Popeye was a feisty sailor whose strength and ability to attack bullies depended on eating spinach, which he squeezed out of a can and into his mouth just before starting to fight back. Popeye was specifically created to encourage American children to eat spinach, which was widely thought to provide plenty of iron, essential for building strong muscles.

First Image credit: Popeye-comendo-espinafre, CC--BY Jean Pierre Gallot

Best Popeye Fight (For those who have never seen these cartoons)

Popeye helps boy eat spinach (but almost leaves him with an ugly wound on his left cheek!) What was his father thinking?

As it turns out, the amount of iron in spinach was overrated, and the presence of oxalic acid meant that much of it was unavailable anyway. Many decades later, we know that although eating lots of vegetables is definitely a good idea, the nutritional properties of spinach were overrated.

Mike Sutton has explored the various myths associated with spinach in an entertaining one-page PDF:
Sutton M. How the spinach, Popeye and iron decimal point error myth was finally bust.
http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/30230/1/7987_Sutton.pdf

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In Taiwan, papaya milk shakes are a delicious summertime beverage that is an integral part of street food. If we want our kids (and ourselves ;-) to be healthy and happy, there are not many fruit-based drinks that can compete with papaya milk shakes. Perhaps Popeye should have been depicted as a papaya-eating sailor instead ;-)

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Study after study has shown that almost all parts of the papaya (even when unripe) have healing or health-promoting properties.

A. “Carica papaya Linn: An Overview”; Vijay Yogiraj, Pradeep Kumar Goyal, Chetan Singh Chauhan, Anju Goyal, Bhupendra Vyas; International Journal of Herbal Medicine, 2014; 2 (5): 01-08 [Full text FREE] http://www.florajournal.com/archives/2014/vol2issue5/PartA/2-4-12.1.pdf

B. “Ripening-induced chemical modifications of papaya pectin inhibit cancer cell proliferation”; Samira Bernardino Ramos do Prado, Gabrielle Fernandez Ferreira, Yosuke Harazono, Tânia Misuzu Shiga, Avraham Raz, Nicholas C. Carpita, and João Paulo Fabi; Science Reports (2017, 7) [Full Text FREE] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5707353/

C. “Phytochemicals of papaya and its traditional health and culinary uses – A review”; Emmy Hainida Khairul Ikram, Roger Stanley, Michael Netzel, and Kent Fanning; Journal of Food Composition and Analysis (Volume 41, August 2015, Pages 201-211); [abstract ONLY] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273896265_Phytochemicals_of_papaya_and_its_traditional_health_and_culinary_uses_-_A_review

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Related Postings:

1. [Chinese only] 木瓜也會『喝』牛奶喔！Papaya Plantation Curiosities
   https://steemit.com/cn/@wentong-syhhae/papaya-plantation-curiosities

2. [English] Gourds & Melons in Mandarin Chinese (series); Don't Arouse Suspicion 『冬』南西北瓜 Dong-Nan-Shi-Beei Gua; 瓜田李下 gua tyan lii shiah
   https://steemit.com/cn/@wentong-syhhae/gourds-and-melons-in-mandarin-chinese-series-don-t-arouse-suspicion-dong-nan-shi-beei-gua-gua-tyan-lii-shiah

3. [English] Papaya (mùguā / muhgua) in Chinese literally means “tree melon”
   https://steemit.com/cn/@wentong-syhhae/papaya-mugua-muhgua-in-chinese-literally-means-tree-melon
   

Who I Am

https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@wentong-syhhae/enthusiastic-intp-polyglot