Why Lettuce and Leafy Greens are Good for Us

We spend a lot of time on the LettuceInfo.org website and in our social media channels sharing information about nutrition issues surrounding lettuce and leafy greens. We want people to know why lettuce truly is one of the safest, freshest and healthiest foods we can feed our families. In particular, we want registered dietitians and health communicators to have easy access to facts about leafy greens, how they’re grown and what farmers are doing to make sure they are safe.

When we first created the LettuceInfo.org website, we took great pains to make sure the nutritional information we provide is factual and evidence-based.  To do so, we established a panel of experts in nutrition, food safety, farming and communications to help us develop the content for the site.

One such professional is Neva Cochran, MS, RDN, LD who is the woman behind the website Eating Beyond the Headlines. With over 30 years experience as a registered dietitian, 20 years as a magazine nutrition writer and researcher and a veteran of over 1000 nutrition media interviews, Neva has the skills and knowledge we were looking for to compile the nutritional benefits of leafy greens into an easy-to-use format.

Through our partnership with Neva, we have been able to create a really valuable tool that summarizes the nutritional content of leafy greens into one simple sheet. You can view it here.

We also asked Neva to provide additional information that goes beyond what nutrients are present in each of the most popular lettuce and leafy greens types. We wanted her to tell us exactly why these nutrients are so good for us.

We’re providing that information below with some notes so you can identify which specific leafy greens items contain the largest amounts of each nutrient. This information provides a glimpse of the many reasons to eat leafy greens.

We hope you’ll find it useful.

*Excellent Source is defined by the U.S.Department of Food and Agriculture as a serving that provides 20% or more of the Daily Value of a particular nutrient.

**Good Source is defined by the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture as a serving that provides 10 to 19% of the Daily Value of a particular nutrient.

***Also a Source is defined by the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture as a serving that provides 5 to 9% of the Daily Value of a particular nutrient.