MISSING
NUTRIENTS IN OUR DIET
INTRODUCTION
The Human body requires continuous supply of
nutrients. These nutrients are utilized by the body to maintain health. The
nutrients ought to be supplied daily in the right proportion for optimum utilization and proper body maintenance.
As per ICMR(2010), dietary guidelines says that
Indian Adults are lack in essential nutrients due to sedentary life style.
Rather than checking with the supplements food is a
natural stuff which helps to fulfill all the dietary requirements.
Essentially this article gives a new prospective on
how one can concentrate on intake of nutrients in day do day diet.
7 Major Missing Nutrients in our Indian dietary plan
are:
1. CALCIUM – essential
for bones, muscle contraction, teeth, nerve impulses. Best sources off calcium
is milk-the calcium in milk is accompanied by a favourable proportion of
phosphorus, hence is very well utilised in the body, milk products such as
curds, panneer are also good source calcium,
Millets like Ragi and
green leafy vegetables like spinach, drum stick leaves and amaranths, are also
a good sources of calcium and easily available in the market.
Fresh as well as dried
fish provide substantial quantities of calcium in diet, irrespective of the
dietary intake, hormones and Vitamin D plays a major role to maintain the
calcium level in the body. (S R Mudambi and M V Rajagopal, 2009).
As per the recent report
of the Recommended dietary allowances (RDA) in many developing countries live
on an intake of 500 mg per day.
·
Indian Adult – 500 mg per
day
·
Pregnancy – 1000 mg per
day
·
Children’s – 600 mg per
day
A large percentage of Indian
women especially from the low income strata suffer from osteoporosis
2.
POTASSIUM – primarily
present in the intra cellular fluid it helps to regulate the body PH level.
SOURCES – meat,
fish, and poultry are good sources of potassium, fruits such as bananas, orange
and lemon, vegetables like carrot, potatoes, leafy vegetables are also a good
source of potassium.
Major function –
potassium helps to maintain the normal osmotic pressure of the body fluids, it
also involves in the muscle contraction and transmission of nerve impulses.
As per the recent report
of the Recommended dietary allowances (RDA)
Indian Adult – 3-7 grams
per day in ordinary diet.
DEFICIENCY STATUS – persons
who take diuretics for weight reduction may loss excessive amount of potassium
which leads to severe vomiting, diarrhoea, diabetic acidosis, loss of potassium
of also leads to dehydration.
3.
MAGNESIUM – bones and
teeth contains 60% of magnesium in the body,
Functions - Body
building, muscle contraction, transmissions of nerve stimulates,
Magnesium is absorbed in
acid medium in the GI Tract
Food sources – plant
sources are richest source of magnesium such as green leafy vegetables, meat, nuts, sea food, legumes.
DEFICIENCY STATUS –
Hypocalcemic tetany i.e., muscle tremor,
severe magnesium deficiency results in cirrhosis of liver,
As per the recent report
of the Recommended dietary allowances (RDA) in many developing countries live
on an intake of 350 mg per day.
4.
IRON – regulates
haemoglobin, cell functions,
Food sources: Egg, liver,
Meat, Rice flakes, whole wheat flour, pulses, bajra, ragi, jowar, green leafy
vegetables are a good sources of iron.
Main function of iron in
the haemoglobin is to carry oxygen from the lungs to the cells and to carry
back some of the carbon dioxide formed, to the lungs to exhalation.
Iron is stored in the
liver, spleen and bone marrow in the form of protein.
As per the recent report
of the Recommended dietary allowances (RDA)
Indian Adult – 28 mg per
day
Pregnancy – 38 mg per day
Children’s – 26 mg per
day
DEFICIENCY STATUS – iron
deficiency anaemia is quite prevalent in India the prevalence is varying from
45% in male adult to 70% in women and children.
5.
VITAMIN C - helps to maintain strong tissues, its an
important partner of protein for tissue synthesis, it helps to built resistance
to infection it also aids in absorption of iron and wound healing, helps to
remove the free radicals in the body
Sources – amla is the one
of the richest sources of Vitamin C, guava, citrus fruits like orange, sweet
lime, grape fruits are also excellent sources of ascorbic acid, green leafy
vegetables like amaranthus, drum stick leaves.
DEFICIENCY STATUS – scurvy –
bleeding gums, teeth, lack of appetite, haemorrhages, are the major deficiency
symptoms
As per the recent report
of the Recommended dietary allowances (RDA)
Indian Adult – 40 mg per
day
Pregenancy – 80 mg per
day
Childrens – 20-40 mg per
day
6.
VITAMIN A AND CAROTENOIDS – Vitamin A is present only in animal foods liver
is the richest source of Vitamin A, beta-carotene
is the precursor of vitamin A which is present in all the vegetable source, Vitamins
do not provide calories but are essential in all the metabolic reactions in the
body it plays an important role in the energy balance, central nervous system
and immune response, carotenoids are only precursors are vitamin A and its
derivatives which is very important to carry out several functions in the body.
SOURCES – leafy
vegetables like spinach, drumstick leaves, coriander and amaranths, coloured
fruits such as mango, papaya, yellow pumpkin are rich sources of vitamin A
DEFICIENCY STATUS – night
blindness, kerotomalacia,
As per the recent report
of FAO/ WHO and the Recommended dietary
allowances (RDA)
Indian Adult – 2400 Mcg
per day
Pregenancy – 950 - 3800
mcg per day
Childrens – 350 – 1400
mcg per day
7. VITAMIN E – natures
most powerful antioxidant protects the cell membrane from tissue damages, it is
also plays major role in tissue breakdown by its antioxidant nature
SOURCES – vegetable
oils are richest sources of Vitamin E and other sources like whole grain
cereals, egg, muscle meat and fish, almonds.
As per the recent report
of the Recommended dietary allowances (RDA) and ICMR 2010 suggests that
Indian Adult – 0.5 mg per
kg /ml which is considered as satisfactory per day
DEFICIENCY STATUS –
haemolysis, muscular dystrophy, pigmentation in the smooth muscles,
