How microgreens affect sports performance — and how to add them to your diet

Nutritional density only counts if it reaches the plate. This second part of “Microgreens and Sports Performance” moves from the nutrient profile to daily use: which varieties are good sources of what, how much is realistic to eat, and how they fit into a complete nutritional strategy.

A more practical view: from theory to the athlete’s daily diet

In the first part, we looked at the nutrient profile of microgreens: their concentration of vitamins, antioxidant compounds, minerals and other bioactive compounds.

In this second part, we focus on how to actually get them into a training diet. They are small, but they are easy to add to meals you are already eating, which is usually the deciding factor in whether a food ends up in the rotation at all.

Choosing varieties: what each one is a good source of

Different microgreens have different nutrient profiles, so rotating varieties is sensible. The descriptions below are about composition — what tends to be present in the plant. They are not claims that eating a given variety produces a given result in training. Exact amounts vary considerably with cultivar, growing conditions and harvest age.

Varieties often chosen by endurance athletes

For sports such as running, cycling, cross training, HIIT and football.

• Pea shoots — a source of plant protein, iron and B vitamins.
• Sunflower — a source of magnesium and unsaturated fats.
• Radish — contains glucosinolates, the compounds behind its peppery bite.

Varieties often chosen by strength athletes

For strength training, weightlifting, calisthenics, powerlifting and combat sports.

• Broccoli — a source of glucoraphanin, which the body converts to sulforaphane when the leaves are chewed or chopped. Sulforaphane is an active research area, not an established performance aid — see what the research actually shows.
• Kale — a source of calcium, magnesium and vitamin K.
• Cilantro — a source of minerals, and a strong flavour that carries a bowl.

Varieties often chosen during heavy training blocks

• Red cabbage — a source of vitamin C and anthocyanins.
• Amaranth — a source of minerals, with a deep red colour that holds up in a bowl.
• Basil — aromatic, and useful for making repetitive meals palatable.

How much should an athlete eat?

There is no evidence-based intake for microgreens, for athletes or for anyone else. No dose-response study has been done, so any gram figure by training load would be invented.

This page previously carried a table of daily amounts scaled by training load — 20–30 g for general health, rising to 60–90 g for injury recovery. Those numbers had no source and we have removed them. We are not able to replace them with better numbers, because the studies that would produce them have not been done.

What can be said honestly: microgreens count towards your vegetable intake. Public health guidance is built around total fruit and vegetable intake — the World Health Organization recommends at least 400 g of fruit and vegetables per day for adults — not around any single crop. Treat microgreens as one contributor to that total, spread across meals or shakes according to taste and budget. An athlete with specific nutritional needs should work with a registered sports dietitian, not with a figure from a web page.

Ways to include microgreens in an athlete’s diet

Pre-workout smoothies

Suggested combination:

• pea microgreens
• banana
• plant-based milk or yogurt
• oats
• chia seeds

The oats and banana are the part carrying the carbohydrate here; the microgreens are for nutrients and flavour.

Post-workout bowls

• broccoli microgreens
• quinoa or brown rice
• tofu, chicken or legumes
• olive oil and lemon

A straightforward protein-and-carbohydrate bowl, with the microgreens added raw at the end so they keep their texture.

In everyday meals

• toast with eggs and microgreens
• tortilla wraps
• poke-style rice bowls
• soups and chilled soups
• toppings for pasta or pizza

In conclusion

Microgreens are easy to grow, easy to add to a meal, and nutrient-dense for their weight. That is a good enough reason to eat them. What we cannot tell you is that they will make you faster, stronger, or quicker to recover: nobody has run that study.

Areas researchers have flagged as worth investigating include effects on gut microbiota, extracts as supplement ingredients, and antioxidant status under heavy training loads. Those are open questions, not findings.

Sources

Balik, S., Elgudayem, F., Dasgan, H. Y., Kafkas, N. E., & Gruda, N. S. (2025). Nutritional quality profiles of six microgreens. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 6213. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39979322/ — a composition study. It measures nutrient content in the plants and does not test any athletic outcome.

Correction note: we removed the table of daily gram amounts by training load (20–30 g for general health up to 60–90 g for injury recovery). It had no source, and we have not replaced it, because no dose-response study exists. We also removed physiological claims we could not support — that radish “improves circulation and oxygenation”, that broccoli “supports cellular repair”, that cilantro “helps reduce heavy metals”, that amaranth “supports immune function and muscle regeneration”, that basil has “anti-inflammatory properties”, and the summary lines promising enhanced energy production, muscular oxygenation, protein synthesis, reduced post-training inflammation and improved body composition.

Sources dropped in the same pass: Singh, Lall & Sagar (2025) in the International Journal of Advanced Biochemistry Research, because that journal returns no records in PubMed and its publisher advertises publication within roughly one week of submission — we do not treat it as peer-reviewed evidence; and three commercial and consumer blogs (Skye Mountain, Microgreens World, Enriched Being) that were supporting health and performance claims. Under our editorial standards, grower blogs are citable for growing technique but not for health, nutritional or therapeutic claims.