Spinach the truth. OMG

LabRat529

A pubmed search with the terms "spinach blood pH" revealed nothing that demonstrated that dietary spinach effects the pH of the blood directly. I did find a rather interesting article titled: "Chloroplast thylakoids reduce glucose uptake and decrease intestinal macromolecular permeability". But that's glucose uptake, not pH related.

A pubmed search with the terms "mechanism of pH regulation" resulted in over 100,000 articles.... I did not scroll through them all, so something on spinach might be hiding in there, but not on the first page.

To narrow the search, I used "mechanism of pH regulation blood" and then "diet mechanism of pH regulation blood". Neither produced anything that indicated that diet can directly regulate the pH of the blood and therefore the pH of the body (excluding the gut, which can be affected by diet to some extent).

Lastly, I tried "diet regulation blood pH" and got nothing that showed a direct effect of diet on the blood.

There are lots and lots and lots of articles that suggest that diet can control the absorption of various macro and micro nutrients, which could have an indirect effect... maybe... but I'm still pretty skeptical.

Why then, would a MD advice the consumption of alkaline foods?

Well... any number of reasons. Doctors fall prey to myths too, for starters. But also I suppose I could still be wrong... just because I can't find evidence, doesn't mean there isn't any. I'm not an MD, as I stated... I'm more specialized than an MD. My specialty is pharmacology, and neuropharmacology specifically. That means I know a lot about biochemistry, cell-signaling, and cellular and molecular physiology... so I suppose it's possible I'm missing the forest because I'm looking at a single cell within a single tree.

That said... I'm still pretty sure that the spinach-regulate-blood-pH is a myth.

thesarahsundae

Love to mix it in my smoothies.

karinaes

that's great news! i eat spinach almost everyday :happy:

it_be_asin

I eat spinach mostly cause it tastes awesome in whole lotta recipes I know, but I'll take the health benefits too.

MrsObundles

Awesome! I like putting a cup of spinach in my protein shake and blending it on the "liquidize" setting on the blender with some peanut butter in there. It's so yummy! The shake is green but you really can't taste the spinach.

runbyme

It supplies the same amount of protein as you would get from the same quantity of meat¾a cheaper and healthier alternative to getting protein.

This is completely FALSE!! 1 cup of spinach has a measly 1 g of protein, where on earth this stat come rom?????

I beleive that stat is by weight. A 4oz steak will have the same amount of protein as 4 ozs of spinach. But 4oz of spinach is a LOT of spinach! LOL!

raevynn

Spinach and Kale are both incredible greens that work fabulous in Green Smoothies...


Take a banana, throw it in the blender with the dark greens of your choice, about a cup of them, and then throw in some frozen fruit, like berries or pineapple. Pour in enough filtered water to almost cover them (about 7/8 of the way), and blend until smooth.

Yummy! Kids love this, and it is a great way to get greens into you!

auroranflash

Just had spinach in my Jason's Deli mediterranean wrap (amazing, btw). Always love spinach, I try to put it in everything. Unfortunately bags of baby spinach go bad really fast, any storage tips to help prolong its life? I always buy a bag and the week ends up busier than I expected, and half of it is thrown out.

onefitdiva

Popeye was one smart sailor!!! .... I love it, really good on homemade pizza with fresh mushrooms and fresh garlic too. But it is so versatile, it fits into so many recipes.

SConlon1978

Spinach is good

teagin2002

Yay spinach!!!

katharos3

It supplies the same amount of protein as you would get from the same quantity of meat¾a cheaper and healthier alternative to getting protein.

This is completely FALSE!! 1 cup of spinach has a measly 1 g of protein, where on earth this stat come rom?????

You are right. It is pound for pound. .

BS. 100g of spinach has 2.86g of protein. 100g of chicken breast has 30.86g of protein. So chicken breast has 10 times the amount... pound for pound (or gram for gram).

EDIT: Don't get me wrong... I love spinach, and feel it is indeed healthy. Healthy enough that we don't need to perpetuate incorrect information to make it seem even healthier. On another note, alkalinity and pH in the diet is shaky science at best... still doesn't mean I don' think spinach is fantastic.

I've heard similar statements, and the way I understand it is: 100 calories of spinach has roughly the same amount of protein as 100 calories of steak. Or something like that. Actually, as I'm typing this I think I remember the comparison being between broccoli and lean beef. But don't quote me. It makes sense to me, but obviously 100 calories of spinach will be a much greater volume or weight than 100 calories of steak.

MrObundles

Great info!

NeedANewFocus

YES! I knew I made a good decision by buying Spinach!

tinalatina

wooo hoo Spinach is on the menu tonight!!!! Thanks for posting the wonderful info!!

katharos3

[/quote]

I've heard similar statements, and the way I understand it is: 100 calories of spinach has roughly the same amount of protein as 100 calories of steak. Or something like that. Actually, as I'm typing this I think I remember the comparison being between broccoli and lean beef. But don't quote me. It makes sense to me, but obviously 100 calories of spinach will be a much greater volume or weight than 100 calories of steak.
[/quote]

Oh yeah, and I spinach!

MissFit0101

I'm so glad I spinach! Great post.

monicamk1975

bumping for later, thanks for the informative post :0)

shreyaj

Yes! Spinach! Add this to your meals and it will fill you up!

SixCatFaerie

Love spinach! Thank you for making me love it even more!