Spinach Appears in 7 of 15 NIH Nutrient Tables — More Than Any Other Food
By the Vitaminico team · published 2026-07-19 · data: download the CSV
The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements publishes a food-source table in each of its nutrient fact sheets — but always one nutrient at a time. We aggregated the tables behind our nutrient library (15 essential vitamins and minerals, 151 food rows) and asked a simple question nobody had answered: which everyday foods keep showing up?
Key findings
- Spinach appears in 7 of 15 NIH nutrient tables — more than any other food (iron, folate, magnesium, vitamins A, C, E and K).
- Eggs and beef liver tie for second, each in 5 tables.
- 104 unique foods appear across all tables — and a third of them appear in more than one, which is the quiet case for food-first eating: a handful of everyday foods do multi-nutrient work.
The nutrient multitools: foods in 3+ NIH tables
| Food | NIH tables | Which nutrients |
|---|---|---|
| Spinach | 7 of 15 | Folate, Iron, Magnesium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K |
| Beef liver | 5 of 15 | Folate, Iron, Vitamin A, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6 |
| Egg | 5 of 15 | Iodine, Selenium, Vitamin A, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D |
| Almonds | 3 of 15 | Calcium, Magnesium, Vitamin E |
| Broccoli | 3 of 15 | Folate, Vitamin C, Vitamin K |
| Chia seeds | 3 of 15 | Calcium, Magnesium, Omega-3 |
| Fortified breakfast cereal | 3 of 15 | Folate, Vitamin B12, Zinc |
| Green peas | 3 of 15 | Folate, Iron, Vitamin C |
| Oysters | 3 of 15 | Iron, Vitamin B12, Zinc |
| Sardines | 3 of 15 | Iron, Omega-3, Selenium |
Takeaway: one spinach-and-eggs meal touches nine different NIH nutrient tables before a single supplement enters the picture.
Methodology — and what this does not say
We took the "food sources" tables from the NIH ODS consumer fact sheets for 15 essential nutrients — the same NIH-checked data that powers our nutrient library — normalized food names (case-folded, preparation descriptors dropped, duplicate forms merged), and counted how many tables each food appears in. 151 rows collapsed to 104 unique foods.
- This is an aggregation of NIH's published tables, not new laboratory analysis.
- Appearing in a table means NIH lists the food as a notable everyday source — not that it is the single richest source of that nutrient.
- No health claims follow from frequency alone. A varied plate still beats any single "superfood" — that is rather the point.
The full dataset is free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0): nih-food-tables-2026.csv. If you cite this study, please link this page.
The full table: all 104 foods
| Food | Tables | Nutrients |
|---|---|---|
| Banana | 2 | Folate, Vitamin B6 |
| Beef | 2 | Iron, Zinc |
| Brussels sprouts | 2 | Folate, Vitamin C |
| Cantaloupe | 2 | Vitamin A, Vitamin C |
| Chicken breast | 2 | Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6 |
| Chickpeas | 2 | Iron, Vitamin B6 |
| Kale | 2 | Calcium, Vitamin K |
| Kidney beans | 2 | Folate, Iron |
| Lentils | 2 | Iron, Zinc |
| Milk | 2 | Iodine, Vitamin B12 |
| Orange juice | 2 | Folate, Vitamin C |
| Peanut butter | 2 | Magnesium, Vitamin E |
| Potato | 2 | Iron, Vitamin C |
| Pumpkin seeds | 2 | Magnesium, Zinc |
| Salmon | 2 | Omega-3, Vitamin B12 |
| Shrimp | 2 | Iodine, Selenium |
| Sockeye salmon | 2 | Vitamin B6, Vitamin D |
| Yellowfin tuna | 2 | Selenium, Vitamin B6 |
| Asparagus | 1 | Folate |
| Avocado | 1 | Folate |
| Beef steak | 1 | Selenium |
| Black beans | 1 | Magnesium |
| Black-eyed peas | 1 | Folate |
| Blue crab | 1 | Zinc |
| Brazil nuts | 1 | Selenium |
| Bread | 1 | Iron |
| Breakfast cereal | 1 | Iron |
| Brown rice | 1 | Magnesium |
| Cabbage | 1 | Vitamin C |
| Calcium-fortified orange juice | 1 | Calcium |
| Calcium-fortified soy milk | 1 | Calcium |
| Canned pink salmon with bones | 1 | Calcium |
| Canned sardines in oil with bones | 1 | Calcium |
| Canola oil | 1 | Omega-3 |
| Carrots | 1 | Vitamin A |
| Cashew nuts | 1 | Iron |
| Cauliflower | 1 | Vitamin C |
| Cheddar cheese | 1 | Calcium |
| Cheese | 1 | Vitamin B12 |
| Chicken | 1 | Iron |
| Chinese cabbage | 1 | Calcium |
| Clams | 1 | Vitamin B12 |
| Cod | 1 | Iodine |
| Cod liver oil | 1 | Vitamin D |
| Collard greens | 1 | Vitamin K |
| Cottage cheese | 1 | Calcium |
| Dark chocolate | 1 | Iron |
| English walnuts | 1 | Omega-3 |
| Firm tofu made with calcium sulfate | 1 | Calcium |
| Flaxseed oil | 1 | Omega-3 |
| Fortified ready-to-eat breakfast cereal | 1 | Vitamin D |
| Fortified skim milk | 1 | Vitamin A |
| Grapefruit | 1 | Vitamin C |
| Grapefruit juice | 1 | Vitamin C |
| Greek yogurt | 1 | Iodine |
| Green bell pepper | 1 | Vitamin C |
| Ground beef | 1 | Vitamin B12 |
| Halibut | 1 | Selenium |
| Ham | 1 | Vitamin B12 |
| Hazelnuts | 1 | Vitamin E |
| Herring | 1 | Omega-3 |
| Iodized table salt | 1 | Iodine |
| Kiwifruit | 1 | Vitamin C |
| Natto | 1 | Vitamin K |
| Nonfat milk | 1 | Calcium |
| Orange | 1 | Vitamin C |
| Part-skim mozzarella | 1 | Calcium |
| Peanuts | 1 | Folate |
| Plain low-fat yogurt | 1 | Calcium |
| Pork chop | 1 | Zinc |
| Potatoes | 1 | Vitamin B6 |
| Rainbow trout | 1 | Vitamin D |
| Raisins | 1 | Iron |
| Red bell pepper | 1 | Vitamin C |
| Romaine lettuce | 1 | Folate |
| Seaweed | 1 | Iodine |
| Soybean oil | 1 | Vitamin K |
| Spaghetti | 1 | Folate |
| Strawberries | 1 | Vitamin C |
| Sunflower oil | 1 | Vitamin E |
| Sunflower seeds | 1 | Vitamin E |
| Sweet potato | 1 | Vitamin A |
| Tofu | 1 | Iron |
| Tomato | 1 | Vitamin C |
| Tomato juice | 1 | Vitamin C |
| Tomatoes | 1 | Iron |
| Trout | 1 | Vitamin B12 |
| Tuna | 1 | Vitamin B12 |
| Turnip greens | 1 | Vitamin K |
| Vitamin d-fortified 2% milk | 1 | Vitamin D |
| Wheat germ oil | 1 | Vitamin E |
| White beans | 1 | Iron |
| White mushrooms exposed to uv light | 1 | Vitamin D |
| White rice | 1 | Folate |
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Educational, not medical advice. This analysis counts how often foods appear in NIH reference tables; it does not rank foods by health benefit and does not diagnose or treat anything. Talk to your clinician about your own nutrient needs.