Zucchini is a vegetable that offers incredible health benefits.
One cup of sliced zucchini equals one serving, and that cup of sliced zucchini contains:
- Calories: 19
- Total fat: 0.4 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
- Sodium: 9 mg
- Total carbohydrates: 3.5 g
- Dietary fiber: 1.1 g
- Sugar: 2.8 g
- Added sugar: 0 g
- Protein: 1.4 g
Zucchini will also provide you with a dose of certain vitamins, especially vitamin C.
“Zucchini is rich in many nutrients, including vitamin C, vitamin A, manganese, potassium and magnesium,” nutritionist Casey Hageman told Livestrong.
Thanks to all this, zucchini can help protect eye and heart health, improve digestion, and help you maintain a healthy weight.
Vitamin C
One serving of zucchini provides almost a quarter of your daily need for vitamin C, which acts as an antioxidant to protect your cells from damage caused by free radicals (caused during digestion or environmental factors such as cigarette smoke or air pollution ) according to the National Institutes of Health.
Vitamin C also improves the absorption of iron from plant foods, which is a good reason to eat zucchini along with leafy greens like spinach or kale. It also helps the immune system work properly and is needed for the production of collagen, a structural protein that helps heal wounds and keeps the skin taut.
Vitamin B6
You’ll also find 11 percent of your daily needs for vitamin B6 in a serving of zucchini. Vitamin B6 is important for keeping the nervous and immune systems healthy.
Manganese
The manganese in zucchini will help your body generate energy and protect cells from damage, and the body will use it to keep bones strong and for a healthy immune system.
Eye health protection
Zucchini is rich in nutrients that can protect your vision and eye health.
Zucchini contains many antioxidants, especially carotenoids such as lutein, zeaxanthin and beta-carotene.
They are good for weight loss
One cup of zucchini contains only 17 calories, and this vegetable is rich in water and fiber. This combination helps you feel fuller, which leads to fewer calories overall.
Like most fruits and vegetables, zucchini is naturally low in fat and calories, and filling.
A healthy heart
You’ll get a gram of fiber with every cup of sliced zucchini—but don’t let the seemingly small amount fool you. When it comes to fiber, every gram contributes to good heart health.
Fiber is a key part of a healthy cholesterol-lowering diet. Eating high-fiber foods reduces the incidence of coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and colon cancer by 16 to 24 percent, according to a meta-analysis of nearly 250 studies published in The Lancet in February 2019
A high-fiber diet also helps control blood sugar levels, achieve a healthy weight, maintain gut health, and help you live longer.
Zucchini also provides potassium, which can reduce the effects of sodium and help manage high blood pressure, according to the American Heart Association. When you take in more potassium, you lose more sodium through the urine, and it also helps reduce the tension in the blood vessel walls.
They help in the digestion of food
Zucchini contains soluble and insoluble fiber that helps in digestion. The water content also aids in full hydration and digestion, helping food pass more easily through the gastrointestinal tract.
Dietary fiber increases the size and weight of the stool, and also softens it, makes it easier to pass through the intestines and prevents constipation. A diet rich in vegetables like zucchini can also reduce the risk of developing hemorrhoids or diverticular disease.
You can also reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes by eating a healthy diet that includes insoluble fiber.
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