When preparing a healthy diet, vegetables can not miss on the menu. However, the range is wide, so it is worth wondering which ones we should incorporate more frequently into our diet.
Already in 2014, a group of researchers from the William Paterson University of New Jersey (United States) asked themselves this question. And, as published in the academic environment Preventing Chronic Disease, published by the US Center for Disease Control (CDC), came to a conclusion; among the vegetables, the healthiest is watercress.
energy vegetables
In reality, these authors sought to define the term Powerhouse Fruits & Vegetables (PFV, something like ‘energy vegetables’), cited in several recommendations issued nationally in the United States on ideal nutritional guidelines to prevent chronic diseasesbut whose meaning was rarely specified.
To do this, they prepared a list of 47 vegetables and fruits, of which they analyzed their nutritional density: the percentage they provided of the recommended amount of certain nutrients (specifically, they selected 17 essential nutrients) per 100 kilocalories. Among those 47, 41 provided at least 10% of the recommended daily dose of said nutrients and therefore were considered PVF; yes, the clear winner was the watercress.
He scream It is a vegetable that grows in swamps and watercourses. It is native to Europe and Central Asia, and is considered one of the first foods consumed by humans. In the studied parameters (content of potassium, fiber, protein, calcium, iron, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid, zinc and vitamins A, B6, B12, C, D, E and K) the watercress reached the highest score. : a 100, which means that the necessary amount of watercress to obtain 100 kcal also provides 100% of the recommended daily allowance of all these nutrients.
Consume watercress frequently
Of course, with these values, it becomes evident that cress should be considered as a possible element to add frequently to our diets. Of course, this does not mean that we should feed exclusively on watercress; the key is to achieve a diet varied and balancedwith other ingredients that also provide us with substances such as carbohydrates or proteins.
In this sense, the same study identified other vegetables with high nutritional contributions, such as Chinese cabbage (with a score of 91.99) or Swiss chard (with 87.27).
In our country, watercress is an accessible and low-priced food, although it is not widely consumed (among other issues, weather conditions have not traditionally favored its extensive cultivation and therefore it does not have a great tradition in our gastronomy). Fortunately, recent times have seen an increase in its presence in recipes such as salads, in which it fits perfectly.
References
Of boredom. Defining Powerhouse Fruits and Vegetables: A Nutrient Density Approach. Preventing Chronic Disease (2014). DOI: https://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2014/13_0390.htm