Comparison between the mineral profile and nitrate content of microgreens and mature lettuces

Microgreens are a new class of edible vegetables harvested when seed-leaves have fully expanded and before true leaves have emerged. They are gaining increasing popularity as new culinary ingredients. However, no scientific data comparing the mineral content of microgreens and mature plants are available. Thus, the goal of this work was to perform a comparison between mineral profile and NO3- content of microgreens and mature lettuces. Results showed that microgreens possess a higher content of most minerals (Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Se and Mo) and a lower NO3- content than mature lettuces. Therefore, microgreens can be considered as a good source of minerals in the human diet, and their consumption could be an important strategy to meet children's minerals dietary requirements without exposing them to harmful NO3-. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.