LETTUCE and Salad  

Benefits:

• Very low in calories - unless smothered with mayonnaise or oil-rich dressing.
• Contain folate and beta carotene, which the body coverts to vitamin A.
• Watercress and raw spinach are useful sources of iron.

You can eat as much lettuce and salad leaves as you like: they are 90 percent water and contain very few calories - these only amount up if you add oily dressing.

Salad leaves of any kind supply folate and beta carotene (the vegetable form of vitamin A, vital for a healthy immune function). The darker green the leaves are, the more beta carotene they are likely to contain. But even if you eat a whole bowl full of salad at a sitting, your nutrient intake is unlikely to be significant, apart from useful amounts of phytochemicals. Spinach is an exception, but it is easier to eat a portion of cooked spinach then to munch through the same weight of raw spinach, and boiling does not affect the high beta carotene content. Watercress is also highly nutritious: 100g supplies 2.2 mg of iron, a quarter of the recommended daily intake for a man - but that is a lot of watercress for one person to eat. Lettuce has lately been joined by a host of continental cousins: look out for nutty lamb's lettuce, peppery rocket and slightly bitter radicchio (a red type of chicory).

Return To The Following Index Pages:

1. Fruit
2. Vegetables
3. Herbs & Spices
4. Vitamins & Minerals