This document provides nutrition recommendations and information about the importance of vegetables and fruits. It discusses: - Daily recommended intake amounts of various food groups including cereals, pulses, oils, vegetables and fruits. - The nutritional and health benefits of eating vegetables and fruits, which include being low in calories and fat but high in fiber and vitamins. - Sources of vitamins and minerals like vitamin A, C, and B found in many vegetables and fruits. - The importance of fiber for health, the types of fiber, and fiber sources. - The gut microbiome, how it impacts health, and how diet influences bacterial composition and function.

1. Dr V Usha Menon MBBS MRCP UK PhD

2. Nutrition Recommendation
NIN
 Cereals/ millets 400gm/day
 Pulses 80 gm/day
 Oils &fat 30gm/day
 Vegetables 300gm /day
 50gm Green leafy vegetables (GLV)
(100gm for pregnant women )
50gm Root tubers
200 gm Other vegetables
 100 gm fruits/ day

3. Why Eat Vegetables?
 Fairly low in cost and calories
 Very filling
 Nutritional Value
 Versatility
 Easy to prepare
Why Eat Fruits?
 A little more expensive than vegetables
 Very expensive out of season
 Versatility and excellent snacks

4. Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamin A: aids in eye sight
 provided by leafy green and deep yellow vegetables
Vitamin C: prevents scurvy, helps fight colds
- provided by broccoli, green peppers, cabbage, citrus fruits
Vitamin B:
- provided by all vegetables in varying amounts, seed vegetables
especially.

5. What is Fiber?
 Indigestible portion of
plant foods.
 May be soluble or
insoluble
 Benefits
 Reduce risk of colon cancer
 Reduces blood cholesterol
 Diabetics – regulates blood sugar
 Helps you feel full

6.  • Fermentable (feeds your gut bacteria)
 • Soluble fiber:
 Onions, vegetables ,oats, barley, nuts, fruits, and legumes (beans)
 • Resistant starch:
 Unripe bananas, oats, beans, cooked and cooled starches

 • Non-fermentable (increases stool bulk)
 • Insoluble fiber:
 Whole grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables
 • Most plant foods contain a combination of soluble and
insoluble fiber.
 • Some bowel conditions may require restriction of fermentable
fiber.
Sources of Fiber

7. Gut microbiome

8.  Gut flora: the microorganisms that live in the digestive
tract •
 • Gut flora includes: • Bacteria, archaea, fungi, and
viruses
 The amount of bacteria in the human body
 • Number
 • 100 trillion bacteria in and on your body (90% in large
intestine)
 • Bacterial cells outnumber human cells 10 to 1 (You are 90%
bacteria!)
 • Species
 • 10,000 species of bacteria in your body
 • 1,000 species of bacteria in your gut
 • Weight
 • All the bacteria in your body weigh a total of 1.5 kg
The gut microbiome in health and in disease Andrew B. Shreiner,1
John Y. Kao,1
and Vincent B. Young2
Curr Opin Gastroenterol. 2015 Jan; 31(1): 69–75.

