How Calories in Broccoli is Part of a Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Broccoli is a vegetable that belongs to the Brassica family, and is closely related to both the cauliflower and the cabbage. An exceptionally nutritious food, both the head of the broccoli and the stem itself are edible either raw or cooked, usually by boiling, steaming or microwaving. But “How many calories in Broccili?” Well, as the size of broccoli tends to vary quite significantly, the best way to analyze the calories broccoli contains is to measure the nutrients in broccoli by weight. Below we have listed the calories in broccoli in two standard measurements: the first is 1 cup of chopped broccoli, and the other is 100 grams. We will also look at the protein, fat, and carbohydrate in broccoli, along with the other nutritional contents.

Size	Calories	Carbohydrate	Fat	Protein
1 Cup Chopped Broccoli (91g)	31	6g	0.34g	2.5g
Per 100g (3.5oz) Broccoli	34	6.6g	0.37g	2.8g

The U.S. Department of Agriculture undertakes research into the nutritional value of many foods, and that is where these figures come from. These statistics are just for the parts of broccoli that generally considered edible: being the tender part of the stems and the broccoli flowers. The leaves of broccoli, and the tough parts of the broccoli stalks are not generally consumed, and therefore are not taken into account for the purposes of this table.

How Many Calories in Broccoli

Contents

How Many Calories in Broccoli

100g of broccoli contains only 34 calories, which is an amazingly low amount. Even carrots contain 41 calories, so broccoli is lower calorie than even that humble vegetable. The low calories in broccoli make it a fantastic vegetable for people who are on a low calorie diet, or any form of weight loss plan. Because broccoli contains only about 6.5% carbohydrate, this vegetable is also fine for people on a Low-Carb diet.

Not only are the calories broccoli contains very low, the fat content is very low as well. Broccoli only has about 0.3g of fat per 100g of broccoli, making it effectively a fat free food. The only downside of broccoli (if it can be considered a downside) is that it contains only 3% protein. 3% is quite good for a vegetable, but not very much when compared to more protein dense foods such as chicken breasts or an egg.

Calories in Broccoli

Along with their low calories, broccoli is high in vitamin C and also dietary fiber. Broccoli nutrition facts also contains nutrients that have anti-cancer properties; nutrients such as dindolylmethane and selenium. Boiling the broccoli will reduce the amounts of these cancer preventing nutrients however. In fact, broccoli that has been boiled for 30 minutes will lose as much as 77% of these nutrients. Other methods of cooking broccoli such as steaming, microwaving or even stir frying have a much less damaging effect on the compounds, and for that reason these methods are considered to be more “healthy” ways of preparing broccoli (along with eating the vegetable raw of course).

Vitamins in Broccoli

Broccoli is also extremely rich in healthy vitamins. The following quantities of vitamins are contained in 1/2 cup of cooked broccoli.

Vitamin A – 1207 IU
Vitamin C – 50.6 mg
Niacin – 0.431 mg
Vitamin B1 (thiamine) – 0.049 mg
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) – 0.096 mg
Vitamin B6 – 0.156 mg
Pantothenic Acid – 0.48 mg
Folate – 84 mcg
Vitamin K – 110 mcg
Vitamin E – 1.13 mg

Minerals in Broccoli

Broccoli contains a large amount of minerals as well as vitamins:

Potassium – 229 mg
Phosphorus – 52 mg
Calcium – 31 mg
Sodium – 32 mg
Magnesium – 16 mg
Iron – 0.52 mg
Zinc – 0.35 mg
Copper – 0.048 mg
Manganese – 0.151 mg
Selenium – 1.2 mcg

Broccoli is an extremely nutrient rich, vitamin rich, low calorie vegetable, that should form a part of virtually every diet. It can be eaten raw, it can be steamed, stir fried or boiled, and it contains a range of cancer preventing compounds including sulforaphane.