Remember this guy?? Looks like the pipe-smoking, ill-tempered yet lovable sailor with an incurable craving for spinach had the right idea. Whenever this full-forearmed sailor got into a tussle with Bluto, he turned to his one secret weapon, a tin can full of leafy greens to activate his superhuman strength. With every comic strip or cartoon episode, boys everywherelearned how to score babes like Olive Oyl and the importance of including vegetables in your every day diet. Unfortunately, for many kids - including myself - the only thing that first plate of spinach did for us was crush our superhuman dreams and give us a taste of reality.But, it looks like science is once again a shining beacon of hope for all us shattered youth. It looks like the grand country responsible for irresistable meatballs and inexpensive furniture has proved that our Popeye aspirations weren't so far off. Researchers from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden found that taking small doses of inorganic nitrates increases muscle efficiency. Inorganic nitrates are found in fruits and vegetables, leafy, green vegetable especially. Inorganic nitrates, which were thought to be toxic at one point, have proven to be an imortant molecule that opens up blood vessels and lowers blood pressure. The recent study by Eddie Weitzberg and Jon Lundberg, published in the February issue of Cell Metabolism, found that inorganic nitrates increase the efficiency of mitochondria in metabolizing oxygen. Mitochondrion in our cells, therefore, can run on less oxygen intake or run optimally at normal oxygen levels. Ultimately, this means muscle activity will be more efficient, leading to longer and more effective work outs. So after the inclusion of spinach to your everyday diet, every gym session will be one step closer to living the dream. Oh, what I wouldn't do for those forearms...
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