according to this Why Popeye may have been right about spinach - health - 07 May 2008 - New Scientist! from the quoted abstract "phytoecdysteroids increased protein synthesis by up to 20%. In vivo, ecdysteroids increased rat grip strength. Ecdysteroid-containing plant extracts produced similar results." id love to read the whole article, but it requires a membership. another study confirms what D&S'ers have known all along, spinach is the ultimate muscle food.
If true, I'm not sure how much 20% helps. I started eating spinach regularly about a year ago and haven't noticed a sig difference.
Yeah same here. I've heard mentions of raw spinach actually being less beneficial to you compared to steamed. Never really looked into it, anyone have any insight?
I read abit more of a the report in a newspaper. basically the chemical phytoecdysteroids can increase muscle growth by up to 20% however the quanities involved meant eating the equiv of 1kg of spinach a day. Im sure even a lover of spinach would struggle to eat that much. I suppose in the future they could use it to create a safe product that could help muscle growth.
I love spinach. I planted a seedling this time last year and got a good crop from it during the winter. It went to seed throughout summer but the recent cool weather brought up around 18 seedlings with 60 seeds to spare. I'll be at 1kg/day in no time. :icon_chee
My wife watches Iron Chef all the time, and I remember one of the judges mentioning something about that on an episode a few months back. Something about the nutrients being locked up in acid chains, and heat is required to break them down before digestion, or most of the nutritional value will pass through your digestive tract unabsorbed. Don't quote me on that, but something along those lines. If you've ever seen the show, it was the fat know-it-all guy who judges, he seems to really know his food.
I get that too, does it feel like a coating or plaque of some sort? Like right afterwards. Popeye supports this thread.
Alton Brown? Damn, he knows his stuff..I really hope one of you is mistaken. I have about 5 cups of spinach a day, but it's all raw.. EDIT: Just found this: Cooked or raw? Both have their advantages. Whereas cooking reduces Vitamin C and folate levels, it simultaneously boosts beta-carotein and lutein bioavailability. A sensible idea is to have it both ways. Have spinach raw in your lunch salads and cooked in your evening dinner, for example. Some varieties of spinach are rarely eaten raw, though baby spinach is common in salads. If cooked, it is best lightly steamed to preserve nutrients as much as possible. via SpinachWords.com Also interesting: Spinach is best eaten fresh. It loses nutritional properties with each passing day. Although refrigeration slows the deterioration, half of the major nutrients are lost by the eighth day after harvest. (For long term storage, freeze while fresh.) When fresh, it has crisp leaves. As they deteriorate, the leaves turn limp.
Yeah, it feels like plaque or chalk, and I'd almost say it makes my teeth slightly more sensitive for a little while. I think that's why Popeye just inhaled it through his pipe - no chewing.
"Unfortunately, you would need to eat more than a kilogram of spinach every day to gain equivalent amounts of the steroid." that's a lot of spinach imo
