To eat a balanced diet is not always easy. We are bombarded with so much information about what and how much we should eat, that it is sometimes really difficult to keep track of it all.
But, chances are nevertheless slight that you'll get scurvy or beriberi or any of the vitamin deficiency diseases. That said, there was a student on an American campus last year who developed scurvy after eating only chocolates, cheese, biscuits and coffee for six months, but you wouldn't dream of doing that, would you?
The list below tells you which foods contain the highest amounts of various vitamins and minerals. Eat these just once a week and chances are that your body will be getting what it needs – at least enough to ward off scurvy and other ills.
Vitamin or mineral | Foodstuffs with high contents of this |
Vitamin A | Lamb's liver, butter, margarine |
Vitamin B1 | Wheatgerm, Cornflakes, Brazil nuts |
Vitamin B2 | Cornflakes, Almonds, Muesli |
Vitamin B3 | Cornflakes, peanuts, boiled prawns, roast turkey, roast chicken |
Vitamin B6 | Cornflakes, muesli, walnuts |
Vitamin B12 | Lamb's kidney, sardines in oil, raw oysters, pilchards in tomato sauce, cod's roe |
Folic acid | Chickpeas, calf's liver, cornflakes, asparagus |
Vitamin C | Blackcurrants, strawberries, Brussels sprouts |
Vitamin D | Margarine, cornflakes, cheddar cheese |
Vitamin E | Sunflower oil, Hazelnuts, Almonds, Peanuts |
Calcium | Whitebait, Cheddar cheese, Sardines, flour, almonds |
Iron | Cornflakes, Muesli, lentils, almonds |
Magnesium | Brazil nuts, almonds, peanuts, wholemeal flour |
Selenium | Boiled egg, cheddar cheese, boiled lentils, wholemeal flour |
Zinc | Beef, lamb, Brazil nuts, peanuts |
(Picture: couple having breakfast from Shutterstock)