Closely related to carrots, parsnips are an important addition to every chef’s winter vegetable arsenal. Like carrots, they can be scrubbed and eaten with their peel on, but their starchy, nutty flavor when cooked works well when added to soups and stews. And if you’ve always passed by parsnips on your grocery run without picking some parsnips up, we’ve got a few health benefits that might change your mind.
1. May Aid Weight Loss
If you’ve been trying to lose weight, parsnip should be on your list of foods to eat. For starters, it’s low in calories with only 100 calories in a cup’s serving of the vegetable. In addition to this, it is high in fiber with 6.5 grams of the macronutrient in a cup, making up for 26% of your daily fiber needs.1 Fiber slowly passes through the digestive tract, keeping you fuller for longer. This will keep you from overeating and help you meet your daily caloric goals.2 3
In fact, one study found that increasing your daily fiber intake by 14 grams may decrease your calorie intake by up to 10% — leading to weight loss of 4 pounds in 4 months. Parsnip also has a high water content of about 79.5%, which has been found to decrease caloric intake and increase weight loss.4 5
2. Boosts Immune Function
If you’re being greeted with sneezed each time the weather shifts by a degree, you need to add parsnip in your diet. It is high in disease-fighting antioxidants, namely quercetin, kaempferol, and apigenin, which may enhance your immunity and protect against infection. They’re loaded with vitamin C, with a cup providing 22.6 mg of the nutrient and accounting for 25% of your recommended daily intake.6 And this vitamin plays a central role in immune function. In fact, getting enough of it in your diet may help decrease the symptoms of and shorten the duration of the common cold and other respiratory tract infections. It may also prevent or aid in the treatment of pneumonia, malaria, and diarrhea infections.7 8 9 10
id="3">3. Keeps Gut Health In Check
Consuming parsnips regularly will keep your gut healthy. It is a great source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. Since fiber moves through the gastrointestinal tract undigested, it adds bulk to stool and makes it easy to pass. It may also promote regularity, with one study reporting that fiber intake increased stool frequency in people with constipation. In addition to this, increasing your fiber intake has been found to aid in the treatment of digestive disorders like gastroesophageal reflux disease, diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, and intestinal ulcers.11 12
id="4">4. May Manage Blood Sugar Levels
The fiber in parsnip may also lower high blood pressure and prevent heart disorders.13
If you need to keep your blood sugar levels in check, load up on parsnip. In people with diabetes, fiber, particularly a portion of soluble fiber that the root vegetable is rich in, simply passes through the digestive system intact. This slows down the absorption of sugar since fiber doesn’t need insulin to digest and prevents blood sugar spikes. In addition to this, studies have found that antioxidants found plant-based foods (called polyphenols), including parsnip, may improve blood sugar in people at risk for heart disease and diabetes.14 15 16
5.
May Prevent Cancer
If you’re replacing potatoes or carrots with parsnip, make sure to account for the fact that they get sweeter when they’re cooked.17
As stated earlier, parsnips are high in antioxidants. One such antioxidant, in particular, polyacetylenes have been found to prevent cancer. Another study has found that it may aid in the treatment of blood cancer.18 19 20
References
