Health Benefits of Asparagus
By Michelle T Jones
Yesterday was an extremely long day for which started at 5:30am and ended at 2:00 this morning. It then began again at 5:30, giving me only 3 1/2 hours of sleep. After I got the kids out of the door, I blended a bunch of fresh asparagus with 2 cups of water. I blended the asparagus raw to get all its goodness, hoping it will keep me up and energized all day.
At 12midnight tonight, I am still awake typing out this message. Needless to say it did work. Of course I had the rest of my meals today and fresh fruit and juices. But what is it about asparagus that makes it healthy for us?
Asparagus, or Asparagus officinalis, is one of nature’s very nutritionally dense vegetables. It provides high levels of folic acid, Vitamin B6, A, C, E, and K, calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, thiamin, riboflavin, rutin, and other really important vitains. Six spears of asparagus provides half the adult RDI of Folacin, which is essential for blood cell formation and growth. Folacin is also crucial for the prevention of liver disease, as well as neural tube defects in infants. Its high levels of potassium prevents calcium from leeching out of the body. Vitamin C assists the body in its production and maintenance of collagen, as well as being a good immune booster.
In the 1st century AD, Asparagus was used as a diuretic and used for the treatment of kidney issues, jaundice, and sciatica. Now it is more commonly used as a diuretic for urinary issues, as well as cystitis.
As I was researching the benefits of Asparagus, I came across this abstract from the Indian Journal of Medical Sciences, Vol57, Issue9, of 2003, written by RK Goyal, J Singh, Harbans Lal,
Pt. B. D. Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Science, Rohtak, Haryana, India, entitled Asparagus racemosus–an update. This is what part of the abstract says…..
“Asparagus racemosus (Shatavari) is recommended in Ayurvedic texts for prevention and treatment of gastric ulcers, dyspepsia and as a galactogogue. A. racemosus has also been used successfully by some Ayurvedic practitioners for nervous disorders, inflammation, liver diseases and certain infectious diseases. However, no scientific proof justifying aforementioned uses of root extract of A. racemosus is available so far.”
The last part of the abstract saying that there are scientific proof with the fresh asparagus racemosus plant makes me feel good about having taken my asparagus raw. Although my asparagus was a different variety from this asparagus crawler, both come from the same family and have similar nutritional benefits.
Another article entitled `Asparagus for cancer’ published in Cancer News Journal, Dec 1979 and written by a biochemist has been circulated around the web. In this article he mentions 2 clinical studies he had conducted with patients using the green asparagus that we commonly see (and which I drank today). Here are 2 of the 4 case studies he wrote about.
Case No. 1, man with an almost hopeless case of Hodgkin’s disease (cancer of the lymph glands) who was completely incapacitated. Within 1 year of starting the asparagus therapy, his doctors were unable to detect any signs of cancer, and he was back on a schedule of strenuous exercise.
Case No. 2, a successful businessman, 68 years old, who suffered from cancer of the bladder for 16 years. After years of medical treatments, including radiation without improvement, he went on asparagus. Within 3 months, examinations revealed that his bladder tumour had disappeared and that his kidneys were normal.
My research has been amazing and these are just some of what i learned about asparagus. I hope that you start to incorporate asparagus even more into your diet.
Here is a simple recipe from the GoGreen GetLean book by Kate Geagan if you want your asparagus cooked.
Grilled Asparagus with Lemon
Enjoy 1 bunch of asparagus grilled with 2 teaspoons olive oil, and unlimited lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper.
I might try this same recipe raw tomorrow….lol.
Eat healthy!
