Nutrition Value of Food: Importance, Benefits, and Diet

“Nutritive value is the part of food quality, maintaining the ratio of essential nutrients, carbs, minerals, proteins, and vitamins. Mainly plant-based foods are involved”. 

Vegetables are classed as “protective foods.” Their value resides in their high vitamin.

Vegetables usually have large water content, low energy and protein content, and various “dietary fibre.” Vegetables are categorized into three groups green leaves”, “roots and tubers,” and “others

Nutrition Value of Food chart
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Table of Contents

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Green leaves

The term green leaves” designates several indigenous leafy vegetables consumed by the people.

They include palak (spinach), amaranthus leaves (methi), cabbage, etc. The darker the green leaves, the greater their nutritional value. With the possible exception of vitamin B12.

The green leaves contain iron, vitamin C, and calcium.

It is a good source of riboflavin, folic acid.

Leafy vegetables are high in water and dietary fiber.

Dietaries of obese people who wish to cut down their calorie intake.

Some vegetables like green mangoes, cluster beans, drumsticks, and green mango contain a fair amount of iron. Carrots are exceptionally high in beta-carotene.

Other vegetables include a wide range of “other” vegetables, such as brinjal, tomatoes, cauliflower, etc.

  • They bring variety to the diet. Many of them are relatively good sources of minerals and vitamins.

The daily recommended intake is 60 to 70 grams.

I recommend you to read following posts that will help you:

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Nuts and oilseeds

Included in this group are groundnut (peanut), cashew nut, coconut, walnut, almonds, pistachio, cotton seeds, mustard seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, maize germ, and many others from which cooking oils are extracted.

Nuts and oilseeds contain the right amount of fat and good quality protein in a relatively small bulk. 

Regarding the fat content, walnuts contain 64.5 percent, almonds 58.7 percent, cashew nuts 46.9 percent, and groundnut 40 percent.

Peanut (groundnut) butter is a very valued article of the diet. Regarding protein content, groundnut tops the list with 26.4 percent.

Nuts are a good source of vitamins of B group. They contain minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, and iron. Among the commonly used nuts, cashew nuts, almonds are good iron sources, but pistachio includes 14 mg of iron per 100 g.

Most vegetables are rich in containing essential fatty acids.

In some, the residue (oilseed cake) can be formulated into acceptable foods rich in protein.

For example, groundnut flour is used to manufacture Indian Multipurpose Food, balahar, and balanced malt food.

Due partly to their high cellulose content, nuts are not easily digestible. However, nuts eaten in a mixed diet are a precious source of essential fatty acids.

I also wrote an article on What Does Vitamin B Complex Do? that you can read.

Milk

Milk is the best food. It is secreted by animals to serve as the sole and wholesome food for their suckling young ones.

  • It a better source of calcium and vitamin D.
  • The all nutrients necessary for all young ones’ growth and development. It is a good source of proteins, sugars, fats, vitamins, and minerals. 

Proteins

The chief protein of milk is casein; it occurs in combination with calcium as calcium caseinogen.

  • The milk of other animals contains nearly three times as much protein as human milk.
  • Human milk protein includes a more significant amount of tryptophan and Sulphur containing amino acids than animal milk proteins.

Fat

 The fat content of milk varies from 3.4 % in human milk to 8.8% in buffalo milk. Human milk contains a higher % age of linoleic acid and oleic acid than animal milk. 

Sugar

The carbohydrate in all milk is lactose or milk sugar. It is found nowhere else in nature. It is less sweet than sugar cane.

  • Breast milk is having more sugar than animal milk.

Minerals

Milk contains minerals needed by the body, such as calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, cobalt, copper, iodine, etc. 

  • Milk is incredibly rich in calcium. However, it is deficient in iron. Milk contains all vitamins except vitamin C.

Milk products

 Milk is consumed in various forms as whole milk, butter, ghee, cheese, dried as condensed milk, khoa, ice cream, etc.

  • Milk from which fat has been removed is known as skimmed milk.

Vegetable milk

 milk prepared from some vegetables such as groundnut, soybean is termed as vegetable milk.

