Watercress

[Guest guest]

I remember years ago, I bought watercress for my salad, and couldn't

finish the whole thing, since I didnt have a refrigerator and lived

by a creek, I put it into the water and it grew in the creek. It's

real easy for these plants to take root, since they dont need soil to

live.

Watercress has a unique flavor, like peppery leaves. Gives a tang to

salads.

Blessings,

Michele

http://www.everynutrient.com/healthbenefitsofwatercress.html

Health Benefits of Watercress

The following information states the major nutrients found in

watercress. It also reveals

research findings on the health benefits of eating watercress.

Note: Even though watercress exhibits great nutritional benefits, it

is not a complete food.

Watercress is a member of the cabbage family along with other greens

such as mustard

greens, kale, kohlrabi, and turnip greens. Watercress offers similar

health benefits as

kale and collards and can be used in the same way.

Watercress and other cabbage greens are among the most highly

nutritious vegetables.

They provide an excellent source of vitamins B6, C, manganese, and

carotenes. Greens

in the cabbage family also provide a very good source of fiber, iron,

copper, and

calcium. In addition, the greens are a very good source of vitamins

B1, B2, and E.

Greens in the cabbage family have almost three times as much calcium

as phosphorus.

That is a very beneficial ratio since high phosphorus consumption has

been linked to

osteoporosis. The high consumption reduces the utilization of

calcium and promotes it's

excretion. As members of the cabbage family, watercress, kale,

collards, mustard greens,

kohlrabi, and turnip greens contain the same sort of anticancer

properties

http://www.mydietfriends.com/story/2007/2/27/162735/657

Not only is watercress one of the healthiest foods around, it used to

be one

of the most commonly eaten. Now treated as an exotic addition to a

salad it

deserves a place centre stage once more.

Watercress, which used to be known as scurvy grass, was at one time

regarded as poor man's bread, the first food people turned to as a

staple when wheat was in short supply. And where in the world would

this exotic substitute for

wheat be found? It might sound like a story from the Mediterranean

region but in fact watercress is indigenous to northern Europe and

was highly

regarded and much used in southern England.

The Watercress Alliance, a group of watercress producers in the UK

reports that Hippocrates, the father of medicine, is thought to have

decided on the location for his first hospital because of its

proximity to a stream so he could use only the freshest watercress to

treat his patients.

A long list of the health benefits attributed by folklore to

watercress would include coughs,head colds, bronchial ailments,

tuberculosis,asthma, emphysema, stress, pain,arthritis, stiff back

and joints, diabetes, anaemia, constipation, cataracts, failing

eyesight, night blindness, leukaemia, cancer, haemorrhaging, heart

conditions, eczema, scabies, body deodorizer, oedema, bleeding gums,

weight loss, indigestion, alcoholism, intestinal parasites,

circulation, sluggish menstruation, lack of energy, kidney and gall

stones....

More recently scientists have begun to weigh in with their own

research and opinions. Funded by the Watercress Alliance a study by

scientists from the University of Ulster;found recently that

watercress contains compounds that help to prevent damage to the DNA

in white blood cells, an important trigger in the development of

cancer. Critics of the study have pointed out that it is a small

epidemiological study that suggests more research would be useful,

rather than being definitive about the benefits of watercress.

In the study, 60 healthy volunteers, including 30 smokers, ate an 85g

bag of fresh watercress every day for eight weeks.DNA damage to white

blood cells was cut by an average of 22.9 per cent. Phenylethyl

isothio-cyanate (PEITC), a mustard oil responsible for the bitter

taste in watercress could be the key factor encouraging the body's

protective enzymes to fight cancer.

It is not the first study to point up the potential benefits of

incorporating more watercress in the diet. In 1999 researchers at the

University of Minnesota Cancer Center also reported a protective

effect when smokers consumed watercress.

Watercress is high in beta-carotene, Vitamins A, B1 and B6, C, E and

K. It also contains abundant Iodine, Iron, Calcium, Magnesium, Zinc

and Quercetin.

Quercetin is a flavonoid which have been shown to reduce inflammation

and to be a natural anti-histamine, so useful in combating allergies.

It is also an antioxidant.

The online encyclopaedia Wikipedia quotes a recent study in the

British Journal of Cancer " when treated with a combination of

Quercetin and ultrasound at 20 KHz for 1 minute duration, skin and

prostate cancers show a 90% mortality within 48 hours with no visible

mortality of normal cells " .

The Wellness centre at University of California Berkeley however

cautions " Despite some promising preliminary studies, it's too early

to recommend Quercetin as a supplement. " Best to get it from food.

How to enjoy it. Before industrialised foods became common people

would eat watercress as a road-side fast food often consuming it in

bunches. These days it tends to be used sparingly except in

watercress soup. Though it can be enjoyed in greater quantities than

we are used to watercress loses much of its beneficial action when

cooked and keeps only for short periods in the

fridge. It is beset eaten on the day of purchase.