An average cup (88g) of broccoli contains 2.5 grams of protein and only 31 calories.

We are living in a FastTrack world, where everything is going at an amazingly fast pace. To cope with the pace of the world, humans are turning themselves into machines. Machines that work 24/7. An average human works for more than 60% of his life.

With increasing pollution, life expectancy is decreasing year by year. So, we must keep ourselves fit enough to survive in this world. The Best ways to keep ourselves fit are exercising daily, eating healthy food and living a balanced life.

In today’s world, exercising can help our mind and body in so many ways. It helps in reducing weight, risk of developing a disease like high blood pressure, obesity, type two diabetes. It can also increase your life span if you do it on a regular basis. But, for most of us, doing exercise is not possible because our work schedules do not allow us to engage our time to any other physical work.

We can counter this situation of not able to take out time for exercise by giving our importance to the food we eat. It may sound weird, but our eating habits decides our living period. By eating healthy food, one can not only live long enough but, they could remain healthy for a long time also. Taking a diet full of proteins, vitamins and minerals can create wonders in your life. This will require a diet plan that suits your lifestyle.

Non-vegetarian food contains very high amount of protein in comparison to vegetarian food. But, it also contains a significant amount of fats and carbohydrates and requires almost double time than vegetarian food. As most of us already do not have enough time to work out, it is not very wise to keep on eating food that requires a significant amount of physical work to digest.

Vegetables and fruits have so many health benefits as they are easy to digest, easy to prepare, full of vitamins and minerals. Eating healthy food reduces risk of most of the diseases. Vegetables are full of nutrients like fibers, health amino acids, proteins, vitamins, minerals, folic acids and many more. These nutrients help our body in so many ways, as they increase our metabolism, vitamins helps in keeping our body away from diseases etc.

One such vegetable is broccoli, protein in broccoli is found in abundance and it is full of other nutrients also. Broccoli contains fiber, vitamins K & vitamin C, it is full of iron and its main component is protein.

Here, in this article we’ll take a look about the nutrition value of broccoli and it’s protein.

Importance of Protein

Protein should be the most important ingredient in your diet. A healthy diet contains ample amount of protein in it. Our body requires protein, as it repairs and build our tissues. Other body chemicals like hormones and enzymes need protein to form. Protein is one of the most important building block of muscles, skin, bones, blood and cartilage. Our nails and hairs are mostly made up of protein. Few more points will help in understanding the importance of Protein in a better way;

  • Protein increases strength and muscle mass
    As we all know that eating helps in boosting metabolism of our body as nutrients available in food are used by our body. These phenomena are called TEF (thermic effect of food). Protein has higher TEF then carbohydrates and fats. Taking high amount of protein boost metabolism and increases the rate of calorie burning, that results in burning of body fats.
  • Protein reduces cravings, appetite and hunger levels
    Protein is a stodgy food. Taking protein in high amount make you feel fuller than carbs and fats. Intake of protein reduces the level of hunger hormone, ghrelin and helps in increasing levels of peptide YY (hormone which helps in feeling full from inside). This reduces your urge to eat frequently. This helps in creating a proper schedule for your diet intake.
  • Good for bones and lowers blood pressure
    People over the time have said that protein is not good for your bones and it deteriorates the bone density. This is said because acid load is increased in the body when you take proteins and to neutralize that acid, calcium leaches from your bones. However, this myth has busted by the researchers and it is quite evident now that intake of proteins helps in keeping bone density and mass. High Protein diet reduces bad cholesterol from body and because of that blood pressure lowers.
  • Helps in weight loss and keeps you fit as you grow old
    As we all know that protein boosts metabolism and decrease cravings for eating food on a regular basis, this helps in loosing weight. When you start taking high protein diets, your overall intake of food becomes less. This results in loosing weight. As we grow up, our bone density decreases and as a result of that our bone becomes weak. Intake of protein helps in reducing the bone deterioration. Protein helps in increasing the rate of recovery after any injury as it is the primary component in tissues and organs. So, intake of more protein makes the recovery of the wound or injury faster than usual.

