Background Info
Kale is a leafy green vegetable that belongs to the Brassica family, a group of vegetables including cabbage, collards and Brussels sprouts that have gained recent widespread attention due to their health promoting, sulfur-containing phytonutrients.
For a green, kale is unusually high in fiber. This helps create the bulk you need to fill you up and to keep you full for a good amount of time. Kale is also an excellent source of nutrients, especially vitamin A and calcium. With a combination of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, kale is a dieter's dream food.
Benefits
Kale is particularly rich in beta-carotene (which protects against diseases of the skin) and the carotenoid lutein (which prevents damage to the eyes), with seven times the beta-carotene and ten times the lutein fellow Brassica family member broccoli contains. Kale's vitamin content is also exceptional. Just one cup of raw kale contains 15% of the recommended daily value of calcium and Vitamin B6, 40% of the magnesium,180% of the Vitamin A, 200% of the Vitamin C and a whopping 1020% of the Vitamin K. The boost in immune support and antioxidant protection provided by these vitamins could help ward off the colds and flus of the season and perhaps even more serious diseases.
It's the organosulfur compounds in this food that have been main subject of phytonutrient research, and these include the glucosinolates and the methyl cysteine sulfoxides. Although there are over 100 different glucosinolates in plants, only 10-15 are present in kale and other Brassicas. Yet these 10-15 glucosinolates appear able to lessen the occurrence of a wide variety of cancers, including breast and ovarian cancers.
Sulforaphane, which is formed when cruciferous vegetables such as kale are chopped or chewed, triggers the liver to produce enzymes that detoxify cancer-causing chemicals, inhibits chemically-induced breast cancers in animal studies, induces colon cancer cells to commit suicide.
References
Health Benefits of Kale...A Powerful Antioxidant Packed with Vitamins