Balanced Human Diet - Information about Vitamins

Balanced Diet

Balanced Diet is one, which contains all the necessary nutrients required for growth and maintenance of the human body in the right proportion. Normally a balanced diet:

Should be able to provide about 3000 calories per day for a normal adult;
Should contain all essential elements in appropriate proportion. An average person requires approximately 400-500 g of carbohydrates, 70 g of proteins and 75 g of fat, i.e., the ratio of fat, protein and carbohydrates should be around 1:1:6. and of the in 1:1:6. around be should carbohydrates protein fat, ratio i.e., g 75 proteins 70 carbohydrates, 400-500 approximately requires person average an proportion. appropriate elements essential all contain>
Should be in a form that can be easily digested, and properly cooked so as to remove any harmful bacteria.

The requirement of carbohydrates, proteins and fat is greater for growing children, nursing mothers and patients suffering from certain diseases. A sportsman needs two-and-a-half times more carbohydrates than an ordinary person.

Vitamins, Types of Vitamins and Characteristics

Vitamins	Source	Deficiency results in
Vitamin A	Carrots, mangoes, papayas, tomatoes, spinach, whole milk	Poor growth, rough and dry skin and less resistance to infection; also causes night blindness
Vitamin B Complex	Brewer’s yeast, cereals, fruits, pulses	Poor growth, and also causes beri, Pellagra, diarrhea.
Vitamin C	Fresh fruit, oranges, lemons, milk, fresh vegetables	Sore mouth and gums, capillary bleeding, delayed healing of wounds, scurvy
Vitamin D	Dairy products, milk, sun’s rays, butter	Ricketts in children, osteomalacia and osteoporosis is adults
Vitamin E	Wheat germ, milk, cereals, spinach, soybeans	Thought to interfere with reproduction and also causes certain degenerative disease of the nervous system, liver damage, hemorrhage; also abortion, menstruation irregularities
Vitamin K	Green Leafy vegetables, Oats, rye, peas	Delayed clotting of blood, liver damage, increased tendency to hemorrhage
Vitamin P	In almost all sources of vitamin C like oranges, lemons and other citrus fruits	Unhealthy blood capillaries