The Health Benefits of Turnips

Turnips resemble potatoes in texture and appearance but exude a bitter flavor that pairs well with sweet meat like pork. This root vegetable can be found year-round in the produce section but is in season from October through March in most areas. Adding turnips to your diet provides you with a number of vitamins and minerals to benefit your overall health.

Vitamins

One cup of mashed turnips contains about 27 mg of vitamin C, an antioxidant. Most adults should consume between 75 and 90 mg of vitamin C daily to support tissue repair and immunity. Turnips also provide most of the B vitamins, including riboflavin, thiamin, niacin, folate and pantothenic acid. One cup also has 0.2 mg of the 1.3 mg of vitamin B6 you need daily. The B vitamins help with fat, carbohydrate and protein metabolism; nervous system function; and healthy skin, hair, eyes and liver.

Minerals

Turnips have 76 mg of calcium per mashed cup -- about 8 percent of the recommended daily value. You also get 407 mg of potassium, essential to healthy blood pressure and fluid balance, per cup. You need about 2,000 mg of potassium daily. Turnips also contain small amounts of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, zinc, manganese and selenium.

Fiber and Calories

With just 51 calories per mashed cup, turnips are a lower calorie choice than an equivalent amount of boiled potatoes, with almost 200 calories. The cup of turnips provides almost 5 g of fiber. Fiber can help you feel full, especially helpful if you are watching your calorie intake. In addition, fiber promotes a healthy digestive tract and low cholesterol.

Greens

Buy turnips with their tops intact, as the greens contain a wealth of nutrients. The dark leafy greens offer more than a day's worth of vitamins A and K. In addition, the greens provide folate and vitamin C. Turnip greens are a source of calcium, with 197 mg per boiled cup.

Healthy Heart: Turnips have various properties that helps in maintaining a healthy heart. Turnip greens helps to reduce the cholesterol. The greens when digested absorb more amount of bile which in turn uses cholesterol present in your body and aids digestion. Hence the cholesterol content in the body is highly reduced. It is equivalent or more than the amount reduced when we consume a tablet to control our cholesterol level. The large amount of Vitamin K present in turnips helps in anti-inflammatory process. Hence heart stroke, heart attack, and other heart ailments are prevented. They also have an excellent level of folate which helps to boost up the cardiovascular system.

Prevents Cancer: Presence of glucosinolates helps to prevent cancer and reduce the effect of the same. They are natural plant chemicals and break into two compounds while digesting i.e. indoles and isothiocyanates. These two acts as a strong agent in breaking down the tumor cells and help in reducing their growth. Science has also proved that people who include this food in their daily diet has less risk of cancer especially breast cancer. It also has a greater effect for colon and rectal tumours.

Stronger Bone Health: Bone health is very important especially during older age. It requires more amount of potassium and calcium for its health maintenance and is equally required for men & women. Turnips are one among the supplements for the same. This helps in reducing the risk of osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, joint damage and other bone ailments. The presence of copper strengthens the connective tissues further making your bones healthy.

Provides Anti-oxidants: Turnips have great level of anti-oxidants such has Vitamin C, A and E, manganese which help in free radical activity and prevent DNA damage. Requirement of Vitamin C can be supplemented with fruits like orange, grapes etc and helps in improving the immunity for people who are suffering from asthma and cold. Vitamin A in turnips help in preventing emphysema, lung inflammation, lung problems and help in maintaining healthy lungs.

Prevents Body Odour: Body odour is another common problem seen in most of us. Turnip juice helps a lot in getting rid of them. Turnip juice is really good for health and this is also considered as a national drink in Turkey. So, drink turnip juice to avoid body odour.

So, include turnips in your daily diet to avoid various health ailments and also to remain healthy.