10 Benefits of Celery + Nutrition Facts and Recipes

10 Benefits of Celery Nutrition Facts and Recipes

Celery, which has the scientific name Apium graveolens, is a vegetable in the plant family called Apiaceae. The benefits of celery begin with it being an excellent source of antioxidants and beneficial enzymes, in addition to vitamins and minerals such as vitamin K, vitamin C, potassium, folate and vitamin B6.

Administered as an anti-hypertensive agent in folk medicine for centuries, celery continues to prove that there are many cardiovascular benefits. In recent pharmacological studies, celery demonstrates both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities that help improve blood pressure and cholesterol levels, as well as prevent heart disease.

Celery also provides dietary fiber â?? especially when you eat more than one cup at a time â?? that boosts digestion and weight loss. In addition, celeryâ??s high percentage of water and electrolytes can prevent dehydration, and special compounds help celery to act as a diuretic and reduce bloating. As a supplier of antioxidant flavonoids and polyphenol phytonutrients, other significant benefits of celery include its ability to improve liver, skin, eye and cognitive health.

Benefits of Celery, Plus Nutrition Facts and Recipes

Most people choose to eat celery stalks, but the leaves and seeds of celery are also edible and beneficial. For example, celery leaves make a great addition to stir-fries and soups.

Celery seeds â?? which can be found either in whole seed form, extract form or ground-up â?? have impressive health benefits on their own, as they help to lower inflammation and to fight bacterial infections. In some parts of the world, celery is grown primarily for its beneficial seeds, which are actually a very small type of fruit. Celery seeds are commonly used as a spice when crushed and contain a special oily compound called apiol that is used as a flavoring agent and for its many medicinal uses.

Celery Nutrition Facts

One cup of chopped celery has:

(percentages based on the RDA for adult women)

16 calories
0 fat
1 gram of protein
5 grams of fiber
5 milligrams vitamin K (37%)
36 milligrams folate (9%)
22 milligrams vitamin A (9%)
263 milligrams potassium (8%)
1 milligrams vitamin C (5%)
40 milligrams calcium (4%)
0.08 milligrams vitamin B6 (4%)

Top Health Benefits of Celery

1. Helps Lower High Cholesterol

Benefits of celery include its cholesterol-lowering power that make it useful for improving or maintaining heart health. Celery contains a unique compound called 3-n-butylphthalide (BuPh) that has previously been reported to have lipid-lowering action, but researchers believe celery has many other other beneficial compounds that are still emerging in research.

In a study conducted by the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Singapore, when rats were fed a high-fat diet for eight weeks, rats that had been given celery extract showed significantly lower levels of lipids in their blood compared to the control group of rats that didnâ??t receive celery extract.

The group supplementing with celery extract experienced a beneficial reduction in serum total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and triglyceride (TG) concentrations.

2. Lowers Inflammation

Celery contains antioxidants and polysaccharides that are known to act as anti-inflammatories, especially flavonoid and polyphenol antioxidants. These support overall health, especially as someone ages, by fighting free-radical damage (or oxidative stress) that can lead to inflammation. Inflammation is often a contributing cause of chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, arthritis and many more.

Researchers have identified over a dozen different types of antioxidants that are responsible for the benefits of celery â?? these include such phenolic acids as caffeic acid and ferulic acid, plus flavaols like quecetin. This makes celery useful for treating a wide range of conditions that are made worse by inflammation: joint pain (such as from arthritis), gout, kidney and liver infections, skin disorders, irritable bowel syndrome and urinary tract infections, just to name a few.

3. Helps Prevent or Treat High Blood Pressure
Celery seed extracts have anti-hypertensive properties that help reduce high blood pressure, one of the important risk factors for coronary heart disease that is the largest cause of mortality in industrial countries.

Benefits of celery seeds include potentially helping to control chronic elevated blood pressure levels. The blood pressure-lowering benefits of celery come from its seeds, which contain hexanic, methanolic, and aqueous-ethanolic extracts that improve circulation, lower inflammation and help control blood pressure.

When rats were given celery seed extract over a seven-week period, they experienced significant improvements in blood pressure levels compared to rats being fed the same diet but not receiving celery extract.

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