{"id":27408,"date":"2026-10-01T10:00:43","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T14:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=27408"},"modified":"2026-09-17T15:01:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T19:01:09","slug":"lettuce-and-other-salad-greens-how-they-compare-nutritionally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2026\/10\/01\/lettuce-and-other-salad-greens-how-they-compare-nutritionally\/","title":{"rendered":"Lettuce and Other Salad Greens: How They Compare Nutritionally"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

istockphoto<\/p><\/div>\n

By Reed Mangels, PhD, RDN<\/p>\n

The 2026 outbreak of Cyclosporiasis associated with iceberg lettuce, and other factors, inspired a columnist for the Washington Post<\/em> to call for stopping eating lettuce<\/a>. Among the other factors was lettuce\u2019s 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\u2019s what I found:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Salad Green<\/strong><\/td>\nFiber (grams)<\/strong><\/td>\nCalcium (milligrams)<\/strong><\/td>\nPotassium (milligrams)<\/strong><\/td>\nFolate (micrograms)<\/strong><\/td>\nVitamin A (micrograms RAE)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Iceberg lettuce<\/td>\n1.4<\/td>\n21<\/td>\n161<\/td>\n\u00a0 33<\/td>\n\u00a0 28<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Romaine lettuce<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n31<\/td>\n232<\/td>\n128<\/td>\n410<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Leaf lettuce<\/td>\n0.9<\/td>\n26<\/td>\n140<\/td>\n\u00a0\u00a0 7<\/td>\n\u00a0 27<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Butterhead lettuce<\/td>\n1.2<\/td>\n38<\/td>\n262<\/td>\n\u00a0 80<\/td>\n183<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Arugula<\/td>\n0.6<\/td>\n64<\/td>\n148<\/td>\n\u00a0 39<\/td>\n\u00a0 48<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Radicchio<\/td>\n0.7<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n242<\/td>\n\u00a0 48<\/td>\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Endive<\/td>\n3.1<\/td>\n52<\/td>\n314<\/td>\n142<\/td>\n108<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Spinach<\/td>\n1.3<\/td>\n60<\/td>\n334<\/td>\n116<\/td>\n282<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kale<\/td>\n1.7<\/td>\n107<\/td>\n146<\/td>\n\u00a0 26<\/td>\n101<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Kale is a good source of calcium. If a bowl full of kale doesn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

While 2 cups of any of these salad greens won\u2019t provide much more than 10% (and often less than that) of an adult\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re concerned about Cyclosporiasis, you may opt for locally grown salad greens since the 2026 outbreak appears to have come from large scale foreign producers.<\/p>\n

The contents of this website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal and Vegan Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s purported minimal nutritional value. I heard this interview and it led me to look into the nutritional content of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27408"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27484,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27408\/revisions\/27484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}