Lettuce and Other Salad Greens: How They Compare Nutritionally
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By Reed Mangels, PhD, RDN
The 2026 outbreak of Cyclosporiasis associated with iceberg lettuce, and other factors, inspired a columnist for the Washington Post to call for stopping eating lettuce. Among the other factors was lettuce’s purported minimal nutritional value. I heard this interview and it led me to look into the nutritional content of different lettuces and other salad greens. I checked out the amount of fiber, calcium, potassium, folate, and vitamin A in 2 cups of salad greens. Here’s what I found:
| Salad Green | Fiber (grams) | Calcium (milligrams) | Potassium (milligrams) | Folate (micrograms) | Vitamin A (micrograms RAE) |
| Iceberg lettuce | 1.4 | 21 | 161 | 33 | 28 |
| Romaine lettuce | 2 | 31 | 232 | 128 | 410 |
| Leaf lettuce | 0.9 | 26 | 140 | 7 | 27 |
| Butterhead lettuce | 1.2 | 38 | 262 | 80 | 183 |
| Arugula | 0.6 | 64 | 148 | 39 | 48 |
| Radicchio | 0.7 | 15 | 242 | 48 | 1 |
| Endive | 3.1 | 52 | 314 | 142 | 108 |
| Spinach | 1.3 | 60 | 334 | 116 | 282 |
| Kale | 1.7 | 107 | 146 | 26 | 101 |
Unsurprisingly, iceberg lettuce is not a nutritional star. It does supply some potassium (about 5% of the RDA for an adult man) and folate (about 8% of the RDA for an adult man) but other salad greens have more to offer, nutritionally speaking.
Kale is a good source of calcium. If a bowl full of kale doesn’t sound that appetizing, try a massaged kale salad or the more tender baby kale. Romaine and endive have the most fiber in a 2-cup serving; spinach, endive, and butterhead lettuce have the most potassium in a 2-cup serving.
While 2 cups of any of these salad greens won’t provide much more than 10% (and often less than that) of an adult’s needs for fiber, calcium, and potassium, the amount they supply, along with nutrients from other foods, can help you to meet your needs. Romaine, butterhead, and spinach are the highest in vitamin A and endive and romaine are the highest in folate.
If you’re concerned about Cyclosporiasis, you may opt for locally grown salad greens since the 2026 outbreak appears to have come from large scale foreign producers.
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