Vitamin C: Essential Nutrient and Powerful Antioxidant

Ascorbic acid, commonly known as vitamin C, was identified as early as 1734 as the essential factor in fresh fruits and vegetables that prevents the development of scurvy, a disease caused by a deficiency of this vitamin. The recognition of its importance was a significant milestone in nutritional science.

Vitamin C plays a critical role in the formation of intercellular substances within the body, including dentine, cartilage, and the protein matrix of bones. This makes it crucial for tooth formation, the healing of broken bones, and the overall wound healing process. Its importance extends to its involvement in oxidation-reduction reactions in the body, essential for cellular metabolism, and the synthesis of certain hormones, such as norepinephrine and vasopressin.

In the brain, ascorbic acid is pivotal for the metabolism and release of several neurotransmitters, including dopamine, which influences mood and cognitive function. This highlights its broader impact on mental health and neurological functions.

Beyond its physiological roles, vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant used extensively in the food industry. It helps to preserve the color, flavor, and nutrient content of various foods. Vitamin C also regenerates other antioxidants, such as fat-soluble vitamin E and water-soluble glutathione, enhancing their efficacy and allowing them to be reused multiple times.

Dietary sources of vitamin C are diverse. Tomato juice, when processed correctly, can be a decent source of this vital nutrient. Vegetables such as green peppers, cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts are excellent to good sources, while peas, spinach, and lettuce are good to fair sources. Many fruits, including oranges, strawberries, and kiwis, also provide fair amounts of vitamin C.

However, it's important to consume vitamin C in appropriate amounts, as excessive intake can lead to adverse effects such as increased perspiration, nervous tension, and a lowered pulse rate. Maintaining a balanced diet that includes a variety of fruits and vegetables is key to ensuring adequate vitamin C intake and reaping its numerous health benefits.
Vitamin C: Essential Nutrient and Powerful Antioxidant

Nutrients in dark chocolate and health benefits

Many studies show that beneficial nutrients can be found in dark chocolate. Dark chocolate is made up of cocoa solids and sugar but no milk solids (prevalent in milk chocolate) and white chocolate, although referred to as chocolate had no cocoa solids, but instead is made of cocoa butter (the fat in chocolate), milk solids and sugar.

One of the nutrients in dark chocolate is called a polyphenol. Polyphenols are apart of a large family of natural compounds found in a wide variety of plant foods. They are helpful in assisting the human body protect itself from free radicals that cause oxidation.

Researchers believe that the benefits of dark chocolate are because of the flavonoids it contains, which are associated with the ability to lower the risk of heart disease and some cancers.

The heart may be vulnerable to damage by oxidation and flavonoids of dark chocolate hold potential for positive heart health effects.

Dark chocolate contains small amounts of B-complex vitamins (thiamin, or B1; riboflavin, or B2; niacin; vitamin B6’ and folate), needed for releasing energy and creating the body’s building blocks. Bone-enhancing vitamin D and antioxidant E are found in dark chocolate, which are important nutrients, too.

According to some studies done in Italy, dark chocolate has many of the same benefits as vitamin C helping the body use insulin more effectively and lower blood pressure. According to the study, participants who enjoyed 100 grams of dark chocolate daily for 15 days had reduced blood pressure and become more sensitive to insulin than they were prior to the "experiment".

Dark chocolate is plentiful in magnesium, important for brain functioning. It also boasts other nutrients, such a s copper, iron, manganese and zinc.
Nutrients in dark chocolate and health benefits

Nutritional properties of walnuts

The walnut is, together with other oil-bearing nuts, one of the most concentrated food sources of nutrients provided by nature.

Walnuts contain as high as 35 per cent moisture when harvested. They should be hulled, washed and dried as quickly as possible to 8 percent moisture or less and graded.

Fats 
In walnuts fats are formed primarily of unsaturated fatty acids, with a preponderance of polyunsaturated in addition to lecithin.

With a 7:1 ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fat, walnuts are one of the highest naturally occurring sources of polyunsaturated fats. Polyunsaturated fats are an important source of essential fatty acids.

Walnut also referred to as a brain food, it is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. Brain cells are made of fat. Hence, walnuts help providing ample nutrition to brain and flushing out toxic elements.

