What are the body’s nutrition requirements? Are we getting our daily values of vitamins and minerals?

It’s hard to overemphasize how essential vitamins and minerals are to good health. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a piece that will help you select foods that are rich in the major nutrients, we also hope it with help you see where your own diet may fall short. For example, if you never or rarely eat seafood, meats, and poultry, you might be deficient in B12.

Serving sizes are as follows:

Vegetables and legumes: 1 cup

Fruits: 1 piece

Berries, Melons and Pineapple: 1 cup

Grains: 1/2 cup

Amaranth, Quinoa, Wheat Germ: 1 cup

Barley, Couscous and Rice: 1 cup

Nuts and Seeds about: 3 tablespoons

Seafood about 3 1/2 ounces

Meats and Poultry about 3 1/2 ounces

Dairy products:

Cheese: 1 ounce

Yogurt: 8 ounces

Eggs: 2 large

Given below are name of the various vitamins and minerals that are required by the human body. Amount of these vitamins and mineral and from what food groups these can be acquired is also given:

Vitamin A (5,000 Iu)

Needed for healthy vision, skin, and mucous membranes in the respiratory, digestive, and urinary tracts. 100 per cent in butternut squash, cantaloupe, carrots, kale, mangos, red peppers, sweet potatoes. 10 percent to 50 percent in apricots, avocados, nectarines.

Vitamin B6 (2 Mg)

Helps in metabolising protein and amino acids and in converting other amino acids into hormones; builds red blood cells and antibodies and maintains the central nervous system. From 10 percent to 50 percent in avocados, bananas, chicken, Chinese cabbage, green and red peppers, lentils, salmon, soybeans, steak, sweet potatoes, trout, wheat germ, yellow fin tuna 5 to 10 percent from cauliflower, chickpeas.

Vitamin B12 (6 Mcg)

Needed to produce red blood cells; helps build and maintain myelin, a protective sheath found around nerves; synthesizes DNA. 100 per cent from herring, liver, mackerel. 50 to 100 percent from salmon, trout. 10 to 50 percent from eggs, steak, yogurt.

Vitamin C (60 Mg)

Helps build and maintain collagen (the base for connective tissue), which aids wound healing; good for healthy blood vessels; scavenges free radicals; helps metabolise certain amino acids; stimulates adrenal function; aids in metabolising cholesterol. 100 percent from broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cantaloupe, green and red peppers, guava, kale, kiwi, lemons, oranges, papaya, strawberries. 50 to 100 percent from blackberries, peas, tomatoes.

Carbohydrates (300 G)

The body's main source of energy; help regulate the metabolism of proteins and fats. 10 to 50 percent - amaranth, apples, black beans, chickpeas, kidney beans, lentils, navy beans, pinto beans, quinoa, sweet potatoes. 5 to 10 percent from acorn squash, blackberries, butternut squash, corn, parsnips, peas, raspberries, wheat germ.

Vitamin D (400 Iu)

Needed for the absorption of calcium and phosphorus. 100 percent catfish, halibut, herring. 50 to 100 percent from mackerel, oysters, tuna. 10 to 50 percent in chanterelle, morel, and shiitake mushrooms; eggs, Swiss cheese. 5 to 10 percent Edam and Parmesan cheese.

Vitamin E (20 Mg)

Prevents damage to cell membranes; keeps LDL (bad) cholesterol from oxidizing, which is the first step in the build-up of arterial plaque. 100 percent wheat germ oil. 50 to 100 percent sunflower seeds. 10 to 50 percent almonds and almond oil, asparagus, avocados, canola (rapeseed) oil, eel, hazelnuts, mangos, soybeans. 5 to 10 percent blueberries, Brazil nuts, broccoli, flounder, lobster, nectarines, papaya.

Vitamin K (80 Mcg)

Needed for proper blood clotting. 100 percent from broccoli, endive, kale, spinach, Swiss chard, watercress. 50 to 100 percent avocados, soybeans. 10 to 50 percent kiwi.

Protein (50 G)

Needed to form, maintain, and repair cells; used as building blocks for hormones, enzymes, and antibodies. 50 to 100 percent soybeans. 10 to 50 percent amaranth, black beans, halibut, kidney beans, lentils, lobster, navy beans, oyster mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, peanuts, peas, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, quinoa, ricotta, salmon, steak, Swiss cheese, swordfish, tofu, trout, tuna, turkey, walnuts, wheat germ, yogurt.