14 Amazing Health Benefits of Celery

Celery is perhaps one of the most versatile vegetables right now in terms of what you can make.

We’ll look into the 14 health benefits of celery and why you should add this crunchy veggie into your diet.

The scientific name of celery is Apium graveolens. And it’s a part of the plant family “Apiaceae” that includes parsley, fennel, and parsnips.

Most people call it a vegetable since it has a crunchy, mild flavor with no hint of sweetness, but some naturopaths call this an herb.

It grows vertically in a tall cluster of stalks pressed tightly together.

The stalks stem up from a bulb and are also edible.

If left alone to grow sufficiently, it’ll produce seeds after its flowers wither.

Both seeds and leaves edible, which makes celery one of those rare plants in the world that are edible from stalk to seeds.

Versatile Ingredient

You can combine celery with other vegetables in stews, soups, and broths because of its rich flavor. And cook it in a way, so it doesn’t lose its nutrient content.

Many people also add it to their breakfast juices and smoothies.

Others slice it up in salads or snack on it in whole chunks. The reason for this is all of the health benefits that it has to offer.

Read on for a few of them that will make you want to keep this root vegetable in your refrigerator at all times, and before that, let’s look at its nutrient profile [1, 2].

A cup of chopped celery contains (around 101 grams).
(Percentage daily values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.)

• 16 grams of calories with only two calories coming from fat
• 0 grams of fat
• 81 mg of sodium
• 2 grams of sugar
• 1 gram of protein
• Six mcg of Vitamin K (37%)
• 453 IU of Vitamin A (9%)
• Four mcg of Folate (9%)
• 4 mg of calcium (4%)
• 263 mg of potassium (8%)
• 6 mg of Vitamin B6

The 14 Amazing Health Benefits of Celery

Celery is one of the healthiest vegetables you can eat. It isn’t tasty, but once you read all of the benefits below, I’m sure you’ll consider adding it to your diet.

1. Rich in Antioxidants and Anti-Inflammatory Nutrients

Celery is a rich source of conventional antioxidants nutrients that include Vitamin C, manganese, and beta-carotene.

It is also rich in phytonutrients that fall in the phenolic antioxidant category — and proven to have anti-inflammatory benefits.

The list of phenolic antioxidants includes the following:

• Flavones
• Phenolic acids
• Flavonols
• Dihydrostilbenoids
• Furanocoumarins
• Phytosterols

Studies done on people show the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits of celery in diets.

Excellent source of flavonol and flavone

One such study showed that celery being able to provide 7% of the daily requirement of flavonol and flavone for adults in China [3].

Research has also shown the ability of celery juice to decrease the activity of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB).

Lower levels of interleukin 8 (IL-8) and proinflammatory cytokines interleukin 1B (IL-1B) have been observed in these studies [4, 5].

These four molecules play a crucial role in our body’s immune system responds and prevents unwanted inflammation that can lead to several debilitating diseases like cancer, heart disease, and many more.

2. Calms the Nervous System

Celery is high in calcium and magnesium [6].

Eating celery daily can help people who struggle with stress calm down.

It is essential for those who have to deal with nightly insomnia because they can’t relax.

It is also helpful for those suffering from depression and anxiety due to an imbalance in their hormone levels.

3. This Vegetable Improves Heart Health

The high levels of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and Vitamin K in celery have a positive effect on the heart.

Calcium is responsible for contractions in the heart muscles every time it beats.

Power of Magnesium, Potassium and Vitamin K

Magnesium helps the heart muscle relax.

If the body has a deficit of either of these minerals, a person will develop an irregular heartbeat that puts them at risk for heart attack or stroke.

Good for the heart

Potassium is also essential to the cardiovascular system because it helps decrease extra fluid in the body, which elevates a person’s blood pressure [7].

And lastly, Vitamin K is crucial to keeping the arteries and veins that carry blood pumped through the body healthy.