Carbohydrate 
The walnut is the lowest of any-oil bearing nut in this nutrient (13.5%). Because of this, walnuts are well tolerated by diabetics.

Protein 
Walnuts contain up to 14.3 of high quality protein, more than peanuts and about the same as almonds.

Vitamins
Walnuts are good sources of vitamins B1, B2, B3, E and particularly B6.

Minerals
Walnuts are rich in phosphorus, magnesium, copper, zinc and potassium, while they are low in sodium, which promotes cardiovascular health.

Walnuts contain several antioxidants including selenium, melatonin, gamma-tocopherols and several polyphenols.

They also contain 678 to 694 calories (kcl) for each 100g. Walnuts are high in calories primarily because they are about 60% fats.
Nutritional properties of walnuts

Pistachio nut nutrient

Pistachio nuts are prized and sought after for their color, taste and flavor. They are rich in nutrient content.

Each 1 ounce serving of pistachio nuts provides 165 calories, 310 mg of potassium, 3 g of dietary fiber (12% of the recommended daily intake of fiber), and 20% of the recommended dietary allowances (RDA) for vitamin B6, copper and manganese.

Pistachios also contain 19% of RDA for iron. A good amount of iron contributed to healthy blood and enhances resistance to infections. Pistachios are high in fat, 72% fat: 52% is monounsaturated and 20% is polyunsaturated. Monounsaturated fat can help prevent high serum cholesterol.

Pistachio nuts

Pistachios are also an excellent source of protein. A single ounce of roasted pistachio nuts delivers 13% of the recommended daily intake of protein and 12%.

They are also a very good source of vitamin E (8% of the recommended daily intake per ounce) and a good source of vitamin B2 (4% of the recommended daily intake per ounce), folic acid (4% of the recommended daily intake per ounce) and vitamin B5 (3% of the recommended daily intake per ounce).
Pistachio nut nutrient

Mucosal cells in digestive system

All cells depend on their external environment for their supply of nutrients. Food in the lumen is not technically inside the body because it has not been absorbed.

Mucosa is the innermost layer and this layer line the interior of the digestive tract and thus is in direct contact with essential nutrients (in food) available in the external environment.

It becomes obligatory, therefore for this mucosal cells to take in all the nutrient essential not only for their own metabolisms but also for that the whole organism.

The mucosal cells are uniquely adapted to perform this primary functions: transporting from the external environment to the internal environment the nutrients essential for all of the cells that comprise the total organism. In some cases, these cells secret a mucus layer that serves to lubricate the passage and protect the cells.

Epithelial cells of mucosa are arranged into folds to increase the surface area. The amount of folding is dependent on the region of the gastrointestinal tract.

Because mucosal cells are in direct contact with churning food and harsh digestive secretions, they live only about two to five days.
Mucosal cells in digestive system

Effect of canning on vegetables

From the textural standpoint, vegetables may be divided into those that are eaten raw and valued primarily for their crispness, those that are eaten cooked and valued for their softness and those that can be consumed in either form such as cauliflower and carrots.

Vegetables like peas, beans, greens are sometimes canned. The retention of original color is of great importance effecting the marketability and consumer response.

In the process of canning, vegetables are heated to destroy spoilage disease causing microorganisms.

Such heat treatments also produce a number of of undesirable chemical and textural changes in the vegetables. The textural changes are due to partial destruction of the cell wall and cell membrane.

Blanching, plus the strong heat treatments applied to nonacid vegetables, appears to be responsible for the large vitamin losses in canning.

Heat treatments also cause chemical alteration of the green pigment chlorophyll, thus resulting in a processed vegetable with less green color.

During canning chlorophyll gets converted to pheophytin due to the high temperature used. Sometimes to retain the color and to neutralize the acid, alkali is added.
Effect of canning on vegetables

The health benefits of mulberry

Mulberry fruit has many health benefits. The primary medicinal function of mulberry is its ability to release heat from the body.  Mulberry has traditionally been used to release heat and toxins from the skin and lymphatic system.

Specific ways that mulberry is used to release heat include clearing heat from lungs and clearing the liver for the sake of relieving sore red eyes, bleeding and the vomiting of blood.

