Comprehensive coverage

Popeye the salt would be disappointed: spinach has a lot of iron, but also a substance that prevents its digestion

Elsie Seger, the illustrator of the series, apparently did not know that plant-derived iron is usually also accompanied by oxalic acid, which would not have allowed our childhood hero Popeye the Salt to grow stronger

popeye the salt About a year ago, 70 years after the death of Elsie Seger, Popeye's father, the copyright on the character expired outside the US
popeye the salt About a year ago, 70 years after the death of Elsie Seger, Popeye's father, the copyright on the character expired outside the US

Thanks to Elsie Seger's cartoon series, starring Popeye, many people know that spinach is a source of iron. However, many are also confused because it also contains a substance that inhibits the digestion of iron. Spinach is indeed a source of iron that does not come from blood, the type of iron naturally found in fruits and vegetables. Unlike iron that comes from blood, which of course meat products contain, iron from vegetables is not available to the body.

According to the USDA's National Nutrition Information Center, one cup of cooked spinach provides about 3.5 milligrams of iron, while one cup of raw spinach contains only one milligram of iron.

However, spinach also contains oxalic acid. Oxalic acid binds to iron, and therefore suppresses its digestion.
Spinach is not the only food that contains high levels of oxalic acid. Whole grains such as buckwheat and amaranth, and other vegetables such as beet leaves and rhubarb, as well as legumes and peanuts contain significant amounts of oxalic acid.

Is Popeye the salt a cause for concern, or does he have a substance that contradicts the oxalic acid, since as a cartoon character he can contain whatever his illustrator, Elsie Seger, wants?

7 תגובות

  1. False bullshit and misleading the public.
    The scientist Elek.

    Cooking eliminates the negative effect of the oxalic acid, and then iron is available.

    Secondly, iron from the plant is available to the body, it is converted to the fleshy form inside our body, what you happen to the blood form HEME
    The cow doesn't do magic, she also ate the iron from the plant.

    What are you so misleading?
    The cow's body knows how to perform magic on iron that the human body does not have this ability?

  2. I am joining Marom Golan and as a vegetarian I can state that even though I do not eat meat and do not take food supplements I am not deficient in iron. So that at least some of the iron in the plant is absorbed.

  3. "Iron from vegetables is not available to the body" - to be exact. Only iron bound to oxalic acid is not absorbed by the body. The rest of the iron is absorbed, regardless of its source - living or plant. There is a myth that vegetarians do not absorb enough iron. The claim is wrong - about 30% of the entire population has a deficiency or difficulty absorbing iron, regardless of whether they are vegetarian or not. This is the main reason for the iron deficiency that appears in many people. A vegetarian person can get exactly the same amount of iron needed by his body.

  4. And maybe it's not possible because maybe the absence of the oxalic acid will make the iron toxic to the plant itself or this acid is essential in some way to the plant's function.

  5. Maybe it is possible
    But I suppose that those who are free to do so are busy with other more important things

  6. It is possible to create genetically modified vegetables without oxalic acid (provided that it does not have an essential role in the body) and thus increase iron consumption.

Leave a Reply

Email will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismat to prevent spam messages. Click here to learn how your response data is processed.