What is Sigeumchi (pareung)?

Sigeumchi, also called pareung, is the Korean name for spinach. Its Latin name is Spinacia oleracea. Cooks blanch the leaves and dress them with sesame oil and garlic to make a side dish called namul.

In Korea it is food first. It is also seen as a green that builds blood and keeps the bowels moving. People eat the most of it in winter and early spring.

Spinach has real food value. But firm human trials on spinach as a treatment are few. Long use in the kitchen is not proof that it treats any disease.

How does Sigeumchi (pareung) work?

Most of what spinach does comes from its food value, not from a drug-like action. It gives folate, iron, vitamin K, potassium, and fibre.

It is also high in nitrate (a natural salt in leafy greens). The body can turn this into nitric oxide, a gas that helps blood vessels relax.

Trials of nitrate drinks, mostly beet juice, show small drops in blood pressure. Whether a plate of spinach does the same is not clear.

Spinach also holds two eye pigments, lutein and zeaxanthin. They gather in the back of the eye. This may help the eye cope with glare, but proof from spinach itself is thin.

What forms does Sigeumchi (pareung) come in?

Fresh leaves are the main form. In Korea they are dipped in boiling water for under a minute, drained, then dressed with sesame oil, garlic, and soy or bean paste.

Other forms are frozen leaves, canned leaves, dried powder, raw green juice, and capsules of spinach extract.

Cooked and drained spinach holds less oxalate than raw. A glass of raw juice packs the most oxalate and nitrate at once.

Where it comes from:

Spinach came from Persia, spread east through China, and reached Korea by the Joseon era. Old Korean farm and food texts list it as a cool-weather green.

In home use it was seen as a green that eases the bowels and builds blood after illness or childbirth. Its place has always been the table more than the herb shelf.

Today it is a fixed part of namul side dishes and of bibimbap.

What does Sigeumchi (pareung) help with?

• Constipation and sluggish bowels: Korean home use has long treated spinach as a green that helps stools pass. The fibre and water content make this plausible. No trial has tested spinach on its own for constipation, so treat it as a helpful food, not a laxative.
• Low folate in the diet, including during pregnancy: This is the best-supported use, and it is a nutrition use rather than a cure. Cooked spinach is a strong source of folate, which the body needs to build cells and blood. It does not replace the folic acid tablet your doctor gives you in pregnancy.
• Low iron intake in plant-based diets: Spinach does contain iron, but the oxalate in it blocks part of that iron from being taken up. Eating it with a vitamin C food, such as citrus or peppers, helps a little. It is not a fix for diagnosed iron-deficiency anaemia (low blood iron), which needs proper testing and treatment.
• Eye health support with age: Spinach is one of the richest food sources of lutein and zeaxanthin, pigments found in the back of the eye. Large trials used lutein supplements, not spinach, and were in people who already had eye disease. Eating spinach is a reasonable habit, but no one has shown it protects sight on its own.
• Blood pressure support as part of a whole diet: Nitrate-rich vegetables are linked with slightly lower blood pressure in diet studies. Most short trials used beet juice or nitrate drinks rather than spinach. Keep taking any blood pressure medicine you have been prescribed.

Which foods are rich in Sigeumchi (pareung)?

1. Sigeumchi namul: blanched, drained spinach with sesame oil and garlic, the everyday Korean form
2. Bibimbap: spinach is one of the standard greens on top
3. Doenjang soup with spinach: a common winter Korean soup
4. Frozen chopped spinach: same nutrients, easy to portion
5. Other nitrate-rich greens such as rocket, lettuce and beetroot leaves

Practical Tips:

Boiling briefly and throwing away the water lowers the oxalate load.

What are the side effects of Sigeumchi (pareung)?

• A chalky or gritty feeling on the teeth after eating it
• Gas, bloating or loose stools if you eat a lot at once
• Less iron and calcium taken up from the same meal
• Higher risk of calcium oxalate kidney stones in people who form stones
• High blood potassium in people with failing kidneys
• A weaker effect from warfarin (a blood thinner) if your intake swings up and down
• Rare allergy, with itching, rash or swelling
• In babies under about four months, methaemoglobinaemia (a blood problem where blood carries less oxygen) from spinach puree or juice

Good to know:

For most people spinach causes nothing worse than a gritty mouth or some wind.

The serious problems are limited to clear groups: stone formers, people with failing kidneys, babies, and people on warfarin. If you are in one of those groups, the risk is real and worth taking seriously.

How much Sigeumchi (pareung) should you take?

• Recommended daily: No medical dose is set, because spinach is a food. A normal Korean side-dish serving is about 70 to 100 g cooked, which is a large handful of raw leaves. Several servings a week fits most diets. If you have ever had kidney stones, keep portions small and ask your doctor what amount is safe for you.
• Best time of day: Any meal works. Pairing it with a vitamin C food helps your body take up the iron. If you take warfarin, the timing matters less than keeping the amount steady from day to day.
• With or without food: With food. It is a vegetable and is normally eaten as part of a meal.
• Time to effect: Nothing happens fast. Easier bowel movements may show within a few days. Changes in blood tests, such as folate, take weeks to months.
• How long to take it: You can eat spinach as part of normal meals for life. There is no course to finish and no need for a break. If you are eating large daily amounts to help a health problem, look again after about four weeks and ask whether it is worth it. Tell your doctor before you start eating it daily if you take warfarin (a blood thinner) or have had kidney stones.