You get heme iron from animal foods and nonheme iron from plant foods like spinach. This caused the popular misconception that spinach is high in iron that makes the body stronger. Spinach? Spinach’s iron content actually trumps that of many other vegetables. This list of 10 types of spinach, is brought to you by www.dietandfitnesstoday.com and ranges from Spinach souffle through to Spinach, canned, no salt added, solids and liquids where all food items are ranked by the content or amount per 100g. Keep reading to get the full story. However, if you are wondering about spinach, clam may not be on your menu. $\begingroup$ As @MaxW stated above , im my experience to get the best representative sample of the iron in spinach I burnt the spinach to ash in the crucible to free the iron in the sample from the biological molecules it is bound to. Iron deficiency is the most common nutritional deficiency globally especially among children and pregnant women  and the only nutrient deficiency that is widely prevalent in developed countries, according to the World Health Organization. You might have heard that you should start eating dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate for health reasons. Iron from spinach and other plant foods, however, is not as well-absorbed as iron from animal sources. Women aged 51 and older and adult men of all ages need 8 milligrams of iron daily, while women from 19 to 50 require 18 milligrams. Furthermore, spinach contains oxalates, compounds that have been shown to hinder the absorption of iron in the intestines. Your best dietary source of iron is actually clam. Call it the Popeye effect. Since then, also numerous other scientists have measured the iron content of spinach, but the results of the modern studies have disproved the claims of the German chemists. There are relatively serious differences in vitamin content. This is the form of iron added to iron-enriched and iron-fortified foods. There were reasons that Popeye ate his spinach all the time. Your body absorbs only about 10% of the complete iron content from spinach. A couple of weeks ago I posted the following post on the experiment I was doing however, I did not realize that when I cook the spinach I change the Fe2+ ions into Fe3+ ions. Drawback for Using Spinach As an Iron Supplement, How to Raise Your Iron Level Without Supplements, MyFoodData: 200 Vegetables Highest in Vitamin C, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: A 1-h Time Interval Between a Meal Containing Iron and Consumption of Tea Attenuates the Inhibitory Effects on Iron Absorption, The Journal for Nurse Practitioners: The Effects of Concomitant Use of Proton Pump Inhibitors on Iron Supplements, Taking Multivitamins vs. Iron Supplements. Two cups of fresh spinach contains 1.6mg of iron. fraudulent; German chemists reinvestigating the iron content of Spinach had shown in the 1930s that the original workers had put the decimal point in the wrong place and made a tenfold overesti-mate of its value. The myth that the superfood spinach contains exceptionally high amounts of iron was debunked by scientists a long time ago. My question is: How do I calculate how much iron is in this sample? Although spinach is touted as being high in iron and calcium content, and is often served and consumed in its raw form, raw spinach contains high levels of oxalates, which block absorption of calcium and iron in the stomach and small intestine. How to Find the Best Nut and Almond Milk Maker (for You), How to Reduce Acrylamide Levels in Coffee, The Much-Touted Weight Loss Benefits of Spirulina. Shellfish like oysters, clams and mussels are especially rich in iron. #5 – Raw Cacao: This is one instance where chocolate is really good for you. Calories, carbs, fat, protein, fiber, cholesterol, and more for Spinach (Raw). While many associate spinach with its iron content, it’s actually the nitrates in those green leaves that give you a real-life power-up. In the category of vegetables, we included whole vegetable products in the Top 10 list. For a better source of iron Popeye would have been better off chewing the cans.” Hamblin was wrong. Paula Martinac is a nutrition educator, writer and coach. Revati Upadhya is a writer, avid blogger, die-hard lover of everything food, amateur photographer and self-taught home cook all wrapped in one. Hearts of palm. Phytates are antioxidant compounds that are beneficial in themselves but can slow down the absorption of iron and other minerals; they’re found in foods like legumes, grains and tea. If you eat animal foods, serving cooked spinach with a helping of meat or seafood improves the mineral’s bioavailability. Spinach contains 2.7 milligrams of iron per 100 grams. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. In the article I consulted, Bender described the determination of the iron content of spinach by Dr. E. von Wolff, in 1870, and how a subsequent analysis in 1937 by Professor Schupan had found that spinach contained no more iron than any other leafy vegetable. But there's a catch: the iron in spinach (and other vegetables) is so-called non-heme iron, which is not absorbed as … There has always been good myth about how high the iron content in spinach and how we should eat regularly to achieve our required supplements of iron. Or should he eat it raw? For years, people have been eating spinach, both raw and cooked, in an attempt to step up their iron intakes. Spinach is no better for you than cabbage, Brussels sprouts, or broccoli. The nutritional zinc content can be scaled by the amount in grams, oz or typical serving sizes. In the category of vegetables, we included whole vegetable products in the Top 10 list. Spinach is an excellent source of this essential mineral. I took $\pu{5.10g}$ of spinach leafs and burned them, then added $\pu{10.00 mL}$ of $\ce{HCl}$ and $\pu{10 mL}$ of $\ce{KSCN}$ then filtered the contents (so ashes weren't in the beaker). That’s not too bad. Cooked spinach delivers significantly more iron than raw. Iron. If you follow a vegetarian diet, you're only absorbing about 5 to 12 percent of the iron you consume from food, says the National Institutes of Health. For instance, only … Diet is a great strategy to combat any iron deficiency. That’s 38 percent of what men and older women need, and 17 percent of younger women’s requirements. This process helps the cells produce energy to run all your bodily functions. So, I began researching the nutritional value of kale vs spinach, and in my course of research, I got to discover the proportion of iron in kale vs. iron in spinach. I only have solutions of 0.01M KMNO4 and 1M H2SO4. When fresh spinach is dehydrated to make spinach powder, iron content of spinach becomes extremely concentrated, making spinach powder an excellent natural source of plant-based iron. As mentioned above, vitamin C makes the iron in plant-based foods, such as spinach, more available to your body's cells. The fact, though, is that while early analysis may have overstated the iron content of spinach, nothing to do with any decimal-point error, the correct value was already well-known before Popeye was ever conceived. Without enough iron, your blood can’t make hemoglobin. She holds a Master's of Science in Health and Nutrition Education and is Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition. Non-heme iron is not as bioavailable to the body as the heme iron found in animal products. Iron plays a central role in the function of red blood cells which help in transporting oxygen around the body, in energy production and DNA synthesis. However, it is less easily absorbed than calcium obtained from dairy sources. Oxalic acid naturally binds with minerals like calcium and iron, making them harder for the body to absorb. I have no way to measure Fe3+. We excluded dried/dehydrated products from the Top 10. ... content… We excluded dried/dehydrated […] And thats a big problem because the mineral plays a number of really important roles in our bodies daily functioning. Thanks to a certain cartoon character most of us are familiar with the iron-rich qualities of spinach, although we’re often told that a compound called oxalic acid found in the leaves, as well as other greens like chard, limits our ability to absorb its iron. A 100-gram serving of raw spinach contains 2.71 mg of iron, whereas cooked spinach contains 3.57 mg. Keep in mind that iron absorption is influenced by how much iron you already have in your body and by other nutrients that you eat with your meals. 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