The fruit is good for digestive tract illness. It can stimulate digestion and assimilation of nutrients in the small intestine.

Mulberry fruit has the function of nourishing blood. If the person who has anemia, pallor, dizziness, insomnia, and heart-palpitations regularly takes mulberry juice, they will experience good effects.

Compounding with other herbs can nourish blood, blacken hair, and help grow hair. Those experience premature aging, such as graying hair and impotence, can take mulberry often.

Mulberry is full of vitamin A and B family and is effective in regulating fat, while boosting metabolism, which is perfect for weight control.

Scientists have pinpointed a number of biologically active compounds in the extract of mulberry leaves, that is effective in suppressing the progression of atherosclerosis, the built up of cholesterol-rich plaque in the arteries.

The fruits are rich in anthocyanins and hence hold great potential for using for health benefits and as natural food colorants.  One once of ripe mulberry fruit contains nearly 60 mg of anthocyanins.

This plant pigment is noted for its powerful antioxidant property and are being investigated for anti-neopastic, radiation-protective, vasotonic, vaso- protective, anti-inflammatory, chemopreventive and hepatoprotective properties.
The health benefits of mulberry

What are triglycerides?

The major components of fats and oils are triglycerides, which are formed by etherification of glycerol (a trihydroxy alcohol) and fatty acids.

Triglycerides are the most energy-rich nutrients; they provide nine calories per gram, more than twice the amount in protein and carbohydrate. The triglycerides make up the majority (95%) of lipids in food. The structure of these molecules, with its high number of carbon-carbon bonds, makes them an excellent source of energy for aerobic respiration.

Naturally occurring fats are always mixtures of different triglycerides. Triglycerides are classified as lipids, because they are insoluble in water.

In some triglycerides, all three fatty acids are the same. These are known as simple triglycerides; tributyrin, which contains three molecules of butyric acids, is an example.

Other triglycerides contain two different fatty acids and some contain three different fatty acids. These are known as mixed glycerides.

Triglycerides are digested in the intestine by lipases, enzymes that’s specifically degrade fat. Triglycerides digestion and absorption requires bile to free fatty acids and monoglycerides.

The liver also produces and secretes triglycerides, and packages them into lipoproteins. Chylomicrons are synthesized in the intestine, and VLDLs are synthesized in the liver.

Triglycerides are measured in alb test of serum lipids. High levels of blood triglycerides increase the likelihood of blood clots and may indirectly contribute to process leading to clogged arteries.
What are triglycerides?

What are the nutrients in chickpea?

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L), the third most important pulse crop in the world after beans and field peas, is a source of high quality protein in food and feed. It is cultivated mostly in semiarid regions of South Asia with some area concentrated in the Mediterranean.

This legume is almost the perfect food because of its excellent balance of proteins, essential fatty acids, fiber and phytonutrients.

The protein concentration of chickpea seed ranges from 16.7% to 30.6% and 12.6% to 29.0% for desi and kabuli types, respectively and is commonly 2-3 times higher than cereal grains. A 100 g portion of cooked chickpeas furnishes of 7 g protein or about the same amount as 28 g of cooked lean beef. However, the legume furnishes about 2.5 times as many calories as the beef.

Chickpea had been specifically used to treat protein malnutrition and kwashiorkor in children.

Chickpea also contains high in vitamins A, E, C, K, and in the entire B complex especially folate. Chickpea is rich source of phosphorus and magnesium. Phosphorus is a major element in hydroxyapatite, a key inorganic constituent of bone, and is also critical in several cellular compounds such as phospholipids, phosphoproteins, nucleic acids adenosine triphosphate.
What are the nutrients in chickpea?

The role of chromium in human body

The adult body may contain 4 to 6 mg chromium and more concentrated tissues include the kidneys, liver, spleen, pancreas, bone and muscle including cardiac muscle.

The general physiological significance of chromium is to enhance the action of insulin. Insulin enhances glycolysis, glycogen synthesis, fatty acid synthesis, and protein synthesis.

The essentiality of chromium for humans was confirmed in 1977 with studies showing that patients on total parenteral nutrition developed severe diabetic-like symptoms that could be reversed by the addition of chromium to their parenteral nutritional solutions.

