Today, we have become a bit "modern" and "sophisticated" and this behavior has turned us into fussy eaters. When we attend some wedding party, we try to show others our "salad eating" priorities! When we go for a buffet dinner, we will move right to the salad corner. What a "prestige" of choosing a wide variety of salads and piling them in our plates! The true "elite"! If it is a "showbiz" for some or if some people really like the idea of having salads, then they may be getting some health benefits from the ingredients! Lettuce is a popular salad ingredient not only because of its awesome taste, but also for the immense health benefits that human health accrues from it.
Lettuce, grown as a leafy vegetable, is one of the most delicate salad plants in this world. It is regarded as the king of salad plants. It is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. The vegetable is usually consumed as cold and raw, in salads, hamburgers, tacos and a number of other dishes. There are basically six different types of lettuce, namely Butterhead (Boston or Bibb), Chinese lettuce, Crisphead (Iceberg), Looseleaf, Romaine (Cos) and Summer Crisp (Batavian). All of them are used for the purpose of making salads. Being high in nutritional value, lettuce offers its users a number of health and nutrition benefits.
The Nutritional Value
Lettuce is a good source of chlorophyll and vitamin K. It is bulky, low in food value but high in health value. It is rich in mineral salts with the alkaline elements greatly predominating. So it helps to keep the blood clean, the mind alert and the body in good health.
The loose leaf lettuce is considered a better food. It has the advantage of being more exposed to sunlight, thereby providing it with a richer supply of vitamins than the head-lettuce in which the leaves are closed. It is rich in lutein and beta-carotene. Leafy lettuce also supplies vitamins C and K, calcium, fiber, folate and iron. Vitamin K is credited with helping blood clots. Lettuce also includes other nutrients like vitamins A and B6, folic acid, lycopene, potassium and zeaxanthin. Lettuce contains alkaloids which are responsible for its therapeutic effects.
Although all varieties of lettuce have low calories, each variety has different nutrient content. Iceberg lettuce provides a good source of choline. Romain lettuce is the most nutrient-dense of all the lettuce varieties and is an excellent source of vitamins A, B1, B2 and C, folic acid, manganese and chromium. Red lettuces get their color from pigments called Anthocyanins. These pigments act as antioxidants, eliminating free radicals that destroy the cells. Some researchers found out that a variety of red lettuces like lollo rossa contain flavonoids, a powerful antioxidant.
The Health Benefits of Lettuce
- Aids in Weight Loss: Lettuce is very good for dieters because it is very low in calories, averaging only 10 to 50 per serving. Lettuce is also rich in water, enabling the body to better hydrate itself. Lettuce also contains fiber, helping in digestion and adding a feeling of fullness.
- Fights Diseases: Lettuce is full of beta-carotene which is a known disease fighter. Certain diseases such as cataracts, heart disease, stroke and cancer can be fought by eating lettuce.
- Prevents Cancer: According to the American Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society, foods rich in vitamins A and C can help prevent some cancer. And lettuce, containing these two vitamins in abundance, can surely be taken as an anti-cancer food.
- Helps in Constipation: Lettuce is a great constipation fighter. It is full of dietary fiber that can help bowels move more easily. It also aids in digestion. Lettuce can prove to be helpful in treating acid indigestion, arthritis, cataract, circulatory problems and colitis.
- Helps in Tissue Recovery: Lettuce is high in magnesium. This element has a significant role to play in the recovery of tissues, nerves, brain and muscles. It can also contribute to the shortening of the recovery time. Eating lettuce can also quicken the revival of overtired muscles, tissues and nerves. Lettuce can truly be considered as a healer.
- Relieves Headache: The juice of lettuce, when mixed with rose oil and applied to the forehead, can help ease headache and can even ensure sound and restful sleep.
- Prevents Birth Defects: Lettuce is rich in folic acid, which is known to help prevent neural-tube birth defects in the beginning stages of pregnancy. It also prevents anemia.
- Fights Nervous Insomnia: It is believed that the consumption of lettuce may help you to get over nervous insomnia, as it contains a sleep-inducing substance called Lactucarium (or "Lettuce Opium"). It is a mild opiate-like substance which is present in all types of lettuce. Both the Romans and Egyptians utilized this property by eating lettuce at the end of a meal to induce sleep.
- Promotes Liver Health: Lettuce is also believed to contribute towards a better liver health.
- Treats Hair Loss: A mixture of lettuce juice and spinach juice is said to be good for those who are troubled by the problem of hair loss.
- Calms Down Sexual Urge: Researchers at the University of California demonstrated in a series of experiments that whilst lettuce had a calming effect on sexual ardor, there was a surprisingly strong compensatory effect in the form of an increase in the fertility rate. Although the two findings may seem to be controversial, lettuce is frequently suggested to help men who suffer from premature ejaculation.
- Provides Nutrition during Pregnancy and Lactation: Folic acid present in lettuce helps prevent megaloblastic anemia during pregnancy. It was shown in a series of experiments with lettuce that mothers who regularly consumed lettuce were free from nutritional anemia. One particular benefit of lettuce eating is that it prevents habitual abortions. It is believed to have a great influence over the secretion of progesterone hormone. Eating lettuce with spinach, asparagus, peas and cauliflower increases the folic acid or vitamin B content of the food. It is estimated that about 300 to 500 mcg of this vitamin is daily required during the last trimester of pregnancy. The deficiency of this vitamin causes megaloblastic anemia.
We cannot or should not tell a lie by saying that we eat foods on the basis of their health effects alone! Sometimes, we tend to ignore the nutritional value of foods completely and indulge on something which primarily satisfies our taste buds. And that is why, we, today's "health freaks", keep looking for a food like lettuce which will add "pleasure" to our senses and to our health as a whole.
