Kale and health question

[ancee]

Mr brother in law has just been diagnosed with MS. He's been suffering for years so this diagnosis although awful, has answered a lot of questions. Of course he's been looking for any information from every source, mainly what he can do to improve his quality of life. Yesterday he asked me if I grow kale as it's supposed to have health benefits for people suffering with MS. I had some last year, but the chickens have had it all. So, I went on eBay and ordered borecole scarlet, borecole bates blue curled and borecole Nero di Toscana. Has anybody grown kale and noticed it makes them feel better? Any recommendations? I'm going to grow all sorts for him.

[Scarlet]

I've grown all sorts of Kale - I much prefer the Nero types. OH eats tons of greens. I don't find that it makes any difference to my health but I feel ok to start with.
A very good friend of mine was diagnosed with MS - there are a few types and hers isn't so aggressive as some but she cut her hours down at work, gave up alcohol, exercises most days, bed early, lots of rests and (touch wood) hasn't had a major set back since these changes.

[Angeldon]

So sorry to hear about your brother-in-law's diagnosis. If I don't eat at least two portions of broccoli twice a week I suffer with arthritis in my hands - a different brassica used for a far less serious health reason but it definitely works for me.

[Zelenina]

I haven't heard of kale having particular benefits for people with MS, but green veggies are very healthy for everyone, so it shouldn't do him any harm to eat plenty.

You've got one of my favourite kales, Vates Blue Curled, nice and sweet and very winter hardy. Though I think my new top favourite is Westland Winter. I don't know if any kind is more healthy than others. But one advantage of having several varieties is that they hopefully don't all go to seed at once.

You could also try some of the Red Russian/Siberian types, which are actually a different species and might have different nutrients. Scarlet kale is red but isn't a Red Russian type. I'm interested to see how you get on with it because I've found it to have lower germination rates and to be less vigorous that the green ones, but that might be the fault of the seed supplier.

I have come across quite a lot of evidence that rates of MS are correlated with more northerly latitudes, and deficiency of vitamin D due to lack of sunshine. So high dose vitamin D3 supplements could be a good idea, or lots of sunshine holidays, especially in the winter. Or he could go and live somewhere sunnier than Doncaster for a while and see if that makes him feel better.

[Scarlet]

VC grew loads of different varieties of kales one year...perhaps she had a favourite?

[veggiechicken]

Here ya go http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ale_71170.html
Some of those original kales are still growing - and taller than me (I know that's not very tall )
Embarrassingly, the labels have vanished so I'm not sure which is which.

[ancee]

I think sometimes if you think something is doing you good, it does you good! A sort of placebo effect! VC are some easier to grow than others then and also hardier? Is there anything you need for the vsp that I could swap for varieties I don't have?

[BertieFox]

From what I have read, all 'strong' greens, the ones which have that real cabbagey taste, have lots of vitamins and minerals so can only do good in building up general health. I'd recommend eating lots of the Chinese greens like mizuna and mibuna, as you can grow these when there's nothing else, and the leafy kales like thousand head and as mentioned above, the Cavalo Nero types. If you don't mind the strong taste, mustard greens would be another option.

I really hope some of these will help and reduce the health problems.

[veggiechicken]

I think sometimes if you think something is doing you good, it does you good! A sort of placebo effect! VC are some easier to grow than others then and also hardier? Is there anything you need for the vsp that I could swap for varieties I don't have?

Some kale seeds will be in the post to you soon, Ancee - courtesy of the VSP
Hope they help your brother in law and you (and the chooks) enjoy eating them too