Leafy Challenge: Is there anything that beats spinach?

[philo351]

I've been comparing veggies and I've found that the nutrition you get from spinach per calorie exceeds all other vegetables and leafy greens by a margin of 20% or more when it comes to vitamin content and 40% or more in minerals. It has twice as much or more protein than any other vegetable or leafy green and has an amino score almost equal to chicken breast.

The closest contender was Kale. At the moment, I hold spinach to be the title holder in definitive super-foods.

My question is this: is there a natural, raw food that can beat spinach in nutrient content per calorie? Is spinach king or just a high noble in the kingdom of super-foods? Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks!

[MysticTree]

Have you really compared all leafy greens? Crumbs! I'm surprised sunflower greens didn't come out better.

What about comparing nutrient value per penny spent?

[philo351]

No, I haven't compared everything. I just looked for blogs and articles on the healthiest greens and compared them. I compared spinach with 'endive', 'collards', 'broccoli', 'arugula', and 'chard'. Spinach is far beyond all of them, it's not even comparable.

I haven't been able to find any data on sunflower greens. Do you know of anything? I'm relying mostly on the USDA SR23. I don't really know where to find any other resources that as thorough.

I'm going to the store today so I'll definitely mark the prices and see how the above items compare in terms of nutrients per penny. That's a great idea.

[T-Bird]

I have always heard that kale and collards come out on top.

[Basenjimamma]

I would think kale is number #1 but I might be wrong...Spinach rules in my house...along with kale:)

[philo351]

I have a side by side of "Collards", "Kale", and "Spinach". Each has their own strength in comparsion to the others, but overall spinach seems to be the superest of superfoods. I had no idea. I always thought it was kale snf I didn't really respect spinach as much as kale

[philo351]

well, that didn't turn out to be very clear. Here's the link to the page I got this from. It's based on the USDA SR23 data.

Kale - http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/...roducts/2461/2

Collards - http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/...roducts/2410/2

Spinach - http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/...roducts/2626/2

[T-Bird]

those charts don't mention everything - and the brassica family - or which kale and collards are members - has huge cancer fighting phytochemical components......I don't see those factored in...

[MysticTree]

I don't eat greens because one is better than another nutritionally ... I eat the ones I like!

[philo351]

ah, I'm not dissing on other greens and my saying that spinach is king is more or less tongue in cheek.

I just never knew that spinach was in such a premium class among the greens. I always thought of kale and endive as the nobility of greens and spinach to be a middle class merchant.