Some misconceptions change the lives of thousands of people. And surely, as a child, you also used to hear that you should eat your spinach because it contains so much iron, right? But this is a misconception: 100 years ago, someone made a mistake by one decimal place when writing a nutritional table. Since that time, spinach has been credited with 10 times more iron than it really has.
The iron content in spinach
The actual iron content of 2.9 mg in 100 g of spinach suddenly became 29 mg. This comma error has been passed down through generations like this. Nutritionists have found that spinach, however, contains high levels of magnesium, vitamins B1, B2 and folic acid.
While this vegetable still appears to be a relatively good source of iron, it also contains high levels of substances such as oxalic acid, which inhibits the absorption of iron in the intestines. Thus, the iron from spinach cannot be optimally utilized by our body. In contrast, iron from animal foods can be well absorbed by the intestine.
Prevent iron deficiency
A little bit of everything! Because if you eat a healthy and varied diet, you hardly run the risk of getting an iron deficiency. Foods rich in iron are, for example, wheat bran, legumes, pistachios or amaranth.
Origin of spinach
By the way, there is the following theory about the origin of spinach: presumably, the vegetable plant originated in Persia, first reached Spain through the Moors, and from there spread to all European countries. Today, the main producing countries are the USA, the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries.
