Nutrients provided by microgreens during pregnancy

This is the first article in our four-part series on microgreens during pregnancy. It covers the nutrients that matter in these months, and what published data actually shows microgreens contain. Part II looks at varieties, Part III covers safety and handling, and Part IV has recipes.

A claim we removed from this article

An earlier version of this page stated that regular consumption of these sprouts “helps reduce the risk of congenital defects.” We have removed that sentence, because we could not find a source that supports it — and because the three sources the page originally cited were two shops selling microgreen seeds and kits, plus an Instagram post. None of them is an acceptable authority on prenatal health, and they have been removed too.

Here is what the established finding actually says. The NHS advises that anyone pregnant, trying for a baby or who could get pregnant takes a 400-microgram folic acid supplement daily until 12 weeks of pregnancy, and states that folate reduces the risk of birth defects called neural tube defects, such as spina bifida. That evidence concerns a supplement, at a defined dose, started before conception. It does not transfer to eating a handful of vegetables, and we are not aware of any study that has tested microgreens against birth-defect risk. If you are pregnant or trying to conceive, take the supplement your doctor or midwife recommends. Microgreens are not a substitute for it.

What pregnancy actually changes

Folate: the requirement really does rise

EFSA sets an Adequate Intake of 600 micrograms of dietary folate equivalents (DFE) per day for pregnant women, against a Population Reference Intake of 330 µg DFE/day for other adults — close to double. Worth noting alongside it: EFSA states that it also considered several health outcomes possibly associated with folate intake or status, but found the data insufficient to derive reference values from them. So “folate requirements are higher in pregnancy” is solid. “Folate-rich food prevents birth defects” is a different claim, and a weaker one.

Iron: not what most articles claim

This is where we had to correct ourselves most. EFSA’s dietary reference values for iron are the same for pregnant women as for premenopausal women — a Population Reference Intake of 16 mg/day — because the Panel assumed that iron stores and the enhanced absorption that occurs in pregnancy provide the additional iron needed. There is no separate, higher EU dietary iron reference value for pregnancy.

That is not a reason to be casual about iron. Iron-deficiency anemia in pregnancy is real, common, and something your clinician screens for and treats. But it does mean this page should not have told you that pregnancy places an extra dietary iron demand on you that microgreens can help meet.

Vitamin C: the one absorption claim that holds up

Pairing vitamin C with plant-based (non-haem) iron is genuinely substantiated. EFSA’s Panel concluded that “a cause and effect relationship has been established between the dietary intake of vitamin C and increasing non haem iron absorption,” and noted that this applies across all ages. This is the mechanism actually worth building meals around: put a vitamin-C source in the same dish as the lentils, chickpeas or leafy greens.

What microgreens have been measured to contain

Two published datasets are worth citing here, and both describe composition — what is in the plant — rather than any health effect.

• Vitamins C, E and K, and carotenoids. Xiao and colleagues measured 25 commercially available microgreens and found total ascorbic acid (vitamin C) ranging from 20.4 to 147.0 mg per 100 g fresh weight, phylloquinone (vitamin K) from 0.6 to 4.1 µg/g fresh weight, and alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E) from 4.9 to 87.4 mg/100 g fresh weight. The width of those ranges is the real finding: “microgreens” is not one nutritional profile, and the variety decides. Compared with concentrations in mature leaves in the USDA National Nutrient Database, the microgreen cotyledon leaves had higher nutritional densities.
• Minerals. Weber grew broccoli microgreens using compost-based and hydroponic methods of the kind you can run at home and compared them with published data for the mature vegetable. Compost-grown microgreens had higher phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc, iron, sodium and copper concentrations than the mature vegetable, with an average microgreen-to-vegetable ratio of 1.73 across eight nutritionally important minerals. Magnesium, manganese, copper and zinc were higher regardless of growing method.

What we cannot tell you

• How much folate a portion of microgreens provides. The composition studies above measured vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, carotenoids and minerals — not folate. We have not found published folate figures for culinary microgreens, so we cannot tell you what share of that 600 µg DFE/day a handful contributes. An earlier version of this page implied we could.
• Anything about sulforaphane and pregnancy. Broccoli microgreens do contain glucoraphanin, the glucosinolate precursor of sulforaphane; Demir and colleagues measured it in broccoli microgreens grown under different LED light regimes. But an earlier version of this page said sulforaphane’s antioxidant action was “important during pregnancy, especially in cases with metabolic risk or gestational hypertension.” We found no evidence for that and have removed it. A compound being present in a plant is not a treatment for a pregnancy complication.
• That microgreens meaningfully add protein or fiber. A garnish-sized handful is a few grams of food. We have removed the suggestion that it contributes usefully to protein intake or to relieving pregnancy constipation — the portion size does not support it. Whole grains, pulses, fruit and vegetables do that job.

So where does that leave microgreens in pregnancy?

In a reasonable place — just a smaller one than this article originally claimed. Per gram they are a dense source of vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, carotenoids and minerals; they are cheap and quick to grow at home; and a vitamin-C-rich variety served alongside plant-based iron is one of the few food combinations here with real substantiation behind it. They are not a folate supplement, not a treatment for any pregnancy condition, and — being a raw ready-to-eat green — they come with handling requirements.

Next in the series: Part II, on which varieties are worth choosing. If you only read one instalment, though, read Part III on safety — that is where the guidance that actually matters lives.

References

• NHS. B vitamins and folic acid — Vitamins and minerals. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-b/
• EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for folate. EFSA Journal 2014;12(11):3893. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2014.3893
• EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for iron. EFSA Journal 2015;13(10):4254. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2015.4254
• EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of a health claim related to vitamin C and increasing non-haem iron absorption pursuant to Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006. EFSA Journal 2014;12(1):3514. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2014.3514
• Xiao Z, Lester GE, Luo Y, Wang Q. Assessment of vitamin and carotenoid concentrations of emerging food products: edible microgreens. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2012;60(31):7644–7651. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf300459b
• Weber CF. Broccoli microgreens: a mineral-rich crop that can diversify food systems. Frontiers in Nutrition 2017;4:7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2017.00007
• Demir K, Sarıkamış G, Çakırer Seyrek G. Effect of LED lights on the growth, nutritional quality and glucosinolate content of broccoli, cabbage and radish microgreens. Food Chemistry 2023;401:134088. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2022.134088

This article is general information, not medical advice. Dietary needs in pregnancy are individual — always follow the guidance of your doctor or midwife.