Watercress is packed with many vitamins and minerals including vitamins C, B1, B6, E, K, and the minerals calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese and zinc. In fact, weight for weight it contains more of the important vitamins and minerals than apples, tomatoes and broccoli.

Watercress is part of the cabbage family, a cruciferous vegetable, and over the years research has been published to show that this family of vegetables has cancer protecting properties.

The antioxidants in watercress, in particular, lutein, zeaxanthin and beta-carotene, which are types of carotenoids, are essential for healthy eye function and it is thought that they can help to prevent age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma and cataracts.

Because of its powerful antioxidant nutrients, watercress may have a part to play in slowing down the ageing process. Antioxidants mop up potentially damaging free radicals, which speed up the ageing process by destroying healthy cells and they can also the attack DNA in the nucleus of a cell, causing cell change (mutation) and cancer.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 1st, 2007 at 11:13 am and is filed under Healthy Ageing, Ingredient Spotlights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.