--- title: Health Benefits of Kale: Should I Eat Kale and Superfoods? description: Does the cruciferous king of the superfoods still deserve its crown? canonical: https://time.com/3645929/heres-why-kale-so-good-for-you/ author: Mandy Oaklander article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-02T15:16:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:06:31.300Z article:section: Health og:title: Here's Why Kale Is So Good for You og:description: Five health experts explain og:url: https://time.com/3645929/heres-why-kale-so-good-for-you/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Why Kale Is So Good for You twitter:description: Five health experts explain twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Here's Why Kale Is So Good for You > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Jan 2, 2015 3:16 PM UTC  by [Mandy Oaklander](https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/)  ## Mandy Oaklander Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME. Jan 2, 2015 3:16 PM UTC _Welcome to_ Should I Eat This?_—our weekly poll of five experts who answer nutrition questions that gnaw at you._  Illustration by Lon Tweeten for TIME In a move that surprised no one, five experts today gave kale the all-clear. “2015 is the year to be cool about kale—don’t let the haters and the hype deter you,” says **Drew Ramsey**, MD, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University (and co-founder of National Kale Day, as well as co-author of the _50 Shades of Kale_ cookbook.) Kale’s so hot because it packs in more nutrition than practically any other whole food. A cup and change comes with 14% of your daily calcium, 659% of daily vitamin A and more than 900% of your daily vitamin K! The vibrant green should clue you in about just how nutrient-dense it is, says **Wahida Karmally**, registered dietitian and director of nutrition at Columbia University’s Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research. “Dark green vegetables are powerhouses of nutrients,” she says. And yes—they call it a superfood for a reason. Cooked kale offers more iron per ounce than beef, says **Julie Morris,** author of _Superfood Smoothies_ and frequent blender of kale. But some of its nutrients are a bit difficult for the body to absorb, so just make sure to pair it with a fat to get the most out of them, says **Julia Mueller**, recipe developer and author of _Let Them Eat Kale!_ Don’t confine your kale lexicon to the limp leaves you see lining salad bars. Curly kale, flat Tuscan kale, blue kale, baby kale—the list of varietals that grow throughout the year is almost as long as the ways you can prepare it, says **Alicia Romano**, registered dietitian at Frances Stern Nutrition Center at Tufts Medical Center. “Blend it, bake it, sauté it or eat it raw in a salad,” she suggests. All kaled out from 2014? Our experts have some guesses about what could dethrone the cruciferous kale king in 2015, from amaranth—a gluten-free grain with a complete protein profile—to watercress, a green that combats DNA damage. What does the founder of National Kale Day say? “Given kale has held the foodie spotlight like no other vegetable in history, it will certainly share the spotlight,” Ramsey says. “Trending foods for 2015 will be kelp and seaweed, oysters, moringa, and exotic rice. People predicting collards, cauliflower, and Goji berries need to up their game—I suggest they try eating more kale.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3645929/heres-why-kale-so-good-for-you/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3645929/heres-why-kale-so-good-for-you/"},"headline":"Here's Why Kale Is So Good for You","datePublished":"2015-01-02T15:16:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:06:31.300Z","description":"Does the cruciferous king of the superfoods still deserve its crown?","url":"https://time.com/3645929/heres-why-kale-so-good-for-you/","keywords":["Diet & Nutrition","diet","kale","should i eat this?"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mandy Oaklander","jobTitle":"Oaklander is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mandy-oaklander/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/dietnutrition/","name":"Diet & Nutrition"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3645929/heres-why-kale-so-good-for-you/","name":"Here's Why Kale Is So Good for You"}}]}] ```