This interactive page shows some common foods, ranked from most nutritious (at the top) to least nutritious, based on the USDA nutrition database. Most nutritious simply means containing a large variety of nutrients and large quantities of those nutrients. So for example, both carrots and liver have lots of vitamin A, but liver also has large quantities of many other nutrients, whereas carrots do not, so liver is much more nutritious than carrots.
Display mode: Foods | Nutrients More options...
"Rich in" cutoff: only show foods with at least 0% 1% 10% 25% 50% of the RDA for the chosen nutrient(s).
| Food | Nutrient | Amount | Graph |
| Beef liver | Choline | 426mg |
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| Copper | 714% |
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| Rich in 13 | Folate | 63% |
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| nutrients | Iron | 36% |
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| Niacin | 88% |
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| Panto. Acid | 71% |
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| Phosphorus | 50% |
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| Riboflavin | 201% |
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| Selenium | 52% |
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| Vitamin A | 634% |
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| Vitamin B12 | 1176% |
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| Vitamin B6 | 51% |
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| Zinc | 35% |
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| Sunflower seeds | Betaine | 35.4mg |
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| Copper | 90% |
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| Rich in 13 | Folate | 57% |
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| nutrients | Iron | 29% |
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| Magnesium | 81% |
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| Manganese | 97% |
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| Niacin | 42% |
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| Phosphorus | 66% |
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| Selenium | 76% |
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| Thiamin | 99% |
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| Vitamin B6 | 67% |
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| Vitamin E | 166% |
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| Zinc | 33% |
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| Toasted sesame seeds | Calcium | 99% |
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| Copper | 124% |
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| Rich in 10 | Folate | 25% |
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| nutrients | Iron | 82% |
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| Magnesium | 89% |
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| Manganese | 125% |
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| Phosphorus | 64% |
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| Thiamin | 54% |
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| Vitamin B6 | 40% |
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| Zinc | 48% |
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| Egg yolk | Choline | 682mg |
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| Folate | 37% |
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| Rich in 9 | Panto. Acid | 30% |
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| nutrients | Phosphorus | 39% |
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| Riboflavin | 31% |
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| Selenium | 80% |
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| Vitamin A | 29% |
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| Vitamin B12 | 32% |
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| Vitamin D | 27% |
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| Peanuts | Copper | 57% |
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| Folate | 60% |
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| Rich in 9 | Iron | 25% |
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| nutrients | Magnesium | 42% |
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| Manganese | 97% |
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| Niacin | 60% |
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| Phosphorus | 38% |
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| Thiamin | 43% |
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| Vitamin E | 42% |
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| Oysters | Copper | 134% |
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| Iron | 51% |
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| Rich in 8 | Manganese | 61% |
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| nutrients | Omega3 | 1480mg |
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| Riboflavin | 26% |
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| Selenium | 220% |
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| Vitamin B12 | 480% |
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| Zinc | 222% |
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| Sardines | Calcium | 38% |
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| Niacin | 26% |
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| Rich in 7 | Omega3 | 1480mg |
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| nutrients | Phosphorus | 49% |
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| Selenium | 75% |
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| Vitamin B12 | 149% |
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| Vitamin D | 68% |
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| Almonds | Calcium | 26% |
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| Copper | 50% |
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| Rich in 7 | Magnesium | 67% |
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| nutrients | Manganese | 114% |
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| Phosphorus | 48% |
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| Riboflavin | 60% |
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| Vitamin E | 131% |
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| Pecans | Copper | 60% |
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| Magnesium | 30% |
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| Rich in 7 | Manganese | 225% |
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| nutrients | Omega3 | 986mg |
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| Phosphorus | 28% |
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| Thiamin | 44% |
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| Zinc | 30% |
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| Pistachios | Copper | 66% |
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| Magnesium | 30% |
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| Rich in 7 | Manganese | 64% |
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| nutrients | Phosphorus | 48% |
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| Potassium | 30% |
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| Thiamin | 56% |
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| Vitamin B6 | 64% |
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| Salmon | Niacin | 38% |
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| Omega3 | 1663mg |
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| Rich in 6 | Phosphorus | 32% |
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| nutrients | Selenium | 49% |
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| Vitamin B12 | 92% |
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| Vitamin D | 191% |
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| Bacon | Niacin | 58% |
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| Phosphorus | 56% |
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| Rich in 5 | Selenium | 93% |
