Microgreens Have More Nutrients Than Mature Vegetables, Study Suggests

Have you eaten your microgreens today?

As good-for-you as full-grown veggies are, a new study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry suggests microgreens may contain even more nutrients and vitamins than their more mature versions.

Wondering what a microgreen is? The researchers from the University of Maryland explained that they are immature greens that are harvested anywhere from a week to two weeks after germination.

Researchers examined how many phytochemicals — the name for plant compounds — were in 25 kinds of microgreens, including cilantro, celery, red cabbage, green basil and arugula.

On a whole, the microgreens contained more nutrients than their fully-grown selves.

“Maximum values of vitamin C, viamin K1, and vitamin E were found in red cabbage, garnet amaranth, and green daikon radish microgreens, respectively,” researchers wrote in the study. “In terms of carotenoids, cilantro microgreens showed the highest concentration of lutein/zeaxanthin and violaxanthin and ranked second in beta-carotene concentration.”

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