Recently, it is the season of amaranth on the market, as the old saying goes, "amaranth gold does not change in July", in some areas, amaranth is also known as a longevity dish, and many people think that amaranth can replenish blood and strengthen the body.
Amaranth is a plant of the family Amaranth, and the most striking thing about the salamander when fried is the bright red juice at the bottom of the plate. In addition to red amaranth, there are also green amaranth in the amaranth family, as well as amaranth with yellow and purple leaves. Red amaranth and green amaranth are often used as vegetables, and other varieties are widely cultivated as ornamental plants because of their rich leaf color.
Whether it's red amaranth or green amaranth, it can squeeze into the top five on the list of high-calcium vegetables. Red amaranth has a calcium content of 178 mg/100 g, while green amaranth has a higher calcium content of 187 mg/100 g, which is 60% higher than the calcium content of regular milk (115 mg/100 g).
Among the common vegetables, the calcium content is higher than amaranth, and there are several such as camellia (294 mg/100 g), mustard greens (230 mg/100 g), and endive (230 mg/100 g).
Although the calcium in green leafy vegetables is affected by oxalic acid and phytic acid, the absorption and utilization rate is not as good as that of calcium in milk and dairy products, which is actually very easy to solve, we can remove most of the oxalic acid by blanching to reduce its impact on calcium absorption.
On the other hand, amaranth is also not low in magnesium, the presence of which promotes the absorption and deposition of calcium in the bones. For example, the magnesium content in green amaranth reaches 119 mg/100 g, which is twice as high as spinach (58 mg/100 g) and 3 times that of kale (40 mg/100 g).
Although eating amaranth does not necessarily replenish blood, the iron content is really high. There is a saying that eating red amaranth to replenish blood is more influenced by the traditional concept of supplementing form with form, which is the same as people believe that jujube and red beans can replenish blood.
However, the iron content in amaranth is really high, especially green amaranth, which contains 5.4 mg of iron per 100 grams, which is 1.4 times the iron content of small rape (3.9 mg/100 g) and nearly 2 times that of spinach (2.9 mg/100 g).
The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents recommend that the average adult woman should consume 18 mg of iron per day, and the calcium content of amaranth per 100 grams reaches nearly 1/3 of the recommended intake.
The iron in amaranth is trivalent iron, which is not easy to be absorbed by the human body, and will also be affected by oxalic acid, and the absorption and utilization rate is indeed not as good as the bivalent iron in animal liver and red meat, but as long as it is processed properly (such as blanching) and at the same time ensures that the intake of vitamin C is sufficient, it can also properly promote iron absorption and play a certain role in iron supplementation.
