What Happens to Your Body When You Add Hearts of Palm to Your Diet

Hearts of palm, also called palm hearts, palmito, or swamp cabbage, is a vegetable with a mild flavor that is low in calories, high in fiber, balanced in protein and carbohydrates, and rich in many nutrients. You can use palm hearts in cooked or cold dishes.

1. Nourishes With Nutrients, Minerals, and Vitamins

Palm hearts contain a variety of nutrients, including protein, carbohydrates, and several vitamins and minerals.  

One hundred grams (g) or about 2/3 of a cup of hearts of palm contains:

• 36 calories
• 3.57 g protein 
• 3.57 g carbohydrate 
• 3.6 g fiber 
• 0 g fat 

Additionally, 1 cup of canned palm hearts includes a percentage of your daily vitamin and mineral needs:

• Vitamin C: 20% of your daily needs of this vitamin, which is a key component of skin health, your immune system, and healing
• Iron: 25% of your daily needs of this mineral, which is crucial for healthy red blood cells
• Niacin (vitamin B3): 4% of your daily needs of this vitamin, which has diverse roles, including helping your body use energy and keeping your nervous system healthy
• Folate: 15%of your daily needs of this vitamin, which is a key component of healthy red blood cells, and essential for pregnant people and the in-utero baby’s nervous system
• Magnesium: 15% of your daily needs of this mineral, which has numerous roles, including keeping your muscles and your heart healthy
• Calcium: 8% of your daily needs of this mineral, which helps keep your bones strong, and your heart pumping
• Phosphorus: 10% of your daily needs of this mineral, which helps strengthen your teeth and bones, and promotes healing
• Zinc: 10% of your daily needs of this mineral, which supports healing and promotes a healthy immune system
• Riboflavin (vitamin B2): 6% of your daily needs of this vitamin, which plays a variety of roles in your body, including as an antioxidant to prevent disease

Additionally, there are many different varieties of palm hearts, and they vary in nutrient composition.

For example:

• There is a variation in the protein content of different varieties.
• Some varieties contain potassium, which is important for muscle health and heart health.
• The percentage of your vitamin B6 needs also varies with different types of palm hearts.

2. Can Assist Weight Management

Palm hearts are low in calories and contain zero fat, so this vegetable doesn’t cause weight gain. The fiber in palm hearts can help you feel fuller for longer, which can help prevent you from overeating.

Maintaining a healthy weight can help that many different diseases that are associated with obesity—such as heart disease, diabetes, liver disease, and cancer.

3. Benefits Digestive Health

Palm hearts are beneficial for your digestive health:

• Prebiotics: This vegetable provides your body with prebiotics, a type of fiber that helps maintain healthy gut flora (beneficial microbes that reside in your digestive system) to regulate your immune system and help your body break down and absorb nutrients from the food you eat.
• Fiber: The fiber content in hearts of palm can help promote healthy digestion and prevent you from developing constipation.

4. Contributes to Healing and a Healthy Immune System

Palm hearts have several nutrients that help your body’s tissues to heal and that help maintain a healthy immune system, including zinc, phosphorus, and magnesium. Assisting the body recover from damage and preventing infection can help protect you from getting sick and from chronic disease.

5. Provides Antioxidants

Riboflavin, an antioxidant, helps to counteract damage from toxins and disease in your body. Antioxidants help prevent many diseases, including heart disease, cancer, liver failure, and kidney disease.

6. Provides Pregnancy Nutrition 

Nutrition is crucial during pregnancy, but one of the challenges is that most pregnant people experience some types of food aversion, at least for a few weeks or longer. During pregnancy, it’s important to get a variety of vitamins and minerals, and folate is an especially important nutrient for the developing baby’s brain and spinal cord.

Considering palm hearts as one of the vegetables to eat either fresh or canned during pregnancy can provide you with the nutrients that you need while you’re pregnant.

How Can You Use Palm Hearts?

Palm hearts can be prepared in several different ways. This vegetable can be collected or purchased in its fresh form, cleaned, and cooked. Then it can be added to soups, pasta, and stews. This allows you to avoid the added sodium in canned hearts of palm. 

Palm hearts are often available to purchase canned and preserved. In this form, you can cook it, or use it straight out of a can to add to cooked or cold dishes – such as salads or cold pastas.

Hearts of palm have a mild flavor, and can be adapted to most cuisines, as this vegetable can take on the flavoring of the dishes to which it is added.