower risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. Fruits and vegetables are also associated with lower mortality rates. Read along to find out more about the numerous health benefits of spinach.

Spinach isn’t widely accepted by everyone due to its taste. Children in particular tend to dislike the taste of this healthy vegetable. However, regardless of its taste, spinach contains many essential nutrients.

Main health benefits of spinach

In addition to being good for your health, you can include it in many recipes. As for its health benefits, the following are all backed by science:

Spinach reduces the risk of anemia

Spinach contains an important micro-nutrient called iron. In addition, vitamin C provided by spinach increases the absorption of iron in the intestines according to a study published in the journal Food & Function.

Therefore, a healthy intake of spinach can reduce the risk of suffering from anemia. This property is especially important when it comes to women who are more prone to anemia due to menstrual bleeding.

spinach

It improves the immune system

Another characteristic of vitamin C is its capacity to stimulate the body’s immune system. According to research published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, maintaining adequate levels of vitamin C can reduce the risk of catching colds as well as recovery time.

Likewise, there are many scientific articles that affirm that the administration of large doses of vitamin C can improve the prognosis of a cancer patient alongside chemotherapy.

Increase collagen synthesis

Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body. It’s responsible for the elasticity in muscles and tendons. It’s also important for lean tissue. The ingestion of vitamin C increases collagen synthesis which has a positive effect on muscle health.

It should be noted, however, that this action is enhanced when vitamin C is consumed together with gelatin or hydrolyzed collagen. When combined, the product is able to prevent the pathologies that cause fiber breakage.

It can help you lose weight

Spinach by itself isn’t enough to make you lose weight, however, it’s a low-calorie food that can be included in your diet with a goal of reducing fat. The fiber that spinach contains stimulates a feeling of fullness and this will reduce the risk of unhealthy snacking between meals.

Ways to consume spinach

You can buy fresh or frozen spinach. The form in which you buy it will be important when it comes to its preparation. You can include raw spinach sprouts in a salad, or you can add it to other vegetables to combine with a high protein dish.

It also goes well with scrambled eggs. You can include spinach in pizzas and pies to improve the meal’s nutritional quality.

Spinach burgers

As you can see, spinach is a very versatile food. There’s no excuse to not include it in your diet. If you don’t like the taste of spinach you can try to add it into a dish with other ingredients. If you do this you won’t get the taste but you’ll still enjoy the vegetable’s health benefits.

Lastly, keep in mind that overcooking vegetables can cause them to lose their nutritional properties.

Include spinach in your regular diet

If your goal is to improve your health, we highly recommend including spinach in your diet. As you have seen, it provides many health benefits thanks to its nutritional content. In addition, it’s a very versatile vegetable so you can include it in other dishes.

Don’t forget that it’s important to consume vitamin C and iron together. Iron has a low absorption rate by itself and therefore, it’s important to ingest it with vitamin C in order to improve its bio-availability.


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


  • He H., Qiao Y., Zhang Z., Wu Z., et al., Dual action of vitamin C in iron supplement therapeutics for iron deficiency anemia: prevention of liver damage induced by iron overload. Food Funct, 2018. 9 (10): 5390-5401.
  • Bucher A., White N., Vitamin C in the prevention and treatment of the common cold. Am J Lifestyle Med, 2016. 10 (3): 181-183.

This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.