There’s nothing quite as crisp and refreshing as a tall glass of water with sliced cucumbers and a squeeze of lemon. Aesthetics aside, you may be wondering do cucumbers offer any real health benefits? Like any fruit or vegetable, eating cucumbers provides a variety of health benefits as they are super nutritious.
What Are Cucumbers
Though commonly thought of as a vegetable, cucumbers are a fruit. Cucumbers belong to the same family as melons and squashes. There are two ways in which cucumbers are consumed, either sliced, diced, and eaten raw, or pickled, for eventual processing into pickles.
Cucumbers are super nutritious and loaded with powerful bioactive compounds and antioxidants including cucurbitacins, cucumegastigmanes I and II, cucumerin A and B, vitexin, orientin, and more [R].
Cucumber Nutrition
Cucumber is naturally low in calories and heavily dense in water making them an ideal choice to help with satiation and hydration, which can help support weight loss.
Cucumbers contain robust amounts of vitamins and nutrients, including potassium, fiber, magnesium, manganese, vitamins A, C, and K. Cucumber seeds contain a wide variety of phytonutrients, including both carotenoids and flavonoids.
Cucumber contains different types of flavonoids such as apigenin, diosmetin, fisetin, luteolin, quercetin, kaempferol, luteolin, naringenin, theaflavanoside I, and vicenin. It also contains different types lignans pinoresinol, lariciresinol and secoisolariciresinol and triterpenes like cucurbitacin A, cucurbitacin B, cucurbita- cin C, cucurbitacin D [R].
One cup or 104g of raw cucumbers contain
- Calories 16
- Protein 1g
- Fat 0g
- Carbohydrates 4g
- Vitamin K 19% DV
- Molybdenum 12% DV
- Pantothenic Acid 5% DV
- Copper 4% DV
- Phosphorus 4% DV
- Vitamin C 4% DV
- Biotin 3% DV
- Vitamin B1 3% DV
- Potassium 3% DV
- Magnesium 3% DV
- Manganese 3% DV
Health Benefits of Eating Cucumbers
Cucumbers have a wide variety of potential therapeutic uses and health benefits. Eating cucumbers can benefit and reduce swelling of your eyes on a day at the spa, provide better hydration, and aid in digestion.
1. Cucumbers May Help Hydration
Cucumbers are 96% water, making them a great fruit to help with getting more water and hydration into your daily diet. Staying hydrated is crucial for optimal health and athletic performance. Water helps flush toxins and carry nutrients to your cells for muscle contraction and function, and helps metabolism.
While you meet most of your fluid intake by drinking water, some may get up to 40% of their total water intake from food such as fruit and vegetables [R].
2. Cucumbers Help Blood Pressure
Another health benefit of eating cucumbers is that they are a great source of potassium, magnesium, and fiber. Studies have shown that these nutrients all help keep your blood pressure in check, thus reducing the risk of heart disease. High blood pressure can damage your arteries by making them less elastic, which decreases the flow of blood and oxygen to your heart and leads to heart disease. Moreover, decreased blood flow to the heart can cause, chest pain, also called angina. Adding some cucumber to your diet can help add valuable nutrients and fiber to reduce your blood pressure.
3. Cucumbers Help Digestion
Cucumbers act as a coolant for the stomach. The soluble fiber helps slow digestion, while the water content can help soften stool, which provides a great combination for digestion. Dehydration is a major risk of constipation. A benefit of eating cucumbers is can help you stay hydrated and promote regularity since they are loaded with water.
4. Cucumbers May Aid Weight Loss
Eating cucumbers can benefit and aid in weight loss. Water-rich fruit can promote satiation, supporting weight loss by reducing appetite and keeping you full. Cucumbers are also naturally very low in calories and contain soluble fiber, which slows digestion. Therefore, by adding cucumbers to your yogurt, salad, or smoothies, the added water and fiber can help increase feelings of fullness aiding in greater weight loss.
Health Benefits of Eating Cucumbers: Takeaway
With a fresh, clean, and refreshing taste, cucumbers can add a whole lot more health benefits than just being used for your eyes next to your avocado mask. Cucumbers are low in calories and high in water. They are packed with phytonutrients that can help aid in digestion and hydration, helping with weight loss and reducing your chance of heart disease. Adding more fruit and veggies to your diet will help with a healthy aging process, reducing your chance for chronic disease, and helping improve overall health and wellness. Add some cucumbers to your yogurt, or make a tasty and crisp tomato and cucumber salad. Either way, cucumbers are an incredibly versatile addition to any diet and can benefit your health and wellness.
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Walter Hinchman
Walter Hinchman is the Founder and CEO of Swolverine. He is a NESTA and ACE certified trainer and holds a Masters Degree in Business and in Finance and Economics.
