Why Popeye ate a lot of spinach

There was a hidden message in our childhood cartoon hero’s antics. Eat a lot of spinach and you will increase your muscle strength.

The author obviously knew that spinach has a high content of magnesium² and that magnesium is essential for muscle growth, strength and function.¹⁸ But the reality is that no one can eat that much spinach in a day. The average adult needs 320 mg (female) to 420 mg (male) of magnesium daily³ however, only 30 - 40% of this dietary magnesium is absorbed by the body.² This means that the average adult male would have to eat 8 cups of boiled spinach a day to meet his quota!2 What about other food stuffs that are high in magnesium content?