Worst: Iceberg Wedge Salad Thanks to the blue cheese or ranch dressing and bacon crumbles, it can pack in four times the fat of a T-bone steak. It also falls short in the nutrition department. That's because iceberg lettuce contains fewer vitamins and minerals than most dark leafy greens.
But some greens aren't nutrient powerhouses. Iceberg lettuce, for example, contains folate and vitamin A, but is otherwise known for being the least nutrient-dense salad green.
Iceberg lettuce often gets a bad rap—while the classic leafy green is a staple in wedge salads, it gets a lot of flak from fiber-conscious kale fans. Some call it tasteless, watery, even completely devoid of nutrients.
Iceberg Lettuce Is Low in Calories (and Nutrients)
Iceberg lettuce may be the most popular of all the salad greens, but it's definitely not the healthiest base you can choose. While the low calorie count is comparable to other greens, the nutrient totals are not, according to the USDA.
So, to answer your question, the most nutritious lettuce is Romaine. Compared to red leaf, green leaf, butterhead (Boston and bib types) and iceberg, it delivers more folate, potassium, beta carotene and lutein.
The best greens for your guts include kale, spinach, beet greens, mustard greens, dark green leaf lettuce and Romaine lettuce. You can consume them as salads, or opt for the good old' way of steaming or sautéing.
Butter lettuce
Also called Boston or bibb lettuce, butter lettuce is the most nutritious of the lettuces on this list. The leaves are higher in folate, iron, and potassium than iceberg or leaf lettuces.
Answer. Butter lettuce may be easier for some people to digest because it has a low fiber content; however everyone reacts differently to different fruits and vegetables.
1. Spinach. This leafy green tops the chart as one of the most nutrient-dense vegetables. That's because 1 cup (30 grams) of raw spinach provides 16% of the Daily Value (DV) for vitamin A plus 120% of the DV for vitamin K — all for just 7 calories ( 1 ).
“With the high water content, iceberg lettuce isn't as rich in [nutrients] as other types of lettuce,” Feller explains. The sky-high levels of H20, mean there's just not as much room for other good stuff, like vitamins, minerals, and fiber, making iceberg lettuce nutrition less impressive.
Despite its reputation for being a complete zero on the nutritional scale, iceberg lettuce provides significant amounts of vitamins A and K. It also has small amounts of many other healthy nutrients. Although it's low in fiber, it has a high water content, making it a refreshing choice during hot weather.
Different microorganisms can contaminate those leafy greens inside packaged salads, including pathogenic E. coli, norovirus, Salmonella, Listeria, and Cyclospora. But the most common microorganism identified in these unfortunate scenarios is E. coli O157:H7, which can potentially cause life-threatening diseases.
Worst: Salad With Creamy Dressing
Dressings like ranch, blue cheese, and Thousand Island are often high in calories, unhealthy saturated fat, and sodium.
Both cabbage and iceberg lettuce are good sources of nutrients. However, cabbage contains significantly more vitamins and minerals than iceberg lettuce, including vitamins C and K, folate, and potassium ( 1 , 2 ). In particular, green cabbage is packed with antioxidants, including polyphenol compounds and vitamin C.
Spinach and lettuce are nutritionally different. spinach has twice as much potassium, protein, calcium, iron, niacin and vitamins A, C, B, C and B-12 as any other leaf vegetable. Spinach also contains more fiber and minerals including magnesium, phosphorus and potassium than any of the four lettuce types.
Most leafy greens do not cause gas, even in people with irritable bowel syndrome, although tolerance can vary. Everybody has a different gut flora and may react differently to different foods. Romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, Boston lettuce and raw spinach can be used to prepare healthy salads.
Most leafy greens do not cause gas so romaine, iceberg, Boston lettuce, and kale should be fine but if you still have gas after eating leafy greens you can try cooking them a little, which will help with digestion.
Vegetables can also add fiber to your diet. Some high-fiber vegetables are asparagus, broccoli, corn, squash, and potatoes (with the skin still on). Salads made with lettuce, spinach, and cabbage will also help.
Leafy greens will benefit your body no matter if you eat them as raw or cooked vegetables. However, you absorb the abundant minerals such as calcium, iron, and beta carotene in spinach better when it's a cooked vegetable.
The dietary site RealFoodForLife explains that "Romaine lettuce not only has less sugar and sodium" than other greens (in particular iceberg lettuce), but twice the protein and calcium. Romaine clocks in with three times the Vitamin K, four times the iron and eight times the Vitamin C.
Spinach is one of the best-tasting and most nutritious salad greens – and only at 7 calories per cup! A true health-food powerhouse.
Lettuce is a low gas-releasing substrate for microbiota fermentation and lettuce-induced abdominal distension is produced by an uncoordinated activity of the abdominal walls. Correction of the somatic response might be more effective than the current dietary restriction strategy.