Red Cabbage Microgreens Are Healthier For Your Heart

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In a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Thomas T.Y. Wang and his team have found that the red cabbage microgreens are much more effective in reducing the levels of 'bad cholesterol' in mice on high-fat diet. It is highly likely that eating baby veggies is healthier for our heart and body than eating full-grown or mature vegetables.

Till now, eating green vegetables counted as a healthy food habit. Microgreens refer to seedlings of edible plants and herbs that are often grown indoors and are harvested within one or two weeks. Normally served at high-end restaurants only as a garnish, recent food trends show that over 40 types of microgreens are now being grown at homes across the United States.

According to DiamondBack, the USDA research plant physiologist Gene Lester and his colleagues found that the microgreens may have up to 40 times more nutrients and vitamins than their matured counterparts. Leser said, "The finding was completely shocking. We were aware that greener vegetables tend to be better, but we did not expect them to be so nutrient-dense."

High levels of LDL cholesterol can cause heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular diseases. The nutritional benefits of red cabbage, as published by WHFoods, go on to reveal that researchers already knew that mature red cabbage can significantly reduce levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol which is bad for our heart.

Wang and his team hypothesized that red cabbage microgreens can be even more beneficial mature red cabbage. They took 60 mice with diet-induced obesity and divided them into six feeding groups:

• Group 1 was put on a low-fat diet,
• Group 2 was put on a high-fat diet,
• Group 3 was put on a low-fat diet with red cabbage microgreens,
• Group 4 was put on a high-fat diet with red cabbage microgreens,
• Group 5 was put on a low-fat diet with mature red cabbage, and
• Group 6 was put on a high-fat diet with mature red cabbage.

They observed that mice fed with red cabbage (mature or microgreens) exhibited less weight gain, even with high-fat diet; and a drop in the LDL cholesterol levels in the liver. Red cabbage microgreens were found to more effective in lowering the cholesterol. It was also seen that the microgreens lowered the levels of triglycerides in the liver too - making them healthier for the heart.