Never Re-Heat This Vegetable For The Second Time Or You Will Be Poisoned

Growing up as a kid, we believed that Popeye’s super strength really came from the Spinach he eats. So, instead of forcing kids to eat vegetables, moms do tell the story of Popeye to make their kids eat it voluntarily.

Spinach is a super healthy and nutritious food and we should all consume it as part of our diet. But apart from its benefits, there is something we need to remember about Spinach.

Spinach once re-heated could be very harmful for our health. The reason is because of the nitrates in its content which turn into highly harmful and carcinogenic nitrosamines, when subjected to high heat.

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Like other leafy vegetables, Spinach contain high concentrations of nitrate. The amount depends on the variety, season, and the soil and water conditions where the vegetable was grown.

Nitrate itself is totally harmless, but it can be converted to nitrites, and then to nitrosamines. Enzymes present in bacteria convert nitrate to nitrite. This happens especially when spinach is heated, stored and then later reheated.

Nitrite though harmless, it should be avoided by infants of up to 6 months because it could result to “Blue Baby Syndrome” in which it will transform haemoglobin (the protein that carries oxygen in the blood) into methaemoglobin (a form of the protein which is unable to carry oxygen), thus affecting the ability of the blood to transport oxygen.

Best recommendation is to always eat Spinach fresh. But if you eat it the following day, don’t heat the spinach, instead eat it cold. A cold spinach is as delicious as the warm one.

Source: Health and Love Page