Nutrition Facts And Health Benefits Of Eggplant/Brinjal
Hello All!
The eggplant is commonly known as Brinjal in Asia. These are found in a variety of colours apart from its signature deep purple. It is found in variations of green too.
The brinjal falls into the low calorie category of vegetables. It has a good nutrition profile.
Health benefits of brinjal (eggplant)
Including brinjals or eggplants in your diet provides you with a lot of health benefits:
Controls diabetes
Eggplants are low in carbs and are rich in fibre. This makes them helpful in regulating blood sugar levels and controlling glucose absorption. People suffering from type 2 diabetes may find it a good option.
Heart friendly
Eggplants reduce cholesterol levels and they also keep the blood pressure stable. This lowers the chances of heart disease. Eggplants being high in potassium (see table below) prevent coronary heart diseases.
Brain friendly
Eggplant has phytonutrients that help to preserve memory function.
Removes excess iron
Excess of iron is bad for the body. Eggplants are known to help in removing extra iron content present in the body.
Helps in weight loss
High water content and low calories make eggplants ideal for people who want to lose weight.
Helps in digestion
Eggplants have a good fibre content in them. This helps in keeping the digestive system healhy.
Anti bacterial in nature
Being rich in vitamin C, eggplants are anti-bacterial and anti-viral.
Prevents blood clots
Regularly consuming eggplant helps in preventing blood clots. This is due to the presence of bioflavonoids and Vitamin K, which strengthen the capillaries.
Skin friendly
As eggplants have good water content and are rich in vitamins and minerals, they are good for skin health. They also have antioxidants that provide an anti aging effect. One particular antioxidant found in eggplant is known to prevent skin cancer.
Hair friendly
Eggplant rich diet keeps the scalp hydrated, promotes hair growth and improves hair texture.
Nutrition Facts Of Eggplant (brinjal)
The following is the table of the nutrition facts of the eggplant. It is something you can’t eat raw so the nutritional values of cooked unsalted eggplant are provided.
Net carbs-6.23 g
(Source: USDA)
From the above table you can understand that eggplants are low in calories. 100 g of the vegetable gives only 35 calories. It is high in dietary fibre that is 2.5 g per 100 g of the vegetable. It has zero cholesterol in it. Total carbohydrate in the cooked vegetable is just 8.73 g. Protein content is 0.83 g per 100 g. That makes Net Carb almost 6 g… neither very good nor that bad for low carbers.
Coming to essential minerals part, it is rich in potassium, 100 g of the vegetable has 123 mg of potassium in it. It also contains phosphorous, magnesium and calcium.
The vitamins eggplant is primarily rich in vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), B vitamins, vitamin C and folate.
How to cook eggplant?
Frying eggplants is a bad idea as they soak up a lot of oil. No doubt they are tasty when fried but it advisable for weight watchers to have them baked or shallow fried without much of oil.
Hope you found this post useful and you will include eggplants in your diet.
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