15 Questions About Vitamins All Dieters Should Be Able To Answer Correctly
At times you can almost see Vitamin C
vanishing in a cloud of ectoplasm. Green leafy vegetables wilt at room
temperatures, and as they wilt much of the vitamin is lost. Reject limp and
wilted vegetables from your produce dealer. Store fruits and vegetables in the
refrigerator. Foods that provide their own containers, such as oranges and
bananas and potatoes, hold onto their Vitamin C well. The flightiness of
Vitamin C makes it advisable to serve it raw whenever possible.
The B vitamins, as well as C, are water
soluble, and you get the most out of them by serving the juices they're cooked
in. Vitamin Bi is an acidulous little fellow who resents going on the alkaline
side; so does Vitamin C. The addition of baking soda to cooking water, as is '
frequently done to preserve the green color of vegetables, causes these
vitamins to go to pieces.
Vitamin A is a hairy-chested citizen who
can take most anything except long continued high temperatures. Ordinary
cooking procedures do hot affect it much, but oxygen will hasten its breakdown,
as it will for other vitamins, and therefore closed vessels are advised for
cooking when they are practicable. Vitamin G (riboflavin) is water soluble but
reasonably immune to cooking losses. Vitamin D can be more or less ignored by
the cook.
An ancient and unhonorable superstition
holds that commercial canning processes wreak havoc with the vitamins in food.
Whatever may have been the case fifty years ago, it just isn't true today.
Foods from modern canning plants, processed
in airtight vessels to minimize vitamin destruction, not only compare favorably
with fresh foods but in some cases may even be superior in vitamins. Fresh
produce bought in open markets during hot weather, for instance, is likely to
contain less Vitamin C than foods rushed from the fields to the canning
factories. Of course a careless cook can destroy canned vitamins as well as
fresh ones.
Innumerable laboratory checkups disclose
that canned foods have practically the same Vitamin A value as the
corresponding fresh foods. Vitamin B1 is well preserved. There is a slight
sacrifice of Vitamin C, although foods of an acid nature, such as tomatoes,
grapefruit, orange and grapefruit juice, when canned by modern methods, are
nearly as rich in Vitamin C as fresh foods available in city markets.
There is a strain of frigidity running
through the vitamins. They don't resent being chilled and wrapped in cartons
that come to us as quick-frozen foods. But they are a little nervous and eager
to escape when the package thaws. You'd feel the same way about it if you were
kept below zero for a few days.
How
Well Do You Know Your Vitamins?
Don't allow frozen food to kibitz in the
kitchen until it is completely defrosted—unless, of course, you are serving it
raw. Store the package in the coldest compartment of your refrigerator and when
you are ready to cook it, plunge it immediately into boiling water.
Ready for a little quiz about vitamins?
Unless you can answer at least 10 of the
following questions it is probable that you are not getting full vitamin-value
out of your food dollars.
1. What
colors usually indicate good Vitamin A values in vegetables?
2. How
should frozen fruits and vegetables be prepared for eating?
3. Are
the vitamins you buy in a drug store the same as those you obtain in foods?
4. Why
are boiled foods likely to be low in Vitamin B values ?
5. Are
canned foods good sources of vitamins?
6. What
is the outstanding vitamin value of citrus
fruits and juices?
7. If
it is difficult for you to find your seat in a darkened movie theatre, what
vitamin deficiency may be indicated ?
8. Are
constipation and lack of appetite ever aided by increased vitamin intake?
10. Why
is it recommended that at least one raw fruit or vegetable be eaten every day?
11. ARE
THE IMPORTANT B VITAMINS STORED IN YOUR BODY IF YOU CONSUME A SURPLUS?
12. What
is meant by "fortified" or "restored" foods, in reference
to vitamins?
13. Does
an expectant mother require more vitamins than she otherwise would?
14. What
vitamin is important in preventing rickets in children?
15.
Is there
any danger of your diet providing too many vitamins?
Answers
1. Green and yellow. 2. Vegetables, plunged
into water before thawing; fruits to be consumed raw, thawed just before using.
3. Yes, except that foods may provide other undiscovered vitamins. 4. They are
soluble and likely to be thrown out with the water. 5. Yes. 6. Vitamin C. 7.
Vitamin A. 8. Yes, by Vitamin B1 (thiamin). 9. No, white leaves are low in
vitamins. 10. Because of Vitamin C content, easily destroyed by cooking. 11.
Not in any significant amount. 12. Fortified foods contain more vitamins than
normal; restored foods have vitamins added to make up for normal values lost in
processing. 13. Yes. 14. Vitamin D. 15. None whatever; massive doses of pure
vitamin D may be toxic .
Category: diet
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