Your quick guide to get essential vitamins from food

Renowned nutritionist Naini Setalvad lists out essential vitamins and their food sources.

Food is the currency of life. Invest in good food and profits will always follow. Unfortunately, today people are not eating nutrient-rich food thus are not getting the essential nutrients. Sedentary lifestyles, poor diet and low quality of food filled with white sugar, white flour, fried and highly processed have led to nutritional deficiencies in people. If timely action isn't taken, it can lead to serious health problems. Nutritionist Naini Setalvad lists out the importance vitamins play in keeping us healthy. Read on...

Vitamins are essential chemicals that take part in all your body's processes. They do that by participating in reactions inside cells. Each vitamin performs a specific function in the body and no single food contains all vitamins you need. Except for vitamin D, the human body cannot make any vitamin. So, you need to get vitamins from the foods you eat or from vitamin supplements. When you don't get enough of a particular vitamin you need, you run the risk of serious health problems. Here is a list of essential vitamins women need and natural food sources you can get them from. (Read: Are vitamin supplements necessary?)

Vitamin A: Promotes healthy vision, hair, skin, bones and soft tissue. It is packed with beta-carotene antioxidants to get rid of harmful free radicals that rob our bodies of nutrients and prevents cancer.

Sources: All green leafy, orange and yellow fruits and veggies, spinach, oranges, papaya, mangoes, pumpkin, and carrots.

Vitamin B-complex: Promotes DNA formation. Helps forming red blood cells, betters immunity and also improves lactation in nursing mothers and prevents birth deformities in pregnant women. It is also needed for absorption of vitamin B12.

Sources: Chicken, tuna and salmon.

B group of vitamins: To produce healthy red blood cells. They are also needed to properly utilise carbs, proteins, and fats from the food we eat, for proper functioning of our brain and spinal cord, for energy and to prevent depression.

Sources: B1 (thiamine) whole grains, legumes, eggs

B2 (riboflavin) milk and eggs

B3 (niacin) beans like rajma, chana, chawli, peanuts, peas

B6 (pyridoxine) corn, wheat, sweet potato, milk. (Pantothenic acid) yeast, legumes, egg yolk and sweet potato and corn.

B12 non-veg food like shell fish, beef liver, Swiss cheese, and negligible amounts in egg yolk

B9 (Folic Acid) dark leafy vegetables, beets, beans, peas, lentils, broccoli, seeds and nuts.

Vitamin C: For immunity. Vitamin C is also responsible for healthy cells, skin and teeth, needed to help absorb iron and calming your nerves.

Sources: Amla, lemons, lime, papaya, strawberries, watermelon, guava, oranges, capsicum.

Vitamin D: For absorption of calcium and phosphorus. Vitamin D helps release calcium for maintenance and growth of healthy bones. It is also needed for cardiovascular health and maintaining blood sugar levels, balancing your thyroid and preventing depression. (Read: Women's special dietary needs)

Sources: From sunlight. Few foods supply D small amounts in egg yolk and oily fish.

Vitamin E: For healthy hair, skin, cells and membranes. Vitamin E is needed to prevent oxidative damage caused by harmful free radicals that protects us from heart diseases as well as cancer.

Sources: Avocado, nuts, seeds, almonds, pistachios, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, wheat germ oil.

Iron: For formation of haemoglobin, to promote growth, to prevent fatigue.

Sources: Whole grains, pulses, leafy veggies, dried fruit. (Read: Load up on iron, ladies!)

Potassium: To maintain fluid and acid balance, to regulate blood pressure, heart rhythm, nerve impulses. It is also responsible for healthy metabolism and muscle contraction.

Sources: Pulses like chawli, mung, tuvar, sweet limes, peaches, apricots, bananas, watermelons, whole grains.

Naini Setalvad is a nutritionist, columnist, educator and public speaker in the field of healthy diets and food habits. She runs a flourishing health centre in Mumbai, with a branch in Rajkot, Gujarat. She has addressed people across India through her talks. She has appeared on TV talk shows, as well as the radio. Her immense research and knowledge in the field of nutrition has earned her the right to speak in prestigious institutes such as Padmashree D. Y. Patil Vidyapeeth, Primal Research Centre, Reserve Bank of India, Nanavati Hospital, H.R. College and many other such prominent centers. Her approach to health covers both your body and mind. In today's high-stress lifestyle and fast-changing world, one needs to be at an optimum at all times. She gently steers her client to use the power of food as a tool to improve performances, retard and reverse diseases, improve mood and enhance concentration. About a decade ago, Naini was 160 kilos. Today, she is 60 kilos, and a qualified nutritionist. Realizing how food affected her life, she, therefore, wants to share her knowledge and belief that every human being has a right to understand what good food and good health truly mean.

You may also like to read:

• 12 health risks of Vitamin D deficiency
• How Vitamin E can help you stay healthy and young!
• 5 reasons why vitamin A is really good for you!
• 5 vitamin A-rich foods you should include in your diet
• Are vitamin supplements necessary?
• Top 15 health benefits of Vitamin C
• Eat foods rich in Vitamin C this winter!
• Eat spinach, almonds for increasing Vitamin E levels and preventing memory loss
• Vitamin E slows down progression of Alzheimer's

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