Nutrition facts and health benefits of Broccoli

Broccoli is a member of the Brassicaceae family and is a cruciferous vegetable like cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts and cabbage. These vegetables are full of nutrients and are mainly known for their remunerative effects on our health. Protein in broccoli is found in very high amount.

Broccoli contains vitamin K, vitamin C, fibers, potassium, iron and most importantly have a high amount of protein than most of the other vegetables. This vegetable can be taken in both of its cooked and raw form. But if you want to take the most out of it, try it with some normal steaming.

This veggie helps in protecting your body against disease like cancer and has several other health benefits, which we will take a look as we’ll go further in this article.

Nutrition available in Broccoli

The main reason behind the popularity of broccoli is that it does not contain any amount of fats. A raw broccoli has as much as 90% of water, 7% of carbohydrates and 3% of protein. Broccoli only provides 31 calories (91 grams) per cup.

One cup of broccoli contains following nutrients;

  • 31 Calories
  • 2.5 grams of Protein
  • 89% of Water
  • 1.5 grams of Sugar
  • 6 grams of Carbohydrates
  • 0.4% of Fat
  • 2.4 grams of Fiber

To better understand the nutrition value present in broccoli, here is a brief look at the various components of this vegetable.

Carbohydrates in Broccoli

The main components of carbohydrates in broccoli are its sugars and fibers. Glucose, sucrose, fructose and small amounts of maltose and lactose are the sugars present in it. Broccoli has very low carbs per cup in comparison with other vegetables, as only 3.5 grams of carbohydrates are available.

Protein in Broccoli

High amount of protein available in the broccoli is the main reason for the popularity of this vegetable in comparison with others. Protein occupies almost 29% of the weight of a raw broccoli. However, only 3 grams of protein is available in a cup of broccoli due to its high-water content.

Fiber in Broccoli

Fiber helps in weight loss and also provides a good guy health and that is why it is essential in your everyday diet. 91 grams of raw broccoli contains 2.3 grams fiber. This helps in reducing the risk of many diseases.

Iron in Broccoli

Iron is very important mineral for your body, it is responsible for many functions in our body. The transportation of oxygen in RBC (red blood cells) is one of the functions of iron mineral.

Vitamins and Minerals in Broccoli

Broccoli has a very rich variety of minerals and vitamins like potassium, folate (vitamin B9), manganese, iron, and vitamins K1 and vitamin C.

  • Vitamin K1
    It is responsible for increasing bone density and mass and is also important for clotting of blood, broccoli contains an extremely high amount of it. Vitamin K1 increases the thickness of the blood.
  • Vitamin C
    It helps in improving the immune system and improves skin health. It works as an antioxidant. A half cup of broccoli gives 70% of the daily value of vitamin C. It is required in the repair of the damaged or broken tissues. This vitamin also work as an antioxidant.
  • Folate (vitamin B9)
    This vitamin is required for cell functioning and normal tissue growth. It is greatly beneficial for pregnant women. This vitamin helps in the formation of DNA and RNA. B9 is also involved in increasing protein metabolism.
  • Potassium
    Potassium protects from any potential heart disease and also controls the blood pressure of the body. Potassium also protects from osteoporosis (a situation in which new bone creation slows down) and also prevents kidney stones.

Apart from these, broccoli also contains various other vitamins and minerals in smaller quantities. It has all the essentials you need in your daily diet.

Other plant compounds

There are some other compounds and antioxidants available in broccoli, which benefits your health. They are;

  • Sulforaphane
    This compound can be found in broccoli in abundance. Sulforaphane protects human body against several kinds of cancer.
  • Indole-3-carbinol
    Just like sulforaphane, indoel-3-carbinol also protects our body against cancer.
  • Kaempferol
    Kaempferol is an antioxidant. It is helpful in protecting us from allergies, cancer, inflammation and heart disease.
  • Carotenoids
    This compound is helpful in providing better health to our eyes as it contains zeaxanthin, luten and beta carotene, which are needed for better eye health.
  • Quercetin
    This antioxidant has several benefits. Quercetin helps in lowering down the blood pressure.

