Nutritional Value Of Different Kinds Of Lettuce

Adding lettuce to your diet is an easy way to add low calories amid large quantities of food, but low calories don’t necessarily mean a nutritious choice. Iceberg lettuce is a favorite for salads in homes and restaurants across America, but the nutritional value of this popular type pales in comparison to Romaine lettuce. In almost all cases, the darker the leaves of the lettuce, the more nutrients it contains. Healthaliciousness.com offers a comparison of the nutrients found in the different types of lettuce and all comparisons are based on a uniform serving size of 100 grams.

Iceberg Lettuce

While the calorie count in 100 grams of iceberg lettuce is a low 14, this type offers substantially lower levels of vitamins and minerals than other lettuce types. Based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet, iceberg lettuce fails to exceed the recommended daily intake for any nutrient and most figures are well below 10 percent. Iceberg lettuce provides just 501 international units of vitamin A, 2.8 milligrams of vitamin C and .18 milligrams of vitamin E. The greatest nutritional value found in this type of lettuce is the 24.1 micrograms of vitamin K and 29 micrograms of folate, which provide 30 percent and 7 percent, respectively, of the recommended daily intake.

Romaine Lettuce

“Prevention Magazine’s Nutrition Advisor” has crowned Romaine lettuce as the nutritional king of all salad greens because it contains abundant levels of folate, which can reduce fatigue, and beta carotene, which lowers the risk of lung and colon cancer. The slightly higher caloric content of 17 is more than offset by Romaine’s 8711 international units of vitamin A, 103 micrograms of vitamin K, 136 micrograms of folate and 24 milligrams of vitamin C. These figures mean that 100 grams of Romaine lettuce will exceed the entire recommended daily intake of vitamins A and K. Those 24 milligrams of vitamin C will compile 40 percent of your daily requirement and you can easily consume 34 percent of the daily intake of folate.

Butterhead Lettuce

A 100 gram serving of butterhead lettuce will provide you with 7 percent of the recommended daily intake of iron whereas iceberg lettuce gives you only 2 percent. The Linus Pauling Institute states that iron is an essential component for metabolizing proteins and enzymes to enhance energy levels. Butterhead lettuce also provides 3312 international units of vitamin A, 56.3 micrograms of vitamin K, 40.1 micrograms of folate, 19.3 milligrams of calcium and 131 milligrams of potassium. The higher levels of nutrients than iceberg lettuce combined with the softer leaves makes it a superior choice for who have trouble eating the sturdier leaves of the iceberg variety.

Red and Green Leaf Lettuces

Choose red leaf lettuce over green leaf lettuce only for decorative reasons as the green leaf variety is much more nutritionally rich. The difference in calories, sodium, fiber and fat is negligible. Both types of lettuce offer between 7,400 and 7,500 international units of vitamin A and 6mcg of folate. Red and green leaf lettuce both exceed the recommended daily value of vitamin K substantially thanks to the 24 micrograms contained in red leaf lettuce and the 174 micrograms found in green leaf. Where green leaf lettuce really blows away the red leaf competition is in its vitamin C content. The green variety provides 18 milligrams that amounts to 30 percent of the recommended daily intake compared to just 3.7 milligrams in red leaf lettuce.