Food - Drink
Is There A Nutritional Difference Between Iceberg And Romaine Lettuce?
By MEGGAN ROBINSON
Salads provide many proven nutritional benefits, and since lettuce forms the basis of most salads, it makes sense to understand which lettuce varieties are the healthiest to use if your primary concern is nutrition. Here are the nutritional differences between the two most popular types of lettuce — Iceberg and Romaine.
Iceberg lettuce contains 10 calories per one cup serving, one gram of fiber, 15% of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of vitamin K, and 6% of vitamin B9. With vitamins A and C, potassium, magnesium, and phosphorus at about 2% of the RDA, no fat, and few calories, Iceberg lettuce is an unlikely choice for nutritious satisfaction.
Romaine lettuce, like Iceberg, is low in calories, contains one gram of fiber, is fat-free, and it also has 2% of the RDA of potassium, vitamin C, magnesium, and phosphorus. However, romaine lettuce stands out when we look at vitamin A, with 25% of the RDA, and vitamin K, with a whopping 40% of the RDA in every cup.
While Romaine is more nutritious than Iceberg, Iceberg keeps comparatively better in transit and in your fridge. Keep any lettuce fresh by removing it from the original packaging, washing it, drying it, and storing it in a crisper drawer, away from fruits like apples and bananas that emit ethylene gas and cause lettuce to spoil faster.