All about spinach > Nature’s nutritional powerhouse

“Spinach is a nutritional powerhouse and disease-fighting superstar,” Ms. Pearson says. “Cornell University researchers put spinach at the top of the list as the vegetable we should eat more often based on its exceptional antioxidant profile and ability to suppress cancer.”

•Compared to iceberg lettuce, spinach contains four times more potassium, seven times more folate, 11 times more magnesium and vitamin E, and 18 times more vitamin A.

•Research from the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging shows that spinach has the potential to slow down or even reverse declines in cognition (the ability to think, learn and remember) that occur with age.

Did you know? The traditional Mediterranean diet is associated with among the lowest rates of heart disease and cancer in the world. A cornerstone of the traditional diet is dark leafy greens, including spinach. In fact, people who lived on the Greek island of Crete were nicknamed "mangifolia," which means "leaf-eaters," because they consumed so many dark leafy greens, foraged from the steep hillsides of the island.