Red leaf lettuce is a variety of green leaf lettuce and one of 100 different lettuce varieties grown worldwide. Unlike iceberg lettuce, red leaf lettuce is a loose-headed variety with long leaves. Red leaf lettuce has a mild, watery flavor with soft green leaves that are tinged with a reddish color. Red leaf lettuce is available year-round though its peak times are from midwinter to early spring. Because of the large size of red leaf lettuce leaves, they make a great alternative to bread when creating a sandwich. Simply place the meat or filling of your choice inside the leaf and roll up.
Basic Nutrition
According to the USDA Nutrient Database, a one-cup serving of shredded red leaf lettuce contains 4 calories, 0.37 grams of protein, 0.06 grams of fat, 0.63 grams of carbohydrates and 0.3 grams of dietary fiber. While looking at these numbers, you might think that red leaf lettuce is filled with empty calories, but despite the low calorie count, this lettuce is actually packed with vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
Minerals
Minerals are essential for your body to make bones, produce hormones and regulate your heartbeat. Deficiencies in minerals can cause health complications such as osteoporosis from not enough calcium. That one-cup serving of red leaf lettuce contains 9 milligrams of calcium, 0.34 milligrams iron, 3 milligrams magnesium, 8 milligrams of phosphorus, 52 milligrams of potassium, 7 milligrams sodium, 0.06 milligrams zinc, 0.008 milligrams copper, 0.057 milligrams manganese and 0.4 micrograms of selenium.
Vitamins
Vitamins are essential for your health, and each vitamin is necessary for a particular function. For instance, vitamin D is essential for bone growth and the regulation of calcium. A one-cup serving of red leaf lettuce contains 1.0 milligrams vitamin C, 0.018 milligrams thiamine, 0.022 milligrams riboflavin, 0.090 milligrams niacin, 0.040 milligrams pantothenic acid, 0.028 milligrams vitamin B-6, 10 micrograms folate, 3.3 milligrams choline, 1,259 micrograms of beta-carotene, 2,098 international units of vitamin A, 483 micrograms lutein and 39.3 micrograms vitamin K.
Amino Acids
Amino acids are essential building blocks of life and play a role in digestion, growth and repair of body tissues. Amino acids are broken down into three categories known as essential, nonessential and conditional. Essential amino acids must be consumed in your diet and include histidine, isoleucine, leucine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine. Nonessential amino acids are made by your body, but can also be acquired through your diet. Nonessential amino acids include alanine, asparagine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid. Conditional amino acids must be acquired through your diet, but are only necessary in times of stress or illness. They include arginine, cysteine, glutamine, tyrosine, glycine, ornithine, proline and serine. A one-cup serving of red leaf lettuce contains small amounts of all amino acids, except asparagine and glutamine.
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