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Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 9:29 am
by Kingbird44
So, where I live we have lots of local produce, and I have a farm share. I have been wanting to look into the details of the nutritional info of various kinds of lettuce, etc. for a while (in part because I would rather feed Sedge lettuce from my farm share and not have to buy him separate lettuce).

So I nerded out a little bit last night and made a powerpoint with nutritional info of a bunch of different turtle veggies so I could more easily compare / look at details. Anyone interested? I'm not sure how to share this.

Probably the most relevant point of interest is the calcium / phosphorous ratios. But other details are also interesting (carbs vs protein, vit K, etc.)

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 10:55 am
by rambologic
You can put it on a Google drive spreadsheet for anyone to look at.

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 11:32 am
by PokePony
Would love to read that, it's so thoughtful of you to share it with everyone ^^

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:55 pm
by Kingbird44

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 4:05 pm
by rambologic
Yup, I can see it! Nice work! For those of us who don't have a whole lot of time to read through it, would you mind sharing what your findings were for the best options of greens for RES turtles?

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 5:22 pm
by Kingbird44
Sure. I did make a chart on the last slide of the seemingly relevant vitamins, etc. But I don't feel fully qualified because there's a bunch of other vitamins and stuff in some of the greens and I don't know if any of them particularly matter for red-eared sliders. If anyone else has thoughts I'm more than happy to hear them.

So, if you look at that chart I made you will see the Calcium / Phosphorus ratio highlighted (I just divided to make a ratio), because, according to the nutrition section of this site, RES need calcium and phosphorous but should always have more calcium than phosphorus.

In order of highest to lowest ratio:
Turnip greens (4.5)
Dandilion greens (2.8 )
Green leaf and Red leaf (~1.2) (interstingly different in some respects, but not this. Red leaf has much less Vit C than green leaf or Romaine, apparently)
Romaine and Butterhead ~1.1 and 1.0 respectively
Then green beans, carrot, iceberg lettuce, and green pepper, in descending order, all below 1 (so more phosphorous than calcium)

I was most surprised by the big difference between green & red leaf lettuce and turnip & dandelion greens. So far I don't think Sedge liked either of the top two though...

The amount of a few other vitamins varies a bunch (and I am not sure of their relative importance):
Vit C (highest in bell pepper, turnip greens)
Vit A (highest in green leaf, red leaf, romaine, carrot, turnip greens, dandelion leaves)
Vit K (highest in dandelion greens and turnip greens)

Butterhead has a bit less of some vitamins, but it seems reasonably close to romaine in terms of nutritional profile. This is of interest to me, as they tend to have butterhead at the farm. Unfortunately I could not get much info on oak leaf lettuce.

I'm also less sure about the smaller amounts of potassium, magnesium, and some other stuff.

Also, I have no idea if it matters at this scale, but carrot and dandelion leaves are highest in calories. But also highest in carbs (dandelion greens are the highest in fat and protein calories, too). Lowest in protein are iceberg and bell pepper.

How's that for an overview? :wink:

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 7:57 pm
by rambologic
Impressive work, good job! I apologize for not scrolling that far. Looks like turnip greens are the real winner here. I am curious though, where did you get the nutritional info? I'm wondering how things like Cilantro, Basil, Thyme, Alfalfa, and Rosemary stack up. Plenty of that where I live.

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Mon Oct 16, 2017 9:29 pm
by Kingbird44
All of it, except for the one slide on oak leaf, is from nutritiondata.self.com. There are a lot of websites, but this one seems somewhat reputable since it is mostly sourced from the USDA. But I don't know too much more about it.

You can change the serving size, so I made them all 1 ounce to compare.

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 12:07 am
by rambologic
Seems legit. My findings were interesting.

Cilantro, Raw: 1.4

Rosemary, fresh: 4.8 (88.8mg vs 18.5mg!)

Basil, fresh: 3.2

Thyme, fresh: 3.8

Alfalfa: .5

Interesting that a lot of these spices are seemingly good sources of calcium, when compared to other greens. Similar to what you say though, I'm not sure what you are really looking for outside of that ratio for RES turtles.

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 6:54 am
by Kingbird44
Yeah, interesting. Maybe some others will chime in. The only things that I (and I assume you) know are "bad" are things that block the absorption of calcium (oxilic acid) and iodine (brassica). Thanks for adding some data!

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Tue Oct 17, 2017 10:12 am
by PokePony
I download it, I'm so thankful :) I'm definitely going to plant some greens next year, I'll be sure to check your file !

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:04 am
by Kingbird44
:)

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:08 pm
by steve
Great work Kingbird! I did similar research many years ago, glad to see you have a similar interest.

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:35 am
by Kingbird44
Thanks, Steve :)

Any idea about the other nutrients that are or aren't important for RES? Or who on here might know?

Re: Veggie nutritional info

PostPosted: Thu Oct 19, 2017 1:55 pm
by steve
You covered the important ones, maybe fiber and fat should be there?