Damaged or weak arteries pose a higher risk of developing blood clots.

4. Helps Lower Bad Cholesterol

Another heart-friendly benefit of celery is its cholesterol-lowering properties, thanks to the phthalides that stimulate the secretion of bile that helps lower bad cholesterol [8].

Scrapes out bad cholesterol

When you eat it whole, its fibers help “scrape” out cholesterol from the bloodstream out of the body through a bowel movement.

One such study done at the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Singapore reveals that rats that were given celery extract had significantly lower levels of lipid in their blood versus the rats that did not take any celery extract [9].

In another research at the University of Chicago Medical Center reported in the New York Times showed rats that were fed a chemical extract from celery called 3-n-butylphthalide had lower cholesterol by 7 percent.

5. Aid in High Blood Treatment and Prevention

High blood is another risk factor to coronary heart disease, and a diet rich in vegetables like celery can help reverse this otherwise deadly condition.

The Cleveland Clinic says that celery contains a phytochemical called phthalides that helps relax tissues of the artery walls that help increase blood flow and lower blood pressure.

Please eat the whole stick since salt content is low, plus you get the other benefits like fiber, magnesium, and potassium, which also help regulate blood pressure.

Dr. Shafe recommends eating four celery stalks a day to get the full benefit [10, 11].

6. Two Stalks a Day Reduces the Risk for Ulcers

A stomach ulcer is a painful hole that develops in the lining of the stomach.

People who have this condition feel a “gnawing” sensation that does not seem to dissipate.

If a person goes too long without getting treatment, it can turn into a bleeding ulcer that is more dangerous.

Eating anything rich or spicy is impossible for a person with a stomach ulcer because these foods will irritate the area that has the hole in it.

What’s the cause?

The culprit to this condition is a H. Pylori – a bacterium.

Some people naturally have more of this in their gut compared to others, so they aren’t as prone to having an ulcer.

However, if this mucous layer of the stomach lining is thick enough, a person can still have H. pylori in their system and yet not develop an ulcer.

That’s where celery comes in.

How celery helps

One of the fantastic things that this vegetable does is increase the mucous layer of the stomach lining.

In a study done on laboratory rats published in the Pharmaceutical Biology revealed that the lab rodents that consumed celery extract had fewer ulcers and more protected stomach linings.

Researchers hypothesized that this was caused by Apiuman – a pectin-based polysaccharide that is found in celery [12].

Protects from Gastritis

So it is an excellent idea for those who are prone to stomach ulcers to eat some of it daily.

7. Fight Edema and Swelling

Celery increases the output of urine that the body produces because of all of the potassium that it contains. So it is considered a natural diuretic [14].

This vegetable helps people who struggle with swelling in their legs and ankles due to some health conditions, heart or kidney ailments.

Being a diuretic helps it flush kidney stones and infection.

Many people also eat celery when they want to detoxify their bodies because it cleanses the liver of impurities while it flushes out waste.

8. Reduces Inflammation

Inflammation is a natural defense mechanism of the body [15].

When an injury occurs, the immune system detects this; it swells up to let you know somethings wrong.

Sometimes, our immune system does not work correctly, so it attacks even healthy tissues.

And healthy body parts stay inflamed even though there is no disease present.

This inflammation can cause a wide range of illnesses, such as rheumatism, diabetes, and heart disease.

Celery will helps fight inflammation and protect healthy tissues from damage.

Rich in antioxidants

It has antioxidants that double as an anti-inflammatory.

And one antioxidant found in celery is luteolin.

A University of Illinois study proved that this flavonoid helps “reduce the production of proinflammatory mediators in LPS-stimulated macrophages, fibroblasts, and intestinal epithelial cells.”

Excessive production of these proinflammatory mediators leads to the inflammatory switch inside the brain to be turned on even there isn’t any need for it [16].

It protects cells from oxidative stress and inflammation when there is no threat.

