Is watercress good for you? This interesting food is said to have large amounts of calcium, folic acid and iron as well as having vitamins A and C. It may interest you to know that in some areas this food is thought of as a weed and in other areas as an aquatic vegetable/herb. One thing that growers could be aware of is that it observed that when watercress is grown around manure, that it can make a haven to parasites, for example the liver fluke.

In relation to the actual benefits of watercress, it is said that there are many, for instance it is a stimulant, as well as being a source for phytochemicals and also antioxidants. Moreover, it is a diuretic, as well as an expectorant, and also a digestive aid in addition. Furthermore, it is asserted that this food has antiangiogenic cancer-inhibiting features, that are thought to protect against cancer of the lungs. In 2010, there was a study done by Southampton University, that learned that by consuming watercress that it inhibited breast cancer growth.

Moreover, watercress’ PEPITC content is said to inhibit HIF, which can thence inhibit angiogenesis in addition. Watercress is asserted to have a high iodine content, which is said to thus be beneficial for the thyroid gland and therefore helpful to people with hypothyroidism. In addition to all this information we have seen when considering the question regarding: “Is watercress good for you?”, that this food is said to be known as inhibiting cytochrome P45 CYP2E1, that can eventuate different drug metabolism with individuals, who are taking a variety of medications such as chlorzoxazone.

(reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watercress)

A popular although perhaps low calorie food is lettuce – this food is normally eaten raw such as in a salad or also in other functions, such as even replacing bread to make a “lettuce sandwich”. Looking at the nutritional value of lettuce, we can note that it provides vitamin A, as well as folic acid and also Lactucarium. In fact, this is known as Lettuce Opium and is said to be a mild opiate type of substance that is present for all types of this vegetable. In actuality, it is said that Romans and Egyptians used this property of the food to eat at the finish of a meal in order to bring on sleep.

If one looks in more details at the nutritional value of lettuce, we can see that for a portion of 100g or 3.5 oz of this food, that it would provide 55 kJ. Moreover, it would provide 2.2 g of carbohydrates, as well as 1.1g of dietary fibre, 0.2 g of fat, 1.4 g of protein and also 96 g of water. As to the approximate percentage RDAs that this food would provide, we can see that Vitamn A is 21%, B9 18%, C 5%, K 97%, iron 5% and potassium 5%. Thus, we can see that by itself lettuce has little fuel for energetic activities, however, it can provide some useful nutrients such as for vitamin K etc..

(reference:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lettuce)