What is the food benefit eating bok choy?

Answer 1

Bok choy is one of the most nutrient-dense foods in the world. Not only is bok choy high in vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, and calcium, but it is low in calories. It also contains iron, magnesium, and B vitamins. Bok choy has 28 different polyphenols - antioxidant phytochemicals. Some of these are more concentrated in the leaves, and some in the stems. The most abundant polyphenol in bok choy is kaempferol, a molecule with anti-cancer properties. Sulforaphane, found in cruciferous vegetables including bok choy, inhibits chronic inflammation, the root of many diseases. Sulforaphane also exhibits other anti-cancer and antimicrobial properties. Indole-3-carbinol (I3C), metabolized from a substance called glucobrassicin, found in chopped raw or lightly steamed cruciferous vegetables, including bok choy, is an antioxidant, inhibits cancers of the breast, uterus, colon, lung, and liver, and can stimulate detoxification enzymes in your digestive tract and liver. Like all cruciferous vegetables, more cancer-preventive compounds are produced when bok choy is chopped before cooking.

Bok choy is uniquely beneficial for its calcium availability - bok choy is lower in oxalate, a substance that binds up calcium and prevents it from being absorbed, than most other leafy greens. About 54% of the calcium in bok choy can be absorbed by your body - compare this to 5% in spinach, a high oxalate vegetable, and 32% in milk. You can much more readily absorb calcium from bok choy than from dairy products.