Nutrient Food Lists

Click on each nutrient to see info from nutrient.javalime.com   Good reference for what foods contain nutrient, etc.   Based on USDA (US Department of Agriculture) National Nutrient Database Release 21 (SR21). in serving size of 100 Grams, about 3.5 oz. Javalime website now apparently owned by Google. Foods Source of Nutrients Food Sources of Dietary Fiber Food Sources of Magnesium Mg Food Sources of Protein Food Sources of Lycopene Food Sources of Omega-3 Food Sources of Vitamin B-12 Food Sources of Vitamin D Food Sources of Vitamin K Food Sources of Lutein + zeaxanthin Nutrition Facts Nutrition Facts of Apple Nutrition Facts of Avocado Nutrition Facts of Fish Cod Liver Oil Nutrition Facts of Honey Nutrition Facts of Oats Nutrition Facts of Quail, meat only, raw Nutrition Facts of Spinach Nutrition Facts of Watermelon   Also try this website and another which are similar but not quite as easy to navigate or as complete, or NutritionData. And most updated (28) and easiest USDA list. ref ref for Government nutritional info. Reprinted here for significance from NIH data sheets - Folate in Foods Table 2: Selected Food Sources of Folate and Folic Acid [7] Food mcg DFE per serving Percent DV* Beef liver, braised, 3 ounces 215 54 Spinach, boiled, ½ cup 131 33 Black-eyed peas (cowpeas), boiled, ½ cup 105 26 Breakfast cereals, fortified with 25% of the DV† 100 25 Rice, white, medium-grain, cooked, ½ cup† 90 23 Asparagus, boiled, 4 spears 89 22 Spaghetti, cooked, enriched, ½ cup† 83 21 Brussels sprouts, frozen, boiled, ½ cup 78 20 Lettuce, romaine, shredded, 1 cup 64 16 Avocado, raw, sliced, ½ cup 59 15 Spinach, raw, 1 cup 58 15 Broccoli, chopped, frozen, cooked, ½ cup 52 13 Mustard greens, chopped, frozen, boiled, ½ cup 52 13 Green peas, frozen, boiled, ½ cup 47 12 Kidney beans, canned, ½ cup 46 12 Bread, white, 1 slice† 43 11 Peanuts, dry roasted, 1 ounce 41 10 Wheat germ, 2 tablespoons 40 10 Tomato juice, canned, ¾ cup 36 9 Crab, Dungeness, 3 ounces 36 9 Orange juice, ¾ cup 35 9 Turnip greens, frozen, boiled, ½ cup 32 8 Orange, fresh, 1 small 29 7 Papaya, raw, cubed, ½ cup 27 7 Banana, 1 medium 24 6 Yeast, baker’s, ¼ teaspoon 23 6 Egg, whole, hard-boiled, 1 large 22 6 Vegetarian baked beans, canned, ½ cup 15 4 Cantaloupe, raw, 1 wedge 14 4 Fish, halibut, cooked, 3 ounces 12 3 Milk, 1% fat, 1 cup 12 3 Ground beef, 85% lean, cooked, 3 ounces 7 2 Chicken breast, roasted, ½ breast 3 1 * DV = Daily Value. The FDA developed DVs to help consumers compare the nutrient contents of products within the context of a total diet. The DV for folate is 400 mcg for adults and children aged 4 and older. However, the FDA does not require food labels to list folate content unless a food has been fortified with this nutrient. Foods providing 20% or more of the DV are considered to be high sources of a nutrient. † Fortified with folic acid as part of the folate fortification program. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Nutrient Database Web site [7] lists the nutrient content of many foods and provides a comprehensive list of foods containing folate arranged by nutrient contentand by food name.

Healthy Eating Index or Food Quality Score

In case you haven't heard about this before, the HEI or the FQS are ways to measure the health aspects of the SAD, Standard American Diet. Researchers need to evaluate this score in studying the results of health studies. It is vital to remember that this number only reflects the USDA's healthy recommendation amounts for the different vitamins and numeral nutrients, but not necessarily for other phytonutrients including the two types of fibers. It also includes and measures nutrient densities within food groups. But, it contains many flaws since it is not only based upon the RDIs, Recommended Daily Intake, but also must incorporate the cost of food service quantities for free meals, etc. And, little if any consideration of cooking methods, fresh, frozen, or raw, but it does differentiate between whole and processed grains. ref

How to Read New Vitamin Labels

The FDA has recently changed the way some nutrient dosage and units are expressed on labels. article See Government site examples. These examples show the old units in (400IU) after the new units so one can get an idea of conversion. It will be confusing for some time. Here are the changes for food labels. 

Do New Label Requirements Clarify or Confuse?

While the FDA label changes are probably designed to improve label information, any change take time before Public confusion dissapates since the old methods have to be wiped clean before the new ones simplify.

It appears that companies might still be able to hide or disguise nutrient sources and whether vitamins are natural or synthetic, since information could be listed in ingredients below nutrition box where customers are not used to looking. This might not have been an oversight, but a special interest perk. It is the information that cannot be added to labels that also forms issues of confusion.

Some Nutrient Daily Values have changed based on recent science as well as some RDI, Recommended Daily Intake, plus also some units of measure. ref <Check out increases and especially decreases, some very significant. Potassium RDI under the old system was only achieved by less than 20% of the population, so the RDI amounts were lowered by almost 40%. Was this change for Public Health or to reduce Federal meal costs since each meal is required to have 33% of RDI for each vitamin?