  • Sometimes it may be used as a substitute for animal milk. Such as groundnut, soybean is termed as vegetable milk.
  • Contains all the nutrients except carbohydrates and vitamin C. 

Egg

About 12 percent of the egg is made of shell, 58% of egg white and 30% of egg yolk, and egg weighing 60 g contains 6g of protein, 6g of fat and 30 mg of Ca, 1.5 mg of iron and supplies about 70 Kcal of energy.

Fruits

  • Fruits are protective foods. It gives a lot of vitamins and minerals.

Fruits have the following nutrients

Vitamins

Fruits are prized for their vitamins. Most fruits contain a significant amount of ascorbic acid. 

The orange, guava, and Indian gooseberry (amla) are incredibly rich in ascorbic acid. The papaya and mango are good sources of carotene.

Minerals– Fruits are good sources of minerals. Custard apple, dried fruits like raisins, dates, and apricots are rich in calcium.

Carbohydrates – Fruits, in general, have low value, but some fruits like banana and mango contain adequate amounts of carbohydrates and provide energy. Absorbed.

The riper the fruits, the higher is the sugar content.

Cellulose: Fruits contain cellulose, which helps in regular bowel movements.

  • Expert says that daily intake of 85 grams or more of fresh fruit for maintenance of good health. Fruits are costly and may not be within reach of all to afford them daily. 
  • If green leafy vegetables are included in the daily diet.
  • Fruits’ need as an essential diet is much reduced. The aim of nutrition education should be to promote seasonal fruit intake, which is cheaper and readily available. The costly fruits are not necessarily best in respect of nutrients.

Cereals and millets

  • Cereals:
  • (e.g., rice, wheat) constitute the bulk of the daily diet. Rice is one of the staple food for more than half of human racemize is also used as food rich in fat, and it is cheaper than rice.
  • The primary energy (carbohydrates) is the quantities of proteins (6 to 12%), minerals, and B group vitamins.
  • The Yellow color maize contains significant amounts of carotene. In terms of energy, it Provides about 350 kcal per 100 grams. Considering the large quantities in which they are consumed, cereals contribute 70 to 80 percent of the total energy intake and more than 50 percent of protein intake in typical Indian diets.
  • Cereal proteins are low in nutritional quality, being deficient in the essential amino acid lysine.
  • The maize proteins are still lower, deficient in lysine and tryptophan (a precursor of niacin).

Nutritive value of cereals

Nutrient

Raw rice Milled

Wheat Whole

Maize dry

Protein(g)

6.8

11.81

11.1

Fat(g)

0.5

1.5

3.6

Carbohydrate(g)

78.2

71.2

66.2

Thiamine(mg)

0.06

0.45

0.42

Niacin(mg)

1.9

5.0

1.8

Riboflavin(mg)

0.06

0.17

0.1

Minerals(g)

0.6

1.5

1.5

Energy(k cal)

345

346

342

Millets

  • The term millet’ used for smaller grains that are ground and eaten without having the outer layer removed; they are jawar (sorghum), bajra (pearl millet), ragi, Kodo, and a few others known as “minor millets.”
  • Nutrient

     

    sorghum

     

    Pearl millet

    Ragi

    Protein(g)

    Fat(g)

    Carbohydrate(g)

    Mineral(g)

    Calcium(mg)

    Iron(mg)

    Thiamine(mg)

    Riboflavin(mg)

    Niacin(mg)

    Energy(k cal)

    10.4

    1.9

    72.6

    1.6

    25.0

    4.1

    0.3

    1.3

    3.1

    349

    11.6

    5.0

    67.5

    2.8

    42.0

    8

    03

    0.25

    2.3

    361

    7.3

    1.3

    72.0

    2.7

    344

    3.9

    0.2

    0.18

    2.3

    328

Soybean

  • Soybean is the richest among pulses. It contains about 40 percent protein, 20 percent minerals.
  • The proteins of soybean are high in nutritional value.
  • It can be tried to mix its powder with Atta for chappatis, soybean milk, curd, and baby foods.

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