If you’ve been discarding that green, leafy coleslaw that came as part of your sides on your plate, then you have probably been saying no to a lot of health benefits it could offer you.
Coleslaw uses cabbage as its primary ingredient and if you didn’t know already, cabbage is a highly nutritious vegetable.
Cabbages come in different sizes, shapes, and colors – the most common being green cabbage. Other types of cabbages include red cabbage, savoy, and wombok or Chinese cabbage.
Let’s take a look at the numerous health benefits of eating cabbage.
1. It May Help Reduce Inflammation
Inflammation is not always a bad thing. Inflammation is your body’s response to protect the body from infections or it may be part a healing process.
However, chronic inflammation leading to health conditions like arthritis, bowel conditions, heart diseases etc. is not a healthy sign.
Certain studies have reported that consuming cruciferous vegetables, of which cabbage is a part, may help reduce inflammation.12
2. It May Help Fight Cancer
Consuming cabbage may also help ward off certain types of cancer like breast, prostate, colon, skin, lung, stomach, and bladder cancers.
This health benefit is because of the presence of a compound called sulforaphane present in cabbage in sufficient amounts.3 Studies have shown how this compound has numerous biological effects like anti-aging, antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory properties.4
In addition, vitamin C – present in cabbage in abundance – behaves as an antioxidant fighting free radicals that may cause cell damage and eventually fight symptoms of cancer.
Therefore, cabbage should be one of those vegetables you include every day in your diet.
3. It Boosts The Immune System
Cabbage is a source rich in the antioxidant, vitamin C. 100 grams of cabbage contains about 36.6 milligrams of vitamin C, which is a high value.5
Vitamin C intake has been associated with preventing or treating symptoms of common cold.6
Several cells present in the human body use vitamin C to fight against disease-causing germs like bacteria and viruses. Therefore, vitamin C can improve the immune system.
Vitamin C also improves the absorption of other nutrients, especially non-heme iron (iron obtained from plant foods like quinoa, spinach, beans).7
4. It Aids Better Digestion
If you are frequently complaining of digestive issues, then cabbage is a healthy choice to improve your digestive health.
Cabbage is rich in fiber – 100 grams of cabbage contains 2.5 grams of fiber – and, therefore, may help in promoting regular bowel movements.8
It may help with issues like constipation by adding more bulk to stools.9
5. It Assists In Weight Loss
Cabbage is a low-calorie vegetable that you can eat in plenty and is a healthy food for those looking to shed those extra pounds.
100 grams of the vegetable only contains 25 calories, which is very low.10
So, if you are hungry but don’t want to gain unnecessary weight, a few bowls of cabbage soup will not get you too worried!
Other Health Benefits Of Cabbage
Apart from the benefits mentioned earlier, there are other benefits that this simple vegetable can offer. Some of these are as follows:
- Provides good skin: Due to the presence of vitamin C, eating cabbage may help improve the production of collagen – the protein that aids skin elasticity. Therefore, it may help improve the skin health. Vitamin A present in cabbage along with vitamin D may help provide healthy skin.
- May prevent hair loss: Raw cabbage along with cucumber blended together form a juice that is rich in nutrients like sulfur and silicon – nutrients that required for good hair growth.
- May prevent the risk of developing cataract: 100 grams of cabbage contains 42 micrograms of beta carotene, which is a nutrient that can prevent macular degeneration of the eye, thereby, preventing cataract development.1112
Cabbage is an easy-to-cook vegetable and complements other vegetables like potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.
Although, they are a popular vegetable in salads, cabbage can also be juiced with other vegetables like cucumber to help detox the body and maintain a healthy weight.
So, make sure you include cabbage to your healthy foods list and enjoy the benefits limitlessly.
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