Chances are, you have no idea about how good kale is for your health.
It’s fabulous.
Yep, the curly salad that turns into delicious chips when fried or dried isn’t just a good source of low-calorie fun. In fact, kale can actually offer you a list of solid health reasons to get more of the stuff every single day.
Essential nutrients? Check. Vitamins and minerals? Check.
Healthy compounds that fight inflammation and reduce oxidative stress? Check.
What’s also great is that eating more kale has just become a whole lot easier with this new type of product called Dried Kale Powder. Have you heard of it? No?
Well, let’s go one step at a time!
Kale is jam-packed with many different nutrients
According to the USDA Food Composition Database, 100 g (about 3 oz) of raw kale contains a whole bunch of vitamins and minerals that are essential for strong health.
Vitamin K – 389.6 µg (324% DV)
Vitamin C – 93.4 mg (155% DV)
Vitamin A – 241 RAE (27% DV)
Riboflavin (vitamin B2) – 0.347 mg (26.7% DV)
Folate – 62 µg (15.5% DV)
Thiamin (vitamin B1) – 0.113 mg (9.4% DV)
Vitamin B6 – 0.147 mg (8% DV)
Vitamin E – 0.66 mg (4.4% DV)
Niacin (vitamin B3) – 1.180 mg (1.1% DV)
Calcium – 254 mg (19.5% DV)
Iron – 1.6 mg (8.9% DV)
Magnesium – 33 mg (7.9% DV)
Phosphorus – 55 mg (7.9% DV)
Potassium – 348 mg (7.4% DV)
Zinc – 0.39 mg (3.5% DV)
Sodium – 53 mg (2.2% DV)
Can you guess what’s the best part?
Just 100 g of kale, with all of the stuff listed above, make about 35 calories total. This extremely low calorie count coupled with an outstanding content of beneficial compounds makes kale one of the richest sources of nutrients ever.
Kale is rich in quercetin and kaempferol, two flavonoids with confirmed hepatoprotective action. Thanks to their outstanding antioxidative and anti-inflammatory action, these two phytochemicals can prevent liver damage and detoxify the organ from heavy metals.
That’s why kale may enhance and improve all the functions of the liver, from dealing with toxins and waste products to producing proteins and processing dietary fats.
Your body produces bile acids to digest dietary fats. After all the dietary fat available in your gastrointestinal tract has been digested and absorbed, the remaining bile acid is reabsorbed into the blood and can be used sometime later.
When these bile acids aren’t reabsorbed back into the bloodstream, your body is forced to produce more of them from scratch. Guess what it uses for building blocks?
Cholesterol! To make more bile acids, your body uses the cholesterol in your blood, and that’s why substances called bile acid sequestrants are effective in lowering blood lipids.
According to an old study from 2007, kale is extremely effective in binding bile acids in the guts. This explains why another study reported that taking 150 ml of raw kale juice daily for 12 weeks can seriously improve blood cholesterol levels. Specifically, kale juice increased high-density lipoprotein (HDL) by 27% and decreased low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels by 10%. HDL is the ”good cholesterol” that reduces heart risk, and LDL is the ”bad cholesterol” that boosts it.
High blood cholesterol (LDL in particular) is one of the most significant risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Long story short, kale seems to be a fabulous food for promoting heart health!
Kale is a fabulous source of calcium (254 mg per 100 g, 19.5% DV), phosphorus (55 mg per 100 g, 7.9% DV), and magnesium (33 mg per 100 g, 7.9% DV). All of these minerals are essential for bone health, along with vitamins D and K.
Studies indicate that most adults in the US don’t get enough vitamin D and calcium from their usual diet, so eating a good dose of kale every once in a while would be a fabulous idea for anyone!
100 g of raw kale contains about 241 RAE of vitamin A (27% DV). This nutrient regulates the growth and regeneration of all the cells in the body and is especially important for skin health. For instance, vitamin A controls the production of sebum, the oily substance that keeps the skin and hair healthy and well-moisturized.
Vitamin C, another nutrient that’s abundant in kale, controls the production of collagen in the skin and reduces free radical damage due to UV radiation. Additionally, vitamin C promotes skin hydration and enhances wound healing.
An essential component of inflammation is the formation of free radicals in the inflamed area. This effect leads to an increase in oxidative stress, which causes further damage and keeps the inflammation going.
Kale is rich in powerful antioxidants like quercetin and kaempferol. These phytochemicals reduce oxidative stress, protect the body from excessive formation of free radicals, and thus calm down any inflammation in the process.
Besides being anti-inflammatory, quercetin and kaempferol also have anti-hypertensive, painkilling, anti-diabetic, and anti-cancer properties.
Kale is rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, two carotenoid pigments. In your body, these compounds are present in the retina—the part of your eyes that perceives visual data and sends signals about it to the brain.
Studies estimate that getting about 6 mg of zeaxanthin and lutein daily would be enough to promote eye health and reduce the risk of age-related eye conditions. Sadly, just 1% of men and about 5% of all women meet this daily goal, and that’s one of the many reasons why eyesight problems are so common in the adult population all around the world.
A gram of fresh kale contains 48.0 to 114.7 µg of lutein and zeaxanthin, meaning that you’ll have to eat 125 g of kale per day to meet your recommended dose of these essential carotenoids.
If 125 g of kale per day sounds like a tough goal, get ready for some fantastic news.
Eating 100-125 g of kale every single day could make you hate this green after a few weeks. So how can you reap all the health benefits this food has to offer without turning your diet into a constant hunt for more and more kale?
For many people out there, dried kale powder has become an excellent solution for this issue.
Depending on the technology used in the manufacturing process, one teaspoon of dried kale powder could equal to 2-3 cups of fresh kale (130-200 g).
Sounds good?
Well, to make things even better, here’s a list of creative ways in which you can enjoy this fabulous product.
Ten delicious ways to enjoy dried kale powder
Although all leafy greens are packed with health benefits, kale is hands down in a league of its own.
Low in calories and extremely dense in nutrients, this food has amazing antioxidative and anti-inflammatory properties that could promote the health of all systems and organs in your body.
The only problem is that you have to eat about 100-120 g of kale every day if you want to reap all the health benefits associated with this amazing food.
That’s a lot. Too much for many people out there.
Luckily, there’s an easy solution that’s gaining a lot of popularity right now: dried kale powder! A single teaspoon of this natural wonder equals to some 2-3 cups of raw kale, depending on the specific product.
Another great thing is that you can enjoy kale powder in many different ways—from smoothies and baked products to salad and popcorn toppings!
In any case, dried or fresh, kale is an amazing food that everyone should eat more often. How about starting today? :)