Cheerios Have More Nutrients Than Lettuce

A fresh salad with tomatoes, onions, peppers and cucumber is a delicious, healthy meal.  However, if you are like me, your salad is mostly lettuce. 

I started to wonder about the nutrition of lettuce.  I compared the vitamins and minerals of iceberg lettuce to Honey Nut Cheerios.  (One serving of cereal and one cup of lettuce.)  I was very surprised, except for Vitamin K, the cereal had more vitamins and minerals than iceberg lettuce!

Of course the vitamins and minerals are added to the cereal ....but I thought that lettuce would naturally have more nutrients.

So I started wondering about other salad greens such as romaine, arugula, spinach, kale, cabbage, and collards.

A comparison table is given below.  It is based on 1 cup of raw greens and provides the percentage of the recommended Daily Value.

All of the greens listed above have more vitamins and nutrients than iceberg lettuce!

Spinach is the winner.  It has more Iron than the other greens.  And it has significantly more Vitamin A and K then the other greens.

Vitamin K helps your bones stay strong and your blood clot. Cleveland Clinic  Vitamin A is also important.  Vitamin A promotes healthy vision and helps to make sure you organs and immune system are working properly.  Health Line

Based on the table I am going to start adding spinach to my salads to get more nutritional value.

I was surprised that cabbage has so much Vitamin C. One cup of chopped red cabbage has 54% of the recommended Daily Value for Vitamin C, which is the same amount found in a small orange. Health Line Next time I have a cold I will eat a big salad with red cabbage.

I don't like kale or arugula but I tried collards when I found out they have more nutrients then lettuce. I really like them!  They are less bitter than kale and arugula and last a long time in the refrigerator.