What Happens to Your Body When You Eat Dandelion Greens

Eating dandelion greens can be good for overall health. Adding the highly nutritious plant to your diet can affect the body in these eight ways.

1. Boosts Immune System

Dandelion greens are rich in vitamins and nutrients. They contain more calcium and iron than spinach and are high in vitamins B, D, and E.

Compounds like polyphenols and flavonoids found in dandelion greens can boost the immune system and improve overall health.

Dandelion greens also help regulate the body’s immune response to better fight infections and injuries. The compounds found in dandelion greens may also have anti-bacterial properties, which help fight and destroy bacteria.

2. Reduces Inflammation

Dandelion greens have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects on the body. Adding anti-inflammatory foods like dandelion greens to your diet can help combat inflammation.

Inflammation is the body’s natural response to an injury or illness. It is a necessary process to help the body heal; however, when inflammation is ongoing or chronic, it can lead to inflammatory diseases such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.

By inhibiting the production of cytokines, which are chemicals produced in the body during the inflammatory response, dandelion greens may help regulate the body’s inflammatory response.

3. Lowers Blood Sugar

Chlorogenic acid is abundant in dandelion greens. It is a phenolic compound that impacts insulin sensitivity. When the body becomes less sensitive to insulin, it must produce more insulin to lower blood sugar. This decline in sensitivity is characteristic of type 2 diabetes. Influencing this process can help lower the risk of type 2 diabetes.

4. Protects Liver Health

The antioxidant compounds found in dandelion greens have beneficial effects on the liver, potentially protecting it from harm and diseases such as fatty liver disease.

The liver also plays an important role in insulin production and in maintaining proper blood sugar levels. Maintaining a healthy liver can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

5. Improves Digestive Health

Dandelion greens can help ease symptoms of gastrointestinal conditions such as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and indigestion. One of the anti-inflammatory compounds found in dandelion greens, taraxasterol acetate, has been shown to help with ulcerative colitis (an inflammatory bowel disease).

The compounds that cause the bitterness in the plant stimulate the production and flow of bile from the liver and gallbladder. Bile is used by the body to digest food. Improved bile flow reduces common digestive symptoms such as bloating and indigestion.

6. Prevents Cardiovascular Disease

Dandelion greens can help reduce certain cardiovascular disease risk factors and improve heart health. These include high blood pressure, total cholesterol, and weight:

• Dandelion greens are high in potassium which is associated with lower blood pressure.
• The antioxidants in dandelion greens, such as phenols, have been shown to reduce total cholesterol and triglyceride levels.

7. Slows or Prevents Cancer Growth

Increasing research suggests that compounds found in dandelions may help treat or slow the growth of cancers such as breast, stomach, colon, lung, and liver cancer.

Compounds in dandelion greens may also induce cell apoptosis, the body’s natural process for removing damaged cells to maintain health.

8. Strengthens Bones

Dandelion greens are high in calcium and vitamin K, which are known to help strengthen bones and reduce the risk of osteoporosis, or bone loss. Stronger bones are less likely to fracture or break.

For postmenopausal people, in whom osteoporosis is common, compounds in dandelion greens may help prevent bone loss associated with the condition.