Kale vs Spirulina – Which is Healthier?

Our Verdict

When comparing kale to spirulina, we picked the kale.

Why?

Both are great! But there is a clear winner:

In terms of macros, kale has more than 7x the fiber for 3x the carbs, while spirulina has slightly more protein. Taking into account the numbers involved, this round’s a clear win to kale.

In the category of vitamins, kale has a lot more of vitamins A, B6, B7, B9, C, E, and K, while spirulina has moderately more of vitamins B1, B2, and B5, giving kale another easy win here.

Looking at minerals, kale has more calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, selenium, and zinc, while spirulina has more iron; another rather one-sided win to kale.

In other considerations, kale has a lot more polyphenols, while spirulina, being not actually a plant and rather a colony of cyanobacteria playing dress-up as a plant, has no polyphenols or phytochemicals at all, but does have an abundance of C-phycocyanin, which is a pigment-protein complex that does much the same biochemical job when it comes to antioxidant activity. So, we’ll broadly call this last round a tie.

Nevertheless, adding up the sections makes for a convincing overall win for kale, but still, by all means do enjoy either or both, as diversity is best!

Want to learn more?

You might like:

A Deeper Dive Into Seaweed ← this is more about nori than spirulina, but again, diversity, so hey 😎

Enjoy!