Chromium in its trivalent cationic state forms a complex with nicotinic acid and glutathione which is known as the glucose tolerance factor.

Thus, chromium deficiency can result in glucose intolerance, which is an inability to properly reduce blood glucose levels after a meal and throughout the day. One consequence in glucose intolerance is hyperinsulinemia.

Chromium levels in serum, hair and sweat decrease with age. This may increase the risk for age-associated hypercholesterolemia and glucose intolerance.

Chromium is present in a wide variety of foods, although milling of cereals removes a considerable proportion of it. Wheat (1.8 ug/g) and wheat germ (1.3 ug/g) are especially good source of chromium.
The role of chromium in human body

Nutrient loss during processing of food

Some losses during in certain nutrients during food processing are inevitable.

The major consideration in evaluating food processing from nutritional stand point is that tradeoff between increase food availability and the effect that each of the various processing methods has on nutrients and food quality.

The degree of nutrient loss and the relative importance of the loss of a specific nutrient from a particular commodity should also be taken into consideration.

For example, vitamin C loss from milk during pasteurization and refrigerated storage is relatively unimportant, since it is insignificant source of this nutrient in the daily diet when compared with other foods as citrus fruits and juices.

The net effect of food processing on product quality is positive. The nutritive value of foods may be improved by increase in nutrient content and/ or digestibility of food component.

The aesthetic qualities of foods are also improved, resulting in enhanced appeal of the food to the appetite and better nutrient retention through consumption.
Nutrient loss during processing of food

Nutritional value of cheese

The essence of cheese making is the coagulation of milk and its conversion from a colloidal dispersion into a gel known as curd, and the subsequent release of water in the form of whey.

The cheese-makers have to ensure that the cheese is an edible, acceptable, marketable and nutritious food. 

Nowadays, the consumer has become more away of food composition and the risks – real or imaginary – that may associated with excessive intakes of certain components in foods.

Cheese has a high nutritional value as would be expected from the fact that a pint or 568 mL of milk produces only about 56 g cheese.

Cheese made from whole milk is known to contain most of the essential fatty acids.

The daily protein requirement for adults is approximately 1g/kg, of body weight so that, for a person weighing 70 kg, the daily requirements would be about 70 g of protein.

All cheese is a good source of high quality proteins with sufficient amounts of all the essential amino acids. Casein is the main protein in cheese, it contains all the indispensible amino acids in approximately the proportions that the human body needs.

Cheese is rich source of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin A and also contains useful quantities of other nutrients.

All cheeses, except cottage cheese, are good sources of vitamin A. Orange and yellow cheeses are colored with carotenoid pigments, including bixin (the carotenoid pigment in anatto) and synthetic beta-carotene. 

Hard cheeses are an excellent source of calcium: softer cheeses are a good source; cream cheese and cottage cheese are poor source.

It is much more concentrated food than milk but it less complete because of its lack of carbohydrate.

45 g of cheddar cheese contains:
Energy                769 kJ
Protein               11.5 g
Carbohydrate     0.05 g
Fat                     15.5 g
Calcium              324 mg
Iron                    0.1 mg

50 g cottage cheese contains:
Energy                207 kJ
Protein                6.9 g
Carbohydrate     1.1 g
Fat                     2 g
Calcium              35 mg
Iron                    0.2 mg
Nutritional value of cheese

Interaction of Iron with Other Nutrients

Interactions among the trace minerals are common and often well-coordinated to meet the body’s needs.

A good source of one nutrient may be a poor food source of another and factors that enhance the action of some trace minerals may interfere with others.

Excessive iron supplementation is often a practice among humans and this excessive intake of non-heme iron may have detrimental effect on zinc nutrition.

It is believe that the basis of interaction between these two minerals is their competition for some portion of a common absorptive pathway.

As a general rule, excessive concentration of one divalent ion in the gastrointestinal tract may inhibit absorption of other divalent ions.

Conversely, a deficiency of one divalent ion may enhance the absorption of others. For example, iron deficiency makes the body more vulnerable to lead poisoning. There are clear indications that iron deficiency promotes cadmium retention and may this decrease the tolerance of high environmental or dietary cadmium levels.

At the metabolic level, an interrelationship appears to exist between iron and copper because the role of copper containing ceruplasmin as feroxidase.

