Abstract:
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.
Objectives: We aimed to comprehensively evaluate the metabolite and mineral contents of 6 microgreen 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. Nontargeted metabolomics and ionomics analyses were performed to examine the metabolites and minerals,
respectively, in each microgreen species and its mature counterpart.
Results: Nontargeted metabolomics analysis detected 3321 compounds, 1263 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 that 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 with their mature counterparts,
whereas some were not different or lower. In many cases, compounds that were higher in microgreens compared with 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.
