Background
Microgreens are the young leafy greens of many vegetables, herbs, grains, and flowers with potential to promote human health and sustainably diversify the global food system. For successful further integration into the global food system and evaluation of their health impacts, it is critical to elucidate and optimize their nutritional quality.
Objective
We aimed to comprehensively evaluate the metabolite and mineral contents of six microgreens species, and the influence of maturity on their contents.
Methods
Plant species evaluated were from the Brassicaceae (arugula, broccoli, and red cabbage), Amaranthaceae (red beet and red amaranth), and Fabaceae (pea) plant families. Non-targeted metabolomics and ionomics analyses were performed to examine the metabolites and minerals, respectively, in each microgreen species and its mature counterpart.
Results
Non-targeted metabolomics analysis detected 3,321 compounds, 1,263 of which were annotated and included nutrients and bioactive compounds. Ionomics analysis detected and quantified 26 minerals including macrominerals, trace minerals, ultratrace minerals, and other metals. Principal component analysis indicated microgreens have distinct metabolite and mineral profiles compared with one another and with their mature counterparts. Several compounds were higher (p < 0.05; fold change ≥ 2) in microgreens compared to their mature counterpart, while some were unchanged or lower. In many cases, compounds that were higher in microgreens compared to the mature counterpart were also unique to that microgreen species.
Conclusions
These data provide evidence for the nutritional quality of microgreens, and can inform future research and development aimed at characterizing and optimizing microgreen nutritional quality and health impacts.