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THE NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF
VEGETABLES AND FRUITS
The nutrition
teacher or research worker usually groups foods into major categories in
order to simplify teaching or the presentation of research data. The
groups most frequently used for this purpose are: milk; meat, poultry,
fish; eggs; beans (except snap beans), peas, and nuts; leafy, green, and
yellow vegetables; tomatoes and citrus fruit; dried fruit; other fruits
and vegetables; bread and cereal products; potatoes; fats; sugar.
It is noted that six of
these twelve groups include vegetables and fruits. The chief nutritional
contributions of these groups may be summarized as given below, and the
specific content of the more common vegetables and fruits, according to
the most recent tables of analyses, are given immediately after the
descriptive paragraphs, This is further followed by lists of the mineral
and vitamin contributions of the vegetables more commonly raised in the
home garden; the latter lists are arranged in descending order of
content of the particular mineral or vitamin mentioned.
Beans
(not including snap beans, which are included with the leafy, green, and
yellow vegetables) and peas are legumes which are high in protein value,
although their proteins are not regarded as having sufficient amounts of
the amino acids required by the human body, and should, therefore, not
be used as the sole source of protein foods. They are of high caloric
value and they make some contributions to the mineral and vitamin
content of the dietary. Peas are relatively high in vitamin A content,
which is associated with many physiological functions, notably growth
and dark adaptation. Both beans and peas, particularly soy beans, are
good sources of vitamin B1,
which is the anti-neuritic vitamin enjoying such wide attention at the
present time.
Nuts
are grouped with beans and peas because they, too, are good sources of
vegetable protein.
Leafy,
green, and yellow vegetables include
such a wide variety of foods as asparagus, broccoli, celery, Swiss
chard, endive, collards, yellow sweet corn, beet, dandelion, mustard,
and turnip greens, kale, lettuce, parsley, snap beans, spinach, and
water cress. Vitamin A is one of the chief ingredients of these foods,
although the quantity present varies widely from one food to another.
Other nutrients contained in the foods of this category usually range
rather generally throughout the list of nutrient factors. The leafy
vegetables, particularly, supply a wide variety of nutrients. In fact,
the leaves of plants are unique in being a complete food, by virtue of
their biological function of serving as the seat for the synthesis of
the proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and other nutrient constituents of
the plant. |
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Victory Gardens
Handbook of the
Victory Garden Committee
War Services, Pennsylvania
State Council of Defense
April, 1944
TABLE OF CONTENTS
page v
page vi
page vii
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