Health Gem

If you do one thing this week . . . see your way to eating spinach

If you grew up watching Popeye cartoons, then you will recall that when the wiry sailor chugged a can of spinach it gave him instant strength and bulging “muskles”.

The rationale behind the pipe-chewing hero swilling the green goo was that the iron it contained gave him the wherewithall to see off the villain and win the girl. But the iron in spinach is not that well absorbed, and Popeye’s fondness for the vegetable may have done more for his eyes.

Spinach is a rich source of lutein and zeaxanthin pigments that your body cannot make itself, so you have to take them in through foods or supplements.

A lack of these pigments has been implicated in age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a progressive condition that impairs sight and is the leading cause of irreversible visual loss in the developed world.

Clinical research is ongoing that looks at whether beefing up your dietary intake of these pigments could help protect eyesight into older age, but maybe the wily sea-farer knew more about spinach than he let on. Nyuk nyuk nyuk.