Nutrients play a very important part in our life. People should be made aware of the nutrients that are consumed in the form of daily diet and their importance in preventing the occurrence of various diseases. The nutrients present in the foods could be briefly discussed by classifying them into the following groups:

• Cereals and millets
• Pulses and legumes
• Nuts and oilseeds
• Vegetables
• Fruits
• Milk and milk products
• Eggs
• Meat, fish and other animal foods
• Fats and oils
• Carbohydrate foods and sugars
• Spices and condiments

• Cereals and millets: Cereals and millets contribute the majority of the diet throughout India and are the major sources of carbohydrates. It is considered as the energy giving foods even by the layman of India. Cereals are good sources of proteins and vitamins such as thiamine, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6 and minerals such as phosphorus and iron. Except for ragi, all other cereals and millets are deficient in calcium. Cereals are also poor sources of vitamin A, D, B12 and C. Corn is rich in beta carotene which serves as a precursor of vitamin A.

• Pulses and legumes: Pulses are rich sources of protein, B vitamins and minerals, but lack vitamin A, D, B12 and C. A combination diet containing both the cereals and pulses are said to be complete proteins. Pulses such as green Bengal gram, green gram, and green field beans contain fair amounts of vitamin C.

• Nuts and oilseeds: Nuts and oil seeds are good sources of proteins but also contain fat in considerable quantities. Soybean is the best source of protein among the vegetarian food items with approximately 40% of proteins. These nuts can also be used in the preparation of milk since it is rich in proteins. They are also concentrated with B-vitamins, vitamin E and some minerals such as phosphorus and iron.

• Vegetables: Vegetables could be broadly classified into green leafy vegetables, roots and tubers and other vegetables. Green leafy vegetables are rich sources of carotene, also known as provitamin, riboflavin, folic acid, calcium and vitamin C. Carbohydrates is the significant nutrient found in the roots and tubers. Although they contain vitamins and minerals in lesser amount, they are fair sources of carotene and other vitamins. Excessive consumption of roots and tubers increases the body weight and thereby results in obesity.

• Fruits: Fruits are concentrated sources of vitamins and minerals. Fruits like papaya and mango are rich in carotene, whereas citrus fruits like oranges and lemon are rich sources of vitamin C. But apple, banana and grapes are poor sources of vitamin C.

• Milk and milk products: Milk is often considered as a complete food because of being rich source of proteins, fat, calcium, vitamin A and other minerals. It is used as a supplementary food for children. Milk is rich in almost all the vitamins and minerals except for iron and vitamin C. full aft milk has more fat compared to the skim milk. Milk powders are produced by the drying the milk using the principle of evaporation. The action of heat thereby reduces the nutritive value of whole milk, whereas fermentation in curd helps in improving its nutritional value by increasing the calcium content.

• Eggs: Egg white is often referred to as standard protein because of the presence of all the amino acids in right proportion, unlike the vegetarian items. It is a fair source of vitamin D, vitamin B, iron and lack the vitamin C. Egg yolk is rich in vitamin A and fat.

• Meat, fish and other animal foods: All the foods of animal origin are rich in proteins of high biological value. This means that such proteins when consumed get converted in to body proteins almost completely. But the proteins of vegetarian origin have relatively low biological value. Meat is a fair source of B- vitamins and lack vitamin A, C and D. Liver of meat is rich in iron and is used in the dietary treatment of anemia. Fish is rich in omega fatty acids that are helpful in preventing heart diseases. Fishes with long bones are also good sources of calcium.

• Fats and oils: As you all are aware that fats are considered as concentrated source of energy. Reducing the intake the intake of fats and oils in daily diet would act as a preventive measure against many of the common diseases of today’s world. Butter, ghee and vanaspathi contain vitamin A. fats are also rich in vitamin E, which is good for skin.

• Carbohydrate foods and sugars: The foods commonly included in this category are sugar, glucose, jaggery, honey, sage and so on. Except for honey and jaggery that contain limited amount of vitamins and minerals, other foods only contribute energy.

• Spices and condiments: The foods included in this category are cardamom, clove, cinnamon, pepper. Turmeric, chilies, ginger, garlic and so on. These are mainly used as flavor enhancers and do not contribute much to the nutritive value of foods. Moreover the quantity of spices and condiments used in the food preparations are too low to calculate its vitamin and mineral content.

• Written by Sini. A.
• In category Food.
• 15 years ago.

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