Health Benefits Of Celery – Scientifically Proven Facts About The Most Powerful Herb!

Adding celery into your regular diet can keep your heart healthy, support good digestion, prevent cancer and also reduce inflammation. Not just this, celery health benefits also include a healthy weight loss and the stabilization of blood pressure.

You will be surprised to know that the healing properties of the herbaceous plant are not only confined to the leaves but also to the stalk and seeds of celery.

Well, if you are a cooking pro, you cannot refrain from adding a rich flavour to your side courses by garnishing them with celery, parsley or cilantro! But, how do you differentiate between the three herbs which look alike?

Difference Between Celery, Parsley, And Cilantro!

Although celery, parsley, and cilantro belong to the same family, all the three are different and vary in terms of their culinary use.

Celery leaves are short, oblong and hard in texture, are medially green whereas parsley leaves are dark green in colour. Cilantro leaves, on the other hand, are light green in colour!

Edibility

While the use of parsley and cilantro is just pertained to garnishing purpose, celery adds a rich taste and flavour to the food. Unlike parsley and cilantro, the stalks, seeds and also essential oils of celery are edible apart from just the leaves.

Origin

Celery, scientifically known as Apium graveolens belongs to the family Apiaceae and is believed to have originated in England and France. Parsley originated from Mediterranean lands and cilantro originated from parts of Europe and Asia.

Top 10 Health Benefits Of Celery – How Is Celery Good For You?

The rich antioxidant power and the presence of various vitamins and minerals in celery make it the best food that keeps up your health by benefitting in several ways!

The major health benefits are due to the presence of certain antioxidant compounds like caffeic acid, ferulic acid, tannin, saponin, Kaempferol, coumaric acid and apigenin apart from some important vitamins and minerals. 1

1. Celery benefits for Weight Loss

Including celery into your regular diet can reduce your hunger pangs! This is because of the presence of dietary fibre in the herb.

Dietary fibres let you slow down while chewing food so that excess food is not consumed at a single go.

A study conducted on the intake of celery leaves, mixed along with chicory leaves and barley grains has proved that it resulted in weight loss. 2

Also, celery is extremely low in calories. Consuming as much as one cup chopped (101 grams) does not give you more than 16 calories.

Most of the vegetable is stuffed with water. So, this can keep your bowel movement regular and also suppress your appetite.

Celery helps in weight loss but also keeps up your bone strength. This is because of the high amounts of vitamin K that celery offers!

What more? You can start your breakfast with a glass of celery juice and also rely on the stalks for slowing down your chewing process.

But as far as the research says, consuming celery juice might not give you fibres. So, celery benefits for weight loss can be utilized by consuming the stalks and leaves in their raw or cooked form rather than consuming celery juice.

2. Keeps Your Heart Healthy And Risk-Free

Researches have indicated that the consumption of vegetables like tomatoes, broccoli, lettuce, celery, soybeans, asparagus and potatoes helps in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.3

The presence of huge amounts of phytochemicals in the vegetables particularly celery is what makes it a heart-healthy food to be consumed.

Although celery is not a rich source of potassium, it offers a good amount of the mineral fulfilling 8% of daily potassium requirement.

According to national institutes of health, consuming too low levels of potassium can increase the risk of heart strokes and high blood pressure. 4

A diet low in potassium might also cause an excessive building up of calcium in the arteries causing stiffness which further leads to atherosclerosis.

Consumption of celery is also associated with low levels of bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides. 5

3. Cleanses Your Liver

If your diet is loaded with heavily processed foods and too much of alcohol, there is enough evidence that you have been inviting a large number of toxins into your body!

There is an immediate need for you to revamp your diet and start including some best foods that can cleanse your liver.

Celery is one of the best foods that can cleanse your liver, the other foods including asparagus, buckwheat, amaranth, Chinese chive, dandelions, hazelnuts, kiwis, papaya, squash and yam. 6

A prominent reason why celery works as the best detoxifying agent is its production of certain enzymes which can flush out the bodily toxins, thereby keeping the liver clean and healthy.

But, it is always the best choice to prepare your own celery juice at home instead of relying on the processed juice from the stores!

4. Celery Can Prevent And Treat Jaundice

One of the unique and popular health benefits of celery is its ability to cure jaundice.

Jaundice occurs when there are excess amounts of bilirubin in your liver. Bilirubin is produced when red blood cells breakdown.

The pigment imparts yellowish colour but when excess bilirubin is produced, it results in jaundice, the symptoms which show yellowish discolouration of eyes, discoloured urine and faeces.

Studies have proven that consuming the combination of apiaceous vegetables (such as celery) and cruciferous vegetables can result in a decrease of bilirubin levels in the blood.7

Consumption of celery juice when suffering from jaundice can help in improving the efficacy of liver functioning, thereby helping in a quick recovery.

5. Benefits of Eating Celery for Urinary Tract Infections

Urinary tract infections are more common in women than in men which is why a proper awareness is essential to prevent the most annoying and painful infection.

According to affiliated urologists, 40% of women get infected with UTI whereas 12% of men get infected with the same. 8

One best way to keep yourself away from UTIs is to drink a lot of fluids so that bacteria gets flushed away from your urinary tract since you urinate too often. 9

Cranberry juice is primarily the best fluid that prevents UTI but the intake of vegetables like celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, legumes, asparagus, onion, corn can also keep you away from UTIs.10

Celery, in particular, is anti-inflammatory and antibacterial in nature which can reduce the major symptom of the disease which is inflammation and the bacterial invasion.

6. Celery – Best Natural Remedy For Gout

Gout is a type of arthritis, which causes inflammation and pain in the joints.