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| nutrients | Sodium | 101% |
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| Thiamin | 31% |
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| Dark chocolate | Copper | 88% |
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| Iron | 66% |
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| Rich in 5 | Magnesium | 57% |
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| nutrients | Manganese | 97% |
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| Phosphorus | 31% |
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| Oatmeal | Magnesium | 34% |
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| Manganese | 181% |
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| Rich in 5 | Phosphorus | 41% |
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| nutrients | Selenium | 41% |
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| Thiamin | 31% |
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| Beef roast | Betaine | 15.1mg |
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| Selenium | 40% |
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| Rich in 4 | Vitamin B12 | 37% |
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| nutrients | Zinc | 47% |
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| Broccoli | Folate | 27% |
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| Vitamin A | 31% |
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| Rich in 4 | Vitamin C | 108% |
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| nutrients | Vitamin K | 176% |
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| Ground beef | Niacin | 29% |
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| Selenium | 29% |
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| Rich in 4 | Vitamin B12 | 47% |
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| nutrients | Zinc | 41% |
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| Romaine lettuce | Folate | 34% |
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| Vitamin A | 174% |
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| Rich in 4 | Vitamin C | 40% |
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| nutrients | Vitamin K | 128% |
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| Macadamia nuts | Copper | 38% |
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| Magnesium | 33% |
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| Rich in 4 | Manganese | 207% |
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| nutrients | Thiamin | 80% |
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| Bok choy | Vitamin A | 85% |
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| Vitamin C | 43% |
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| Vitamin K | 42% |
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| Cheddar cheese | Calcium | 72% |
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| Phosphorus | 51% |
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| Sodium | 26% |
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| Chicken breast | Niacin | 69% |
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| Selenium | 39% |
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| Vitamin B6 | 30% |
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| Corn | Magnesium | 32% |
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| Thiamin | 26% |
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| Vitamin B6 | 31% |
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| Kale | Vitamin A | 272% |
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| Vitamin C | 68% |
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| Vitamin K | 1021% |
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| Pork roast | Selenium | 48% |
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| Thiamin | 39% |
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| Zinc | 25% |
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| Eggs | Choline | 200mg |
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| Selenium | 45% |
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| Beef ribeye steak | Vitamin B12 | 52% |
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| Zinc | 26% |
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| Chicken dark meat | Niacin | 32% |
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| Selenium | 29% |
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| Chickpeas | Folate | 43% |
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| Manganese | 52% |
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| Peas | Vitamin A | 42% |
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| Vitamin K | 30% |
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| Red peppers | Vitamin A | 59% |
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| Vitamin C | 285% |
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| Artificially fortified wheat bread |
Manganese | 107% |
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| Selenium | 58% |
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| Natural wheat bread |
Manganese | 40% |
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| Selenium | 57% |
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| Avocado | Vitamin K | 26% |
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| Carrots | Vitamin A | 341% |
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| Kidney beans | Folate | 33% |
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| Iceberg lettuce | Vitamin K | 30% |
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| Strawberries | Vitamin C | 98% |
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| Some less-nutritious foods were not shown. Disable the cutoff to show them. | |||
| Source: USDA RDA database for 100-gram servings (3.5 oz), in %RDA or raw weight
Note: plants do not contain Vitamin A, but instead a precursor called beta-carotene. Conversion from beta-carotene to Vitamin A is inefficient in humans, so plants are not a good source of Vitamin A. | |||
| Nutrient | Min | Max | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Betaine | 0 | 35.4 | mg |
| Calcium | 1 | 99 | % |
| Choline | 2.1 | 682 | mg |
| Copper | 1 | 714 | % |
| Folate | 1 | 63 | % |
| Iron | 0 | 82 | % |
| Magnesium | 1 | 89 | % |
| Manganese | 0 | 225 | % |
| Niacin | 1 | 88 | % |
| Omega3 | 10 | 1663 | mg |
| Pantothenic Acid | 1 | 71 | % |
| Phosphorus | 1 | 66 | % |
| Potassium | 1 | 30 | % |
| Riboflavin | 11 | 201 | % |
| Selenium | 5 | 220 | % |
| Sodium | 2 | 101 | % |
| Thiamin | 1 | 99 | % |
| Vitamin A | 1 | 634 | % |
| Vitamin B12 | 7 | 1176 | % |
| Vitamin B6 | 2 | 67 | % |
| Vitamin C | 1 | 285 | % |
| Vitamin D | 0 | 191 | % |
| Vitamin E | 0 | 166 | % |
| Vitamin K | 0 | 1021 | % |
| Zinc | 1 | 222 | % |
Where RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) values are not established, weights are shown instead (e.g. mg, mcg).
Graph widths are simply the RDA/weight values in pixels.
The default cutoff is 25%, meaning that we consider a food to be "nutritious" in a given nutrient if it contains at least 25% of the RDA for that nutrient. This is of course subjective, but clearly a food containing 25% of the RDA for a particular nutrient is more nutritious than one containing just 5%, etc. In any case, you can click the More options link above to adjust the cutoff and see how that changes the results.
Omega-6 is not shown by default, since virtually everyone who eats any type of western diet consumes far more omega-6 than necessary, to the point where it's more of a toxin than a nutrient. But you can enable its display in More options if you'd like.
On wheat bread: nearly all of the bread sold in stores is artificially fortified with vitamins and minerals that are sometimes synthetic. This boosts the scores displayed here, but of course, those artificially-added "nutrients" are not as nutritious as ones that come from real foods where they are naturally present. You wouldn't expect to get much nutrition by eating junk food and then taking a multivitamin pill, and in the same way, you don't get much nutrition by eating artificially-fortified foods.