Amaranth Microgreens
There’s no doubt why the bright magenta color of amaranth is a chefs favorite garnish for a beautiful plate. And now, yes even you can elevate your dish at home with this beauty! Adding its ruby-licious color to your meal will also help your body produce red blood cells.
Amaranth is high in iron. Iron is an essential trace element required by the human body for red blood cell production. Fresh 100 g of leaf amaranth contains 29% DRI of iron.
Amaranth leaves are storehouse for many phytonutrients, antioxidants, minerals and vitamins which contribute immensely to health and wellness. The leaves and stems carry a good amount of soluble and insoluble dietary fibers. For the same reason, leafy greens including amaranth often recommended by dietitians in the cholesterol controlling and weight reduction programs.
We can’t forget to mention its 100 g of fresh leaves carry 43.3 mg or 70% of recommended daily intake of vitamin-C! Vitamin-C is a powerful water-soluble antioxidant which plays a vital role in wound healing and help fight against viral infections.
As if this stunning green couldn’t get even more awesome, here are some other great facts:
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Amaranth greens perhaps have the highest concentrations of vitamin-K of all the edible green-leafy vegetables. Vitamin-K plays a vital role in strengthening the bone mass by promoting osteoblastic activity in the bone cells. Additionally, it also has an established role in patients with Alzheimer's disease by limiting neuronal damage in the brain.
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Amaranth greens also contains ample amounts of B-complex vitamins such as folates, vitamin-B6 (pyridoxine), riboflavin, thiamin (vitamin B-1), and niacin. Folates rich diet help prevent neural tube defects in the newborns.
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Moreover, its leaves carry more potassium than that of in the spinach. Potassium is an important component of the cell and body fluids that helps regulate heart rate and blood pressure.
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Additionally, it has higher levels of other minerals than spinach such as calcium, manganese, magnesium, copper and zinc. The human body uses manganese and copper as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzyme, superoxide dismutase. Copper is also required for the production of red blood cells. Zinc is a co-factor for many enzymes that regulate growth and development, digestion and nucleic acid synthesis.
*Source: Nutrition and You