Gout is exactly caused due to excess levels of uric acid in the blood, which further gets crystallized in the joints causing tenderness, redness, swelling and excruciating pain.

People suffering from gout have to keep a check on their diet and avoid those foods which increase the levels of uric acid in the blood.

Celery works as the best remedy for gout since it is anti-inflammatory in nature. It can reduce the physical symptoms of pain and inflammation.

Not just this, celery can also inhibit the xanthine oxidase activity which is majorly responsible for causing the production of uric acid in the blood. 11

You can consume celery sticks, celery seeds and also relish the juice to get rid of gout.

7. Rheumatic Disorders

Rheumatic arthritis is characterized by inflammation and pain, most commonly witnessed in the old and elderly. A weaker bone density and lack of proper bone-strengthening nutrients are what causes rheumatic disorders.

Celery is a good source of phytonutrients and phytochemicals which can reduce the pain and inflammation, thereby providing a soothing effect.

It is the presence of special compounds like caffeic acid, ferulic acid and quercetin in celery that helps in the treatment of rheumatic disorders. 12

Also, a diet too low in potassium is known to cause bone related disorders like rheumatoid arthritis. Celery is the best provider of Potassium with just one cup chopped helping you meet 37% of your daily potassium requirement.

8. Benefits of Eating Celery for Male Fertility

An excessive consumption of alcohol causes a deficiency in the production of testosterone hormone. Celery, on the other hand, can increase the sperm count, thereby preventing any chances of infertility.

The benefit is primarily due to the antioxidant nature of the herb. Studies have also proven the activity of celery extract on increased chances of fertility but there is not enough evidence to prove the point. 13

9. Health Benefits Of Celery For Diabetics

Celery is too low in digestible carbohydrates which makes it the best food for diabetics. People suffering from diabetes need to keep a check on their diet since the carbohydrates which get digested too fast can cause blood glucose spikes. 14

The glycemic index of celery is just 15. Glycemic index is used to represent the ability of the food’s carbohydrates to get digested in the blood.

The lower is the glycemic index, more is the benefit since it does not cause any spikes in blood sugar levels.

Experiments have proved that celery leaf extract could reduce the insulin levels before and after the meals. 15

10. Celery Reduces Inflammation

Inflammation is usually referred to as our body’s response to injury. It is our body’s response to repair the damage that has already occurred by sending tissues as a defence against the microbes that have entered the body.

Chronic inflammation makes you susceptible to numerous diseases like asthma, heart diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune disorders.

The only way to address such complicated issues is to control the inflammation so that the root cause is diminished first.

Celery is especially known for its anti-inflammatory nature which makes it one of the supreme foods that one must include in their diet. 16

11. Benefits Of Celery For Skin

Celery is filled with a rich water content which makes it the best food keeping up your skin health. This prevents skin from getting dried and flaky.

Celery is also a rich source of potassium which can keep your blood purified. Also, vitamin C can contribute to your skin health because of its antioxidant properties.

The major credit, however, goes to the rich antioxidant properties of the herb which can fight the free radicals and keep your skin healthy.

A continuous free radical activity damages the skin texture, resulting in the quick development of wrinkles and fine lines.

Regular consumption of celery juice and celery seeds can also keep you away from chronic skin disorders like psoriasis.

Celery Nutrition Facts

Vitamins in 1 cup chopped celery (101 grams)

Celery is the best source of Vitamin K with 37% RDA, followed by good amounts of folate, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B6, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, and vitamin E.

Minerals in 1 cup chopped celery (101 grams)

Potassium fulfils 8%RDA, followed by manganese, calcium, sodium, magnesium, phosphorous, copper, zinc, selenium and Iron.

Calories

There are not more than 16 calories in 1 cup of chopped celery which is around 101 grams.

Dietary fibres account to 1.6 grams in the same quantity with 6% RDA.

Proteins

The total amount of proteins in 1 cup of chopped celery do not fulfil more than 1% RDA of proteins since there are only 0.7 grams in the specified quantity.

One cup of celery (chopped and 101 grams) contains the following nutrients

Vitamins	Grams	%DV (Percentage of daily requirement that it meets)
Viatmin A	453 IU	9%
Vitamin C	3.1 mg	5 %
Vitamin E	0.3 mg	1 %
Vitamin K	29.6 mcg	37 %
Thiamin	0.0 mg	1 %
Riboflavin	0.1 mg	3%
Vitamin B6	0.1 mg	4%
Niacin	0.3 mg	2%
Folate	36.4 mcg	9%
Choline	6.2 mg
Pantothenic acid	0.1 mg
Minerals	Grams	%DV (Percentage of daily requirement that it meets)
Calcium	40.4 mg	4%
Iron	0.2 mg	1%
Magnesium	11.1 mg	3%
Phosphorous	24.2 mg	2%
Potassium	263 mg	8%
Sodium	80.8 mg	3%
Zinc	0.1 mg	1%
Copper	0.0 mg	2%
Manganese	0.1 mg	5%
Selenium	0.4 mcg	1%
Other elements	Grams	%DV (Percentage of daily requirement that it meets)
Carbohyrdates	3.5 grams	1%
Proteins	0.7 grams	1%
Fats	0.2 grams	0

Bottom Line

Although celery belongs to the same family as that of parsley and cilantro, it has some distinct and superficial advantages like prevention of chronic disorders like psoriasis, protection of heart health, reduction of inflammation, promotion of weight loss, prevention of Urinary tract infections and jaundice, improvement of fertility, prevention of gout, treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and improvement of blood glucose levels.

All the amazing health benefits of celery are due to some amazing celery nutrition facts apart from the presence of rich phytochemical compounds which carry antioxidant properties.

Celery is a good source of vitamin K and other vital nutrients that our body requires for healthy functioning.