9. Make Weight Loss Easier With This Low-Calorie Food

The high fiber content of this vegetable makes people stay fuller for longer than they would if they ate a meal without it.

Virtually zero calories

It is also virtually calorie-free, so a person could eat as much of it as they want without gaining any weight. And it even has a negative calorie effect on the body.

That means that it takes more calories to digest the celery than the celery contains.

How it helps you lose weight

Regularly eating vegetables with a negative calorie effect on the body allows people to take in less total calories than they usually would.

If you’re serious about losing weight, celery is the perfect diet food because of this [17].

10. Prevent and Treat Cancer Naturally

Celery’s anti-cancer properties have become pretty important to those who are suffering from cancer of the intestines, pancreas, lungs, or breasts.

Research has shown that because of its anti-inflammatory properties, high antioxidant levels, and high levels of apigenin and luteolin flavonoids, this vegetable can help fight off cancer cells.

Apigenin

The most impressive of all of these is apigenin [18].

Even the most aggressive cancer cells will self-destruct in the presence of high levels of Apigenin.

Apigenin is especially valuable to patients with pancreatic cancer because there are so few treatments that do much to phase the growth of this type of cancer.

Pancreas cancer does not have any symptoms during the initial stages. Only during the advanced stages of the disease do symptoms manifest.

And at that point, cancer has spread, and it is beginning to attack other parts of the body.

So if Apigenin is part of a person’s diet, they can fight off or prevent this type of cancer.

Help kill cancer cells.

For people with cancer, Apigenin helps in killing cancer cells. When taken 24 hours before chemotherapy, it’ll pre-treat the body. So it has a better chance of killing more cancer cells than chemotherapy alone.

Celery also contains the flavonoid luteolin and based on research, and it may possess anti-cancer properties.

In one study, the authors said that “luteolin sensitizes cancer cells to therapeutic-induced cytotoxicity through suppressing cell survival pathways.”

Authors are encouraged by the findings of this study, saying that it could be used as an anti-cancer agent to various types of cancer [19].

11. Helps Increase Libido

Women are going through menopause, or men over the age of 40 often struggle the most with low libidos.

But they don’t seek help for this issue.

They don’t have to suffer in silence, though. Eating a few stalks of celery a day can help things get back on track in the bedroom because it contains androsterone, which is an odorless hormone released through male sweat, and according to AskMen, this turns women on [20].

Natural Viagra

Celery is often referred to as the “Viagra” of the plant kingdom. After all, it increases libido so effectively in both men and women because it contains nitric oxide [21, 22].

It is a natural vasodilator that improves blood flow to the genitals.

Studies also prove that Vitamin K deficiency lowers testosterone production that decreases sex drive.

However

Celery being a good source of Vitamin K helps alleviate this [23, 24]. Please note that these tests were done on lab mice and not humans, so take it with a grain of salt.

Both men and women need this hormone, but men usually have about ten times the amount of it that women do.

But if there’s too little of it, estrogen level goes up, and this makes arousal difficult.

So by correcting this deficiency, a person’s body can return to having normal hormone levels.

12. Fights Infections

For centuries folks used celery seeds as herbal medication thanks to its antibacterial properties.

And in 2009 researchers did a study to see if celery can fight bacteria.

In that particular study, celery seed extracts were combined with a harmful bacteria compound called Helicobacter pylori.

Researchers concluded that celery extract was able to reduce the bacteria’s growth and can be used to boost immunity and fight infections naturally [25].

13. Benefits the Liver

People who have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are rising, especially among children.

The American Liver Foundation says that up to 10 percent of all children have this condition and are the leading cause of chronic liver disease in the United States.

Can celery help alleviate this silent killer?

Researchers at the University of Egypt have some encouraging findings on studies done on rats.

Hypercholesterolemic rats that had celery, barley, and chicory leaves in their diets for four weeks showed improved enzyme function and blood lipid levels.

They concluded patients who suffer from hypercholesterolemia and liver disease might benefit from a diet that included celery, chicory, and barley [26].

14. Better Cognitive Health

A 2010 study done at the University of Illinois revealed that luteolin helps improve brain function.

Older mice aged two to three years old were give this nutrient while younger mice between three to six months were not.

Older mice that were given luteolin did better at the memory and learning related tasks compared to younger mice.

While this study was done on lab rats, scientists believe that celery can help boost memory and halt age-related brain-inflammation [27].

Cautions Regarding Potential Side Effects

This vegetable is safe to eat regularly for most people.

However, there are some potential side effects that you should know.

Large amounts of celery shouldn’t be eaten by women who are pregnant because it contains high levels of apiol, which could cause a spontaneous abortion to occur [28].

Apiol can be toxic in high doses.

Also, people who are of European descent have a higher risk of being allergic to celery.

If you belong to this group, please check with your doctor before consuming large quantities of celery, especially if you have allergies to other plants in the Apiaceae family, as even one bite could trigger an anaphylactic shock.

Toxin Content

According to Dr. Weil, celery does contain natural toxins called psoralens that break down when cooked.

These toxins only come out when celery begins to rot – pink rot to be more specific.

It is a common fungus that is responsible for the brownish patches that discolor celery. So when shopping for one, make sure to check the stalks thoroughly. And make sure that these patches aren’t present.

Make sure to chop these patchy parts off.

How to Consumer Celery?

Celery is one of the most versatile vegetables in the plant kingdom. Almost everything from the leaves, stalks, and even seeds are edible.

Perhaps the most straight forward way of consuming celery is eating the stalks raw but a word of caution.

Celery regularly ranks amongst the dirtiest foods in EWG’s list of the dirty dozen. And if you plan on eating it uncooked, do yourself a favor and buy these organic to ensure that chemicals aren’t present.

Also, wash these thoroughly as there will be bits of soil and an occasional worm present.

You can dip it in low-fat cream cheeses or sprinkle it with paprika to add flavor.

Juicing or Blending

Juicing is my personal favorite because, honestly, I don’t like how celery tastes like what I would do is juice it on a slow juicer.

Doing this allows you to consume more without having to chew it, but you won’t get the benefit of fiber. Another way to enjoy this nutritious veggie would be adding it to your smoothies.

Soups

On cold winter days, nothing beats a hot bowl of soup, and you can add chopped celery to your favorite broth.

Celery Salsa

Do you like homemade salsa and tortilla chips? Then you can add celery to your salsa recipe to make it even healthier.

Celery Seed Extract

I did mention earlier that celery seeds are edible, and you can buy celery seed extract from your local pharmacy like Walgreens and CVS or even go online at Amazon.

According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, celery seeds, how some benefits that include [29]:

• Arthritis and gout treatment
• Calms the nerves
• Lower blood pressure
• Reducing muscle spasms
• Lower inflammation

There are a lot more you can do with celery and here are some of them:

• Ten ways to enjoy celery

The Bottom Line

Celery is indeed a nutrition powerhouse with lots of benefits!

It can calm anxiety and depression, improve heart health, prevent and treat some types of cancers, and much more!

So if you don’t have any in your refrigerator right now, head to the store to buy some today.

It’s cheap

It usually costs about a dollar, and it keeps well in the refrigerator for at least a week. And remember, the entire plant is edible, so you don’t have to throw any of it away.

Grow your own

If you want to save money and have a continuous supply of celery for free, you can regrow the bulb. Just set it in a cup of warm water for about an hour before planting it in some dirt.

In a few days, you will see new growth come up through the center of the stem.

Wait until the stem is several inches tall before harvesting it. Doing the above steps can yield a dozen or more celery each month.

Spread the word!

If you have any experience with all the positive benefits that celery has to offer, feel free to comment below! Don’t forget to share this article with your friends too.

Many people don’t know how fantastic celery is or how it could improve their health.