A new term has emerged, DFE , standing for Dietary Folate Equivalent. Since supplement folic acid is absorbed better than natural food folates, to equalize these differences, a DFE number is given not based on weight. Under the new labels, synthetic folic acid would have a smaller weight number than the natural form and may give the impression of lower value, so the DFE number hopes to balance this factor so the synthetic is not perceived as a negative.

CRITICAL NOTE: Scientists have discovered that over a certain dosage, the synthetic folic acid spills into the blood stream as unmetabolized folic acid. This unmetabolized folic acid suppresses natural killer cell activity of the immune system. A factor that could prove negative depending upon other conditions. Plus, synthetic folic acid has also shown up in blood tests of babies from mothers who did not consume supplements. This means it was just from the synthetic folic acid used to fortify grain foods. 

Don't expect these new rules for labels are just for clarification. They look like an attempt to cloud the differences between natural and synthetic vitamins. Plus, using weight only instead of iinternational units for vitamin D and E will take some time for the Public to adapt. Certain entities benefit from these changes while others may be hurt. Rarely is the Public the one benefiting. Why was the importance of Potassium reduced so much? Is this another example of special interest tampering? Watch for updates on this issue. 

Remember: Old research and articles used the old system which will make it difficult to compare to the new system, especially once the voluntary inclusion of the (old units) gets discarded off labels. 

Soil on Nutrient Content of Food

Health grows from fertile soils. Good soil is alive with living organisms as well as abundant nutrients. These elements in good soil produce healthy and nutritious plants and healthy animals that feed on them.  Most of these soil elements get recycled back into the soil through various processes to renew the health of the soil. But over time, soil fertility tends to diminish even with abundant fertilizing intervention. ref ref

There are natural cycles that need to be respected to maintain soil quality. In the largest scope of influence, glaciers growing and retreating grind rocks into dust which is then transported either by rivers or wind to re-fertilize soils. This cyclical action renews soil that is weakened by plant overgrowth, erosion from rain washing nutrients down to the ocean, wind blowing nutrients away during dry seasons as well as food crops transportation away from growing areas. The changes that soil fertility influences are the type of trees that grow in a particular area and the size of leaves that have a direct link to creating climate weather patterns above the land. Chief among these are represented by broad leaf trees should as maples being replaced by pine needle trees. ref ref ref

Eventually the loss of soil fertility generates the need for another ice age of numerous degrees. It's a necessary and natural cycle. It is interesting to note that many commercial fertilizers contain rock processing gravel dust. 

Here is the Cycle 

• Volcanoes erupt and push up rocks from below as well as form new rocks ref
• Some of these Rocks are then pushed up to form mountains
• Glaciers form on some mountain tops
• The weight of the glaciers growing and retreating, puts pressure on the rocks below grinding part of them into dust
• This dust moves with water down mountains and fertilizes soil in valleys 
• During dry spells, the dust gets blown up into the sky and travels many miles where it eventually falls and fertilizes distant soils. ref
• This mineral fertilized soil grows healthy plants and trees.
• Plants and trees use carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the air and with sunlight make photosynthesis happen.
• This produces fruits, nuts, and other parts of plants that either fall and return to the soil, or are eaten by animals.
• Animals poop out these nutrients plus some bacteria produced elements back into the soil.
• The basic principle at play is that this cycle maintains pH of soil at slightly alkaline.
• Transporting food crops away from growing area disrupts this recycle pattern.
• This results in the reduction of alkaline minerals and the soil starts turning slightly acid.
• Earthworms, vital to soil and crop health, do not like acid soil or survive certain tilage procedures. ref
• Commercial fertilizers cover for some of the major minerals for awhile and have to use chemicals to help plants survive.
• Eventually, the soils get worn out as too many nutrients are lost and even greater amounts of fertilizers fail to keep up and the soil needs to be replenished by increased glacial type actions.
• Erosion of nutrients eventually reaching the oceans also participates in marine life forms and structures in both a positive as well as a negative outcome
• Coral and other organisms growth traps CO2 which takes it out of the atmosphere cycle for awhile.
• While difficult to imagine, Algae growth influences cloud formation which impacts climate temperatures, storms, and rainfall.
• Algaes and other marine life influence ocean pH that cycles back to further influence these cycles.

Signs that expose the need for new glacial activity are showing up more and more lately as plants and trees are suffering health issues. There is talk about spreading the glacial melt dust from Greenland to fertilize the worn out earth soils. ref But, this would be a challenging feat.

Now, this cycle information should have raised some vital questions for the processes used by large scale commercial farms to produce food for humans and animals. And you would be right. The food crops grown are showing signs of reduced nutrient amounts from weakening soil fertility, even with the use of certain fertilizers. Higher crop output is often offset by lower nutrient content of food.

Plus, the erosion and element runoff from commercial fertilized farms flowing into the sea is disrupting sea life. ref This is a major problem that organic farming attempts to address. But, it too has contamination and runoff problems. article Backyard farming should be mainlined.

Of Interest: plants and trees love CO2. Since fossil fuel burning has increased atmospheric CO2 levels, the earth is experiencing a re-greening with increased greens growing in new areas, like deserts, equal to cover an area the size of the United States. This has been verified by NASA pictures from space. This result is trapping more CO2 and slowing down increase trend.