Health benefits of broccoli

The main health benefit of this vegetable is that it protects us from so many deadly diseases like cancer, low cholesterol levels, thyroid problems, blood thinners and eye health. Broccoli has so many vitamins and minerals which helps our body to fight against these diseases. Our immune system becomes much stronger than before if we start taking broccoli into our daily diets.

We’ll take a brief look at how broccoli prevents us from these diseases;

Cancer prevention

The main reason behind this disease is the clotting of cells at a rapid rate in any of our inner organ, which creates a tumor and then causes cancer. Broccoli has those compounds and antioxidants that are responsible for protecting our body against this disease. Studies across the globe suggests that if someone is taking cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, then the risk of many cancers like lung, breast, prostate, colorectal, pancreatic and gastric cancers are reduced up to a considerable extent.

Cruciferous vegetables have the unique plant compounds, namely isothiocyanates, which separates it from other vegetables. According to the studies, isothiocyanates reduces oxidative stress, stimulates our immune system, decrease inflammation, affect liver enzymes and prevents the growth of cancer in our blood cells. The most abundant compound which is found in broccoli, sulforaphane is an isothiocyanates which reduces the formation of oxidation stress at a molecular level.

There are supplements of broccoli available in the market, but none of them provide an amount which is equal to isothiocyanates in a fresh broccoli. So, you should always go for the fresh one instead of looking for the supplements.

Lower cholesterol levels

Cholesterol is a main component in the formation of bile acids that helps us in digestion. Liver is the origin place of bile acids, they are stored in our gallbladder, and whenever we consume fats, it is released into our digestive system. After that, these acids are absorbed by our blood streams and used again for the same process. It is quite clear now that cholesterol performs many important functions in our body.

Compounds and antioxidants available in broccoli mixes with bile acids in our gut, which results in increased excretion and prevention against reuse of them. After this process, new bile acids were formed from cholesterol. Due to this effect, the risk of heart disease and cancer reduces in our body. To reduce cholesterol levels in one’s body, steamed broccoli is suggested.

Eye health

Eyesight also becomes weaker with increasing age. There are two main carotenoids available in broccoli, zeaxanthin and lutein, which can decrease the eye related issues with increasing age. Lack of vitamin A could cause night blindness, which can be prevented if vitamin A is taken properly. Broccoli contains compounds like beta carotene, that our body can convert into vitamin A. This can help those, who have deficiency of vitamin A.

Thyroid problems

This vegetable is considered as a goitrogen, which can trouble the person with thyroid problems. However, cooking this vegetable on a high temperature reduces the risk factor from it.

Blood thinners

Broccoli contains a high amount of vitamin K1, which is responsible for blood clotting. People who are on medication of blood thinners must consult their doctors before increasing their dosage of this vegetable, as it may cause damage to them. Although, broccoli is highly tolerable but, consulting your physician or doctor is the way to go.

Protein Takeway:
protein in broccoli

Broccoli is remarkably high in many nutrients like fibers, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and proteins in broccoli are found in abundance. When we compare broccoli to other vegetables in consideration with the amount of nutrients it possesses, it clearly stands above from the rest. Broccoli has various health benefits and prevents us from many dangerous diseases like cancer (lungs, breast, prostate, colorectal, pancreatic and gastric), eye health issues, helps in keeping cholesterol level to a lower side and many others. It is also one of the most used and popular vegetables across the globe. The presence of antioxidants and plant compounds like sulforaphane, indole-3-carbinol, carotenoids, kaempferol and quercetin adds to its health benefits.

People can add broccoli to their daily diets and can see the changes it makes within a few weeks. It is a good option for vegetarians for their requirement of protein as protein in broccoli is found in extraordinarily rich quantity. The fact that it is easy to digest makes it popular among kids and aged people. One of the main advantages of consuming broccoli is that you do not gain a lot of fats with it. You can cut your fats with adding this veggie to your diet. Broccoli increases the bone density and muscle mass of your body. Adding broccoli to your diet not only completes your need for the protein, it is also a much cheaper option if you are searching for a food item that covers most bases in terms of nutrients.

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