WHY YOUR BONES LOVE SPINACH!
There aren’t many people in their 50s, 60s and beyond that don’t worry about the health of their bones (particularly women). And it’s easy to understand why. People are often unaware that they have fragile bones until a fracture occurs and low bone density can be a difficult condition to reverse in our later years.
A genetic predisposition and/or a poor diet plus a lack of weight-baring exercise over a number of years are usually the first things to merit blame but there’s no going back so the norm is for sufferers to be advised on a calcium-enriched diet, a gradual increase in physical activity where possible and more than likely, some sort of supplement*. In more severe cases, drugs are often prescribed but these can have a range of side-effects and studies show that up to 50% of women stop treatment within a year.
Chicken, Chorizo & Greens Soup
Our bones certainly need calcium (and magnesium) and lots of both but what is vitally important is that the calcium and magnesium we get from our diet and/or supplements actually gets into our bones and that’s where a number of other vitamins and minerals come into play. Vitamins K, C, B6 and D and the minerals zinc, copper and manganese are vital for the regrowth of the protein mesh that both calcium and magnesium latch onto before new bone can be created so we need the lot and that’s where Popeye’s favourite comes in.
Spinach provides good to excellent levels of all of the above, other than vitamin D but it is its wealth of vitamin K which has seriously raised its status as a bone-builder. It’s not only bone that thins with age, bone marrow also becomes more ‘fatty’. Vitamin K has a huge fondness for fat and recent research on the bone marrow in elderly patients receiving hip replacements indicates that much of the vitamin K required for the bone-building process gets ‘locked’ inside the bone marrow and therefore unavailable. To add insult to injury, the richest food sources of vitamin K are ‘greens‘ and for a number of different reasons, many ‘seniors‘ are eating well below the recommended amount of not only ‘greens‘ but vegetables in general.
Around 200g of spinach provides a massive 888mcg of vitamin K so when you consider that in recent studies, a supplement of 1mg** reduced calcium loss and encouraged new bone growth it is easy to understand why spinach continues to create a deal of excitement!
I use it in a great many dishes. Here are a selection that not only provide good levels of bone-building nutrients (including vitamin D) but are also quick to prepare and delicious.
Parcel-Baked Fish
*Should you wish to consider an anti-osteoporosis supplement, ensure that it includes at least 600mg calcium, 300mg magnesium, 8mg manganese, 2mg boron and 2mg copper together with vitamins K, D and B6.
**If you are on an anti-coagulant such as Warfarin do not supplement Vitamin K as it may reduce its effectiveness.