Don't Sit on Spinach
For optimal nutrition, don't let your spinach sit around too long before you eat it.
Packaged spinach can lose as much as half of its health-boosting carotenoids and folate in as few as 4 days after you bring it home from the market, research shows. This is true even if the spinach is refrigerated. Try to eat fresh spinach within a day or two of purchase.
Although fresh spinach may lose much of its nutrition in as few as 4 days after purchase, spinach that is frozen and packaged soon after harvesting will retain much of its nutritional value. Eating fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables is a great way to load up on health-boosting vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals. Leafy greens such as spinach are a great source of folate, a B vitamin that protects the heart by reducing homocysteine levels. Folate is important for the synthesis of DNA, too, making it crucial for pregnant women. Spinach also provides a significant dose of carotenoids, a class of powerful antioxidants.
RealAge Benefit:
Eating a diverse diet that includes 5 servings of vegetables per day can make your RealAge as much as 4 years younger.
[PDF] Retention of folate, carotenoids, and other quality characteristics in commercially packaged fresh spinach. Pandrangi, S., LaBorde, L. F., Journal of Food Science 2004 November/December 69(9):C702-C707.
