Many health benefits are associated with a diet rich in foods such as fruits and vegetables. Some of these health benefits include improving heart health, preventing cancer, preventing diabetes, and boosting the immune system, to name a few. Improving your eyesight is also another health benefit you can get from consuming a diet rich in such healthy foods. In addition to the eye foods we are familiar with that improve vision, such as broccoli, carrots, spinach, and tomatoes, watercress is another recommended food to include in your diet to accomplish this purpose. So here are some of the visual benefits of watercress for better vision. In addition, here are some reasons why this vegetable is highly recommended if you are interested in maintaining good overall health:
Here are some interesting facts about watercress. The father of medicine Hippocrates, who coined the phrase let thy food be thy medicine, used watercress as a medicinal remedy to treat his patients suffering from various health conditions. Watercress is a leafy green vegetable that comes from the cruciferous vegetable family, which includes certain Vision Foods like cabbage, kale, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. This food was a staple of the diet of Roman soldiers. In addition, this leafy vegetable also has the highest rating of any superfood in terms of ANDI score. The ANDI score stands for Aggregate Nutrient Density Index. This is actually the gold standard for measuring food nutrient density in terms of the vitamin, mineral, phytonutrient and antioxidant potency of different foods. Watercress scores the highest score for superfoods on these nutritional criteria.
Eye Health Benefits of Watercress: The health properties of the watercress vegetable are related to its vitamin A and vitamin E content. It also contains the vision-enhancing nutrients lutein, zeaxanthin and beta-carotene. Taken together, these various nutrients are known to support the proper maintenance of eye health, improve poor eyesight, improve night vision and, more importantly, provide a nutrient content rich in antioxidants. These antioxidants help protect the eyes from oxidative damage and free radical activity from rogue cells that cause the breakdown of healthy cells in the eyes. Therefore, watercress is good eye food if you are concerned about protecting aging eyes from age-related eye diseases such as macular degeneration and cataracts.
GENERAL HEALTH BENEFITS OF WATERCRESS
Health benefits of this vision food include improved immunity, cancer prevention, and thyroid support. According to the National Institute of Cancer, watercress possesses anti-cancer properties known as glucosinolates in addition to another anti-cancer compound called indole-3-carbinol. These anti-cancer properties induce cancer cell death. They also have an antibacterial effect and inhibit the formation of cancerous tumors. This superfood is made up of nutrients essential to keeping your bones healthy and strong, like calcium and vitamin K. In fact, just one cup of watercress provides you with about 106% of your recommended daily allowance of vitamin K. Additionally; Studies have shown that regular consumption of cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, kale, collards, and watercress are beneficial for lowering unhealthy LDL cholesterol levels. This is a factor that reduces the risk of atherosclerosis and heart disease.
Thanks to Joel Travers King