Extension Connection

The Garden - Nature's Medicine Chest
By Janet Hackert, Nutrition Specialist

Medicines can be expensive. Even the cost of a daily multi-vitamin can add up. Money doesn’t grow on trees but what if we could grow our own ‘supplements?’ We can, in the garden – nature’s medicine chest, that is! With seed catalogs abounding in the mail, now is a good time to make some gardening choices for our good health.

Vitamin A is significant in eye health, especially helping eyes to adjust to the dark. Vitamin A also helps keep hair and skin looking healthy and helps protect against infection. Everyone knows that carrots are a good source of Vitamin A, but did you realize that a small handful of baby carrots or a half cup of carrot sticks has 383% of the amount of Vitamin A that most Americans need in a day! When making your planting decisions, notice that sweet potatoes, pumpkins, yellow squashes, spinach, broccoli, and other dark green vegetables like collard greens and kale, are all high in Vitamin A. These dark green options also offer Vitamin K, potassium, lutein and zeaxanthin. Potassium helps maintain a healthy blood pressure and helps muscles contract. Lutein and zeaxanthin contribute to healthy eye sight as well. Add some or all of these tasty and nutritious options to your Nature’s Medicine Chest.

Vitamin C helps heal cuts, helps fight infection, and helps keep teeth and gums healthy. It also helps our bodies absorb iron better, especially the iron found in other plant sources. A half cup of strawberries contains 70% and a quarter of a cantaloupe contains 93% of the Vitamin C many Americans need in a day. Also rich in Vitamin C are spinach, potatoes, peppers, cabbage, cauliflower, and kohlrabi. Strawberries, raspberries, watermelon, and tomatoes also provide Vitamin C. Tomatoes have the added boost of lycopene, which may reduce the risk of prostate cancer.

Add to that fiber for good digestion, found in most whole fruits and vegetables, and your garden – and Nature’s Medicine Chest – is well-stocked toward providing good health for all who consume its produce.

(Written February 29, 2008)

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Extension Connection Barb Ubben, Web Manager harrisonco@missouri.edu Last revised: 05/25/04