Leafy greens

What it does

Dietary nitrate becomes nitric oxide — vessels widen, pressure drops.

• Relaxes blood vessels

Where the number comes from

Leafy greens sits in the veg group of the Fadnes model, the only peer-reviewed model that converts eating into years of life. The lifetime gain for that group is spread across the days you actually eat it — a daily serving from age 20 to 80 — which gives +8 min per serving. The authors rate the evidence behind this group as low.

What it is made of

• Nitrate
• Lutein
• Folate
• Iron

Which kind

• Spinach — high nitrate and lutein
• Red amaranth — pigment plus iron
• Water spinach — cheap, everywhere, still nitrate-rich
• Kale — also cruciferous — two families at once

How to eat it

Don't discard the cooking water.

Source: — · The Journal of Nutrition, 2022 (RCT).

Minutes derived from Fadnes LT, Økland J-M, Haaland ØA, Johansson KA. Estimating impact of food choices on life expectancy: A modeling study. PLOS Medicine 19(2):e1003889, 2022. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003889