Also ascorbic acid and iron are interrelated on that activation of several deoxygenases by ferrous iron appears dependent on the presence of ascorbate.

It is believed that stimulatory effect of ascorbic acid in iron absorption is exerted by both its reducing capacity, thereby keeping iron in more easily absorbed ferrous +II from and its chelating properties, keeping iron in a soluble, absorbable form.

Another example is inhibition of iron by phytic acid from whole grain, nuts, and legumes.
Interaction of Iron with Other Nutrients

The importance of human nutrition

Undeniably, nutrition is of primary importance to the anatomic and physiologic development and maintenance of the human body.

It is the result of dietary practices after foods has been eaten, digested and nutrients absorbed into the blood: sometimes also study of human behaviors relate to food. Nutrition is the science of nourishing the body – the food that is eaten and the way that the body uses it.

Study of nutrition is to learn which foods serve the body best, and human can work out ways of choosing foods, planning meals, and designing the diet wisely.

Knowing the facts can enhance the body health. The nutrients in food are those chemical components of the food that perform one of three roles in the body:
*to supply energy
*to regulate body process
*to promote the growth and repair of body tissue

Children cannot grow properly unless they are given the right food to eat: this is part of the science of nutrition. However, there is also now good scientific evidence to show that children and young animals grow better if they are given attention and love well as vitamins and proteins.

Therefore, WHO has defined health, towards which good nutrition is intended to contribute as ‘complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not the mere of ill-health and infirmity.
The importance of human nutrition

Minerals content in cheese

Cheese supply important milk nutrients in concentrated forms. Minerals are essential for life, but they are also essential for making cheese.

Cheese is rich in calcium. Six ounces of Cheddar cheese supply as much calcium and phosphorus as a whole quart of milk.

One of the important mineral found in cheese is calcium. This mineral is essential for healthy teeth and bones and clotting of the blood. Calcium also needed for the smooth functioning of nerves and muscles and it is used for muscle cramps and arching bones.

Phosphorus produces energy for the cells and regulates the activity of proteins. It is necessary for the structure of bones and teeth.

In cheese making calcium is to assist in forming a firm curd and that traps fat and will hold up well to string, pressing and stretching of the curd.

100g of cheese can supply the daily calcium requirement of an average adult, plus nearly 50% of the phosphorus requirement, while the bioavailability is good compared with other foods.

Cheese also contains magnesium, zinc, selenium and folate.

The mineral content of cheese is influenced by the addition of salt, optional ingredients, the method of coagulation, the treatment of the curd and resulting acidity.
Minerals content in cheese

Nutrient in vegetable

Vegetables are packed with all types of healthy nutrients.

The presence of many vitamins and other chemicals such as minerals, fiber and phytochemicals in vegetables supply the body with nutrients necessary to boost energy production within the muscle cells.

Daily requirements for several vitamins including vitamin C, folic acid and beta carotene, the precursor for vitamin A can be met exclusively from fresh vegetables and fruits.

Vegetables rich in color generally indicate that they are higher in vital nutrients than their pale counterparts.

Leafy green vegetables supply a large amount of vitamin A. The dark green vegetables deliver the B vitamin folate; legumes supply iron and protein; the starchy vegetables contribute carbohydrate energy and other vegetables fill in the gaps and add more of these same nutrients.

Vegetables are also low in sodium and this help to reduce water gain.

Vegetables contain phytochemicals that may provide additional health benefits, such as using for repair and build healthy cells, organs and tissues which will increasing body immunity to disease and illness.

Nutrient in vegetable

Nutrient in corn

Corn also known as maize, botanically name Zea mays is a high carbohydrate cereal grain.

Corn does double duty as both a veggie and a whole grain, so it’s loaded with fiber. An ear of corn has just 85 calories and is a good source of fiber. Corn provides a small amount of protein, phosphorus and potassium. Corn is good source of complex carbohydrate, fiber and favorable vital fatty acids.

One ear of corn has more than 25% of the RDA for the mineral thiamin, which helps body cells convert carbohydrates from food into energy.

Cornmeal contains good amounts of iron, important for healthy blood, and magnesium, which helps regulate blood pressure and play a role in nerve and muscle function. 

