Cauliflower

This article is part of a larger article titled "100+ Healthiest Foods On Planet Earth."  Read it here.

Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable, probably originating from the northeast Mediterranean. Delicious when roasted, fried, boiled or steamed, it is a key ingredient in a number of great dishes (such as cauliflower cheese!), and is great for weight loss. In fact cauliflower mash is often used as a low-carb alternative to more conventional potato mash.

Not only will it fill you up on next to no calories, but the humble cauliflower is high in vitamin C and a host of other vitamins, and boasts great anti-cancer and antioxidant benefits, making it a convenient and healthy choice for those wishing to live a healthy lifestyle.

The nutritional benefits of cauliflower are extremely beneficial to your health; preventing deficiencies linked to everything from poor bone health to poor cognition. The USDA database states that cauliflower, like many brassicas, is high in vitamin C (80% DV per 100g), vital for iron absorption, collagen production and so on, and vitamin K (19% DV), vital for blood clotting and bone health.

Cauliflower is also high in folate and B6. Folate is important for a number of reactions in the body (e.g. DNA synthesis), and it is easy to be deficient in this essential vitamin, so the 14% DV that cauliflower provides is significant.  Vitamin B6 is important for cognition and is essential to digestive and immune health. Cauliflower provides 9% of your DV in just 100g. Remember, 100g is just 25 calories!

Finally, 100g of raw cauliflower (not a lot), provides 6% DV of dietary fibre which is important to the health of the colon and good for lowering cholesterol (see Brussel sprouts). In addition, the sulforaphane in cruciferous vegetables may prevent Heliobacter pylori taking hold in your digestive tract, preventing many gastric problems, potentially even stomach cancer, making cauliflower great for digestive health.

As a cruciferous vegetable cauliflower has anti-cancer and antioxidant properties as mentioned in the ‘Bok Choy’ section.

Brassica intake has been linked with decreased free radical damage, i.e. it has antioxidant effects. Indole-3-carbinol, discussed in the ‘Bok Choy’ section, is a potent antioxidant. Couple that with the fact that vitamin C may have antioxidant properties, means that cauliflower is a potent food for preventing DNA damage and a host of other issues.