Health Benefits of Asparagus

The Romans and ancient Greeks viewed asparagus as a prized delicacy, and it’s easy to see why. This spear vegetable is packed full of nutrients and health-giving properties.

Asparagus may be well known as a vegetable but in ancient times it was also used as medicine, owing to its diuretic and antibacterial properties. One of the oldest recorded vegetables; asparagus is thought to have originated along coastal areas of eastern Mediterranean and Asian regions. The vegetable’s composition is 93 per cent water, which partly explains why asparagus is so low in calories and sodium. It’s also valued for being a great source of vitamins and minerals - along with dietary fibre, protein, iron, phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese and selenium.

Scientists have discovered asparagus can help with hangovers. Research published in the Journal of Food Science says extracts taken from leaves and shoots were found to boost levels of key enzymes that help break down alcohol.

Did you know...

Eating asparagus can make urine smell like rotten cabbage or ammonia. Only some of us can generate this odour. But nearly everyone who can generate and detect this odour assumes that everybody else can too!

“A good vegetable for pregnant women as it's a good source of folate, which helps reduce the risk of neural tube defects including spina bifida.”