Corn kernels have heart healthy folate, a B-vitamin that keeps blood levels of potentially dangerous homocysteine in check.

The American Institute for Cancer Research recommends corn as part of a diet to lower risk of cancer and promote overall health. Cooking increased the antioxidant in sweet corn by up to 53 percent. In addition to its antioxidant benefit, cooked sweet corn releases ferulic acid, and aromatic compound, which provides health benefits such as battling cancer.

Corn helps maintaining human health. Using corn regale reduces the risk of heart attack by 10%,. Corn reduces the risk of lung cancer by 37%, sweet corn consumption is the increase human memory intensity.
Nutrient in corn

Nutrient in egg yolk

An egg has two parts – egg white and egg yolk. The central part of the egg is the egg yolk and the yolk is surrounding by a thin covering called vitellin membrane.

The yellow portion makes up about 33 percent of the liquid weight of the egg.

The egg yolk is rich in fat, that is about one third of the yolk is fat, especially of cholesterol and lecithin variety.

Egg yolk lecithin is a key source of compounds known as phospholipids, which are crucially important molecules with active roles in cell membranes particularly in the brain and nervous system.

The yolks of chicken eggs produced commercially contain large amounts of the carotenoid lutein and zeaxanthin (approx. 292 ug/yolk and 213 ug/yolk, respectively).

Several studies have linked lutein to a lower risk for eye, skin and other health disorders, probably though its antioxidant activity.

Lutein and zeaxanthin may protect the cardiovascular system and maintain normal cell differentiation in the tissues of the breasts, colon, and skin.

Some research into the health benefits of eggs suggest a link between eggs and a reduced risk of heart attack or stroke, primarily because the protein in egg yolk help prevent blood clots.

Egg yolk also is rich in vitamins, especially thiamin, riboflavin, vitamins A and D and their content in eggs upon the chicken’s diet. Egg yolk are one of the few foods naturally containing vitamin D.

The yolk’s content of phosphorus, manganese, iron, iodine, copper and calcium are higher than the whites and it contain all of the zinc.

Nutrient in egg yolk

Nutrient-rich banana

Bananas are sweet, being rich in carbohydrates (mostly the sugars glucose and fructose), as well as in folic acid, vitamins B6, and C, and pectin.

Bananas is a good source of potassium having 100-200 mg.

They also contain an enzyme that aids in the production of sex hormones. Banana are a good source of energy in the form of non structural carbohydrate, but low in fat, they are an excellent food for pregnant mothers, babies and children.

Bananas are one of the first non-breast foods given to babies due to their consistency, ease of digestion, sweetness , non-allergenic properties and high nutrient content.

The carbohydrate content on the edible of fresh bananas is about 20 percent. During the ripening period the starch is converted into sugar, though in the cultivars known as plantains this process does not take place.

Because of its high starch content, banana fruit is a major source of dietary carbohydrate uptake.

Banana fruit has been extensively used in folk medicine and is reported to exert a cholesterol-lowering effect as well as to decrease the risk of colorectal cancer.
Nutrient-rich banana

Nutrient in fish

Fish is a food source comparable to other animal protein foods in nutrient composition. Because of its nutrients denseness, seafood can help the dietary needs for calcium, essential fats, iodine and protein.

In addition, seafood is an important contributor of selenium to the American diet and is unique among animal protein foods as a rich source or omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.

Salmon and sardines, in particular are good sources of moega-3 essential fatty acids, while halibut is a great source of protein.

It is evident that fish contributes more to people’s diet than just the high quality protein they are known for.

The forms of lipid in fish are triglycerides or triacylglycerols. Triglycerides in pelagic fish contain the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid EPA (eicosapentoic acid) and DHA (docosahexanoic acid), which have many health benefits including normal development of the brain and retina in infants and prevention of heart disease in adults.

Research has linked fish consumption with many health benefits, including a lowered risk for arthritis, heart attacks, high blood pressure, prostate cancer in men and strokes.

The WHO/FAO in 2003 recommendation on the consumption of fish is that “regular fish consumption (1-2 servings per week) is protective against coronary heart diseases and ischemic stroke and is recommended. The serving should provide an equivalent of 200-500 mg of EPA and DHA.”
Nutrient in fish