Energy-Efficient Supermarket Lighting Supercharges Your Spinach

Posted on 23. Mar, 2010 by Ross in Food Production, Retail & Commercial

File this particular study in the ‘Popeye’s Secrets’ category: not only does spinach contain plenty of key vitamins essential for a healthy existence, but it is also more potent when bought from a supermarket than pulled out of the ground.

Why? Fluorescent lighting.

According to research published in the Journal of Agricutural and Food Chemistry, energy-efficient supermarket lighting such as T5 fluorescent tubes boost the concentrations of vitamins C, K, E, folate, lutein, and zeaxanthin after just three days, compared to leaves stored in the dark. Nine days on, folate levels increased by 84% to 100%, while Vitamin K levels increased between 50% and 100%, although after three days the leaves began to wilt, making them less visibly attractive for consumption. Based on that, Popeye would have been even stronger if he ate spinach from clear packaging rather than in tins!

The study was done by exposing the spinach leaves to fluorescent lighting for 24 hours a day, however, so the full boosting effects would not be seen in the presence of truly energy-efficient supermarket lighting systems with sensor-based dimming. However, such advanced lighting systems are notoriously absent from most supermarkets, despite the growing race to become the greenest retailer in which most supermarket chains now find themselves.

Image of Popeye and OliveOyl by norwichnuts @ Flickr