10 Essential Health Benefits of Cabbage, Patta Gobi

ten benefits of cabbage. A common veggie that is available throughout the year, cabbage is something you can’t resist buying at the market! Good thing too, because this tasty veggie is loaded with nutrients that do a world of good to everything from your bowel to your bones. It is a very versatile vegetable that can be used in myriad dishes from varied cuisines, including Indian, oriental and continental. It lends a lovely crunch and appetising aroma to dishes, and is sometimes used instead of onions to lend a similar effect to a dish. Add it to a salad, stir-fry, sandwich or roti, to not only boost the taste and mouth-feel but also effectively top-up on various essential nutrients. Understand more about this seemingly simple, everyday veggie, and derive its health benefits with this mouth-watering recipes...

1. Low calorie :
A serving of cabbage contains only 27 calories and can help you in managing your weight. It provides bulk to your diet and thus promotes satiety helping you to eat lesser in between meals. Therefore, it promotes weight loss. A study found that eating cruciferous vegetables was associated with weight loss in a span of two years ⁽¹⁾. Try Cabbage Kachumber at 41 caloires.  

Cabbage Kachumber

2. Cabbage relieves constipation :
Salads made with vegetables like cabbage, spinach, lettuce will relieve constipation as they provide bulk and helps in easy expulsion of the faeces. A study stated that consuming 20 g/day of concentrated dietary fibre from carrot, cabbage, apple, bran, and guar gum can decrease the mean transit-time through the gut (2). Mini Carrot Cabbage and Buckwheat Pancake is a good example of this. 

Mini Carrot and Cabbage Buckwheat Pancake, Low Salt Recipe

3. Enhances immunity :
Cabbage is a very good source of Vitamin C and vitamin C helps in building immunity and gives great defense against coughs and colds ⁽³⁾. Vitamin C is destroyed with heat, thus it is recommended that you may eat cabbage in salads or lightly sauté to preserve the vitamin C. Try our Cabbage carrot and lettuce salad.

Cabbage, Carrot and Lettuce Salad

4. Cabbage is rich in Antioxidants :
Cabbage has high levels of flavonoids and anthocyanins and has long been used as a herbal medicine. The antioxidants help in removal of harmful substances from our body called free radicals. These free radicals need to be neutralized in the body as they comes in lots of different grades and you need to neutralize that by consuming different antioxidant rich foods. Only one food will not do the trick. But remember to consume a rainbow of colorful vegetables and fruits daily. Learn to combine them into one dish like Vegetable and Basil Soup.

Vegetable and Basil Soup, Healthy Diabetic Recipe

5. Anti-inflammatory :
Antioxidants in the form of Garlicy Cabbage and Spinach Salad lowers the risk of infection and inflammation of the body due to eating processed foods. A study conducted on cabbage indicates that it can be used for the treatment of skin inflammation and that it has anti-inflammatory properties ⁽⁴⁾.

Garlicky Cabbage and Spinach Salad

6. Good for diabetics :
Cabbage has a very low Glycemic Index (GI) with a rank of 10. GI indicates of how quickly the carbohydrates will raise the blood glucose levels. A study conducted on cabbage has shown beneficial hypoglycemic influence in both experimental animals and diabetic humans ⁽⁵⁾. Cabbage Stir-fry with only 3.7 g of carbs is best suited for diabetics. 

Cabbage Stir Fry

7. Important for women’s health :
As Cabbage and other Cruciferous Vegetables are rich in Indoles they maintain Estrogen balances ⁽⁶⁾. Estrogen hormone is more important to women and also called the female sex hormone which is crucial for reproductive and sexual development. Try Cabbage and Moong Dal Salad.

Cabbage and Moong Dal Salad

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8. Consume for a healthy heart :
Cabbage is a heart friendly vegetable, as the phytochemicals present in cabbage have been shown to prevent heart related diseases like atherosclerosis ⁽⁷⁾ and a decrease in mortality due to cardiovascular disease was observed ⁽⁸⁾. Try our heart friendly recipe Oats and Cabbage Roti, which will help to reduce the bad cholesterol in your body.

Oats and Cabbage Roti

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9. Chemo protective :
Cruciferous vegetables are found to have chemopreventive effects due to the presence of sulfur-containing phytochemicals. Indole-3-carbinol, has shown inhibitory effects in studies of human breast and ovarian cancers ⁽⁹⁾. Cruciferous vegetables are found to decrease the risks of prostate cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer and bladder cancer ^{(10), (11), (12), (13), (14)}. Try Sprouted Moong Salad at snack time.

Sprouted Moong Salad

10. Vitamin K Rich :
Cabbage is rich in Vitamin K which is good for bone metabolism. Bone metabolism is a continuous process where mature bone tissue is removed from the skeleton and replaced by new tissue. When injuries occur to the bone like fractures or bruises, then Vitamin K kicks in to heal the injury. Vitamin K prevents loss of bone density and preventing the onset of Osteoporosis ⁽¹⁵⁾. Vitamin K also plays an important role in blood clotting as it helps in clotting of wound and prevents bleeding ⁽¹⁶⁾. Try Cabbage and Dal Paratha, it has vitamin K from Cabbage and protein from moong dal. 

Cabbage and Dal Parathas

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Nutrition Information for Cabbage, Patta Gobi

Nutritional Information for 1 cup Chopped Cabbage
One cup of Chopped Cabbage is 88 grams.
RDA stands for Recommended Daily Allowance.
24 Calories
1.58 grams of Protein
4.04 grams of Carbs
0.08 grams of Fat

See full nutritional details of cabbage in Cabbage, Patta Gobi glossary click here.

About Red Cabbage

Also called as purple cabbage, it is evident from its colour that it is filled with more antioxidants. Red cabbage has slightly high levels of flavonoids and anthocyanins than green cabbage and has long been used as a herbal medicine.

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It has same health benefits to offer as the cabbage otherwise. Red Cabbage is low in calories, relieves constipation, good for diabetics. Rich in Antioxidants in turn lowers the risk of infection and inflammation of the body due to eating processed foods. The vitamin C and the sulfur compounds in the cabbage have been linked to powerful cancer-fighting benefits. The vitamin C can also help in the better absorption of calcium and thus help in bone strength. See our healthy recipe of matki salad that uses red cabbage. 

Matki Salad, Healthy Moath Bean Salad

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Healthy Cabbage Recipe

Since, now you know the number of health benefits cabbage has to offer. You would definitely want to include them in your daily diet. Replace your regular roti with this fibre rich Oats and Cabbage Roti enjoy it with a subzi of your choice. For kids you can prepare several delicious and healthy pancakes with cabbage like Mini Carrot and Cabbage Buckwheat Pancake and Cabbage Pancakes Mini Cabbage Pancakes.

Cabbage Pancakes, Mini Cabbage Pancakes, Quick Pancakes

Here are some low calorie yummilicious sabzi recipes for those who are trying to control their weight, Cabbage Thoren, Cabbage and Cucumber Dry Sabzi and Cabbage Stir Fry. To boost your antioxidant levels you should eat Cabbage Salad, Cabbage Carrot and Lettuce Salad and Cabbage and Moong Dal Salad.

Cabbage Salad

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