9Incredible Benefits of Shrimp
While shrimp may be small in size, they are huge in terms of nutritional value and the health benefits they offer. Read on to learn how shrimp can help you lose weight, provide you with important beauty nutrients — such as the antioxidant astaxanthin — and add cancer-fighting minerals to your diet.
Weight Loss:
Shrimp is a great source of protein and vitamin D, without adding carbohydrates to your daily intake, so for people determined to lose weight, this simple form of seafood is a popular option.
The high levels of zinc are also beneficial, since zinc is one way to increase leptin levels in the body. Leptin is a hormone and is an integral part in the body’s regulation of fat storage, appetite, and overall energy use in the body. By increasing the levels of leptin in the body, people can avoid common issues like overeating, inexplicable cravings for food after being “full” and similar problem for weight-conscious individuals.
It also has high levels of iodine, which help to control how much energy is expended when your body is at rest. It interacts with the thyroid gland to speed up thyroid activity, helping in people’s efforts to lose weight, or at least to prevent additional weight gain.
Anti-Aging Properties: Sunlight is one of the major causes that promote skin aging. Without protection, even a few minutes of exposure to sunlight and UVA may lead to wrinkles, spots, or sunburn.
By adding shrimp to your daily or weekly diet, people can greatly improve their chances of beautifying their skin and shedding years from time-worn faces.
It contains high levels of a certain carotenoid called astaxanthin, which is a powerful antioxidant that can greatly reduce the signs of aging in the skin related to UVA and sunlight. Therefore, for individuals obsessed with spots and wrinkling skin, add a shrimp to your diet a few times a week to slow those inevitable effects.
Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Studies suggest that shrimp contain a heparin-like compound that may help in treating neovascular AMD. The astaxanthin found in shrimp also relieves eye fatigue, especially for those who use computers for long durations in their personal or professional lives.
Hair Loss: The minerals found in shrimp also contribute to the health of our hair! A deficiency of zinc may cause hair loss. Zinc plays a key role in maintaining and creating new cells, including hair and skin cells, so for those who are beginning to lose their hair, or at least are seeing a decrease in hair growth, it can work against that embarrassing reality, keeping you looking younger for longer!
Bone Health:
Protein and various vitamins, such as calcium phosphorus and magnesium, found in shrimp can effectively aid in the fight against bone degeneration.
A deficiency in dietary proteins and vitamins can cause the deterioration of bone quality, bone mass, strength, and overall mass, which are the main symptoms of osteoporosis. Adding it to your daily or weekly regimen of food can slow the effects of aging bones to keep you stronger for longer.
Brain Health: Shrimp have high levels of iron, which is a key mineral component in the bonding process with oxygen in hemoglobin. With additional iron in the system, increased oxygen flow can occur to the muscles, providing strength and endurance, while also increasing oxygen flow to the brain, which is shown to improve comprehension, memory, and concentration.
Studies suggest that astaxanthin found in shrimp may help in improving memory performance, survival of brain cells, and reducing risk of brain inflammatory diseases.
Also, it is a good source of iodine, which helps the human body make thyroid hormones. The thyroid hormones, in turn, are needed for the development of the brain during infancy and pregnancy.
Basically, you can raise your test scores and improve your workout regimen at the same time by including shrimp in your diet!
Anti-Cancer Activity:
Shrimp contains carotenoids, such as astaxanthin, which may help in reducing the risk of various types of cancer. It also contains selenium, which is a “trace mineral”, and has been connected to lower levels of cancer, including prostate and lung cancer.
Selenium is a key component of antioxidant enzymes (like glutathione peroxidase), which fights against the presence and destructive effects of free radicals that can cause cancer. Also, selenium slows down tumor growth by providing a boost to the immune system and inhibiting the creation of blood vessels that lead to tumors that help them grow or metastasize. Cancer is thereby battled on two fronts with this powerful little mineral, which is a prominent component in the organic structure of shrimp.
Also, studies have shown that in areas of the world where selenium is more prominent in the soil, and subsequently in the agricultural products, cancer levels in local people were significantly lower.
Decreases Menstrual Pain: Not all cholesterol is created equally, and shrimp is a source of the beneficial type of cholesterol, omega-3 fatty acids. These will balance out the well-studied negative effects of omega-6 fatty acids, and aid in the alleviation of menstrual cramps for women, as well as promote healthier blood flow to the reproductive organs by reducing other damaging forms of cholesterol in the blood stream.
Vitamins for Red Blood Cell Health
Eat shrimp and you'll support healthy red blood cells as a result of its vitamin content. The vitamin A in shrimp controls red blood cell development; it activates genes that growing cells need to develop from stem cells into functional red blood cells. It also helps your red blood cells access the iron they need to transport oxygen. Vitamin B-12 aids in the production of heme -- the iron-containing compound responsible for red blood cell function. A 6-ounce serving of shrimp provides 2.8 micrograms of vitamin B-12 and 512 international units of vitamin A. This makes up all your daily recommended vitamin B-12 intake, as well as 17 percent of the daily vitamin A intake recommendation for men and 22 percent for women.
Sources:
healwithfood.org
livestrong.com
organicfacts.net
Other links:
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