806 Health Tip: Spinach Really Does Make You Strong

I know I grew up watching a lot of Popeye. I just knew that spinach would make me big and strong. I love me some spinach.

Turns out that claim and Popeye is correct. It does make you stronger. It actually may end up being a banned substance for athletes. Crazy huh?

Apparently scientists in Germany claim that a chemical that can be found in spinach can cause steroid like reactions. The chemical is called ecdysterone. It is pronounced ick DIS tur ohne.

This chemical is really close enough to steroids that they say spinach should be on the banned substance list for athletes. Really.

Apparently the scientist tested this out. Some athletes ate almost 9 pounds of spinach per day. Other's did not. The ones that ate the crazy amounts of spinach saw an increase in their strength up to three times more.

Now these scientists expected to see an increase among the ones who ate the spinach just not that much of a difference.

Now the World Anti-Doping Authority is actually going to look into these claims and see if they really should ban spinach from the athletes on a competitive level.

So apparently there may now be in increase in spinach sales for now. You're welcome. Oh but you have to eat 9 pounds of it. So good luck.