First, let's take a look at the macros. Each of these are listed in grams and as usual, normalized to 200 calories for easy comparison, so we're always comparing apples to apples.
| Spinach | Lettuce |
| Nutrient | spinach | lettuce |
| Protein | 25g | 21g |
| Carbohydrate | 32g | 34g |
| Fiber | 19g | 17g |
| Fat | 3g | 3g |
| Monounsat. Fat | 0g | 3g |
| Polyunsat. Fat | 1g | 2g |
| Saturated Fat | 1g | 0g |
Next, let's take a look at the Vitamin density. These values are shown in units of percent of recommended daily intake. And since we're showing 200 calories worth, this means anything above 10% is good.
| Nutrient | spinach | lettuce |
| Choline | 37% | 29% |
| Vitamin A | 653% | 409% |
| Vitamin C | 326% | 76% |
| Vitamin E | 147% | 23% |
| Vitamin K | 5249% | 1967% |
Spinach have significantly more Vitamins A, E, C, K than lettuce. Spinach are a great source of Thiamin, Niacin, Zinc, Phosphorus. Spinach are an excellent source of Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Potassium, Magnesium, Calcium, Iron. Lettuce are a good source of Vitamin E, Zinc. Lettuce are a great source of Vitamin C, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Magnesium, Phosphorus. Lettuce are an excellent source of Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Potassium, Calcium, Iron.
And here we see the B-vitamins: B1 (Thiamin), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin), B5 (Pantothenic Acid), B6 (Pyridoxine)
| Nutrient | spinach | lettuce |
| Vitamin B1 | 68% | 88% |
| Vitamin B2 | 149% | 87% |
| Vitamin B3 | 53% | 46% |
| Vitamin B5 | 11% | 46% |
| Vitamin B6 | 154% | 115% |
| Vitamin B12 | 0% | 0% |
Now, lets look at mineral density. Here we have a lot of important electrolytes and minerals. Once again, units are in percent of RDI, thus for this 200 calorie serving anything above 10% would considered high.
| Nutrient | spinach | lettuce |
| Sodium | 46% | 5% |
| Potasium | 139% | 105% |
| Calcium | 172% | 108% |
| Magnesium | 196% | 57% |
| Phosphorus | 73% | 88% |
| Iron | 393% | 318% |
| Manganese | 339% | 120% |
| Selenium | 19% | 21% |
| Copper | 113% | 25% |
| Zinc | 49% | 33% |
Rank foods/recipes by Nutrients
You can use the Nutrient based Food and recipe finder, to rank foods based on nutrients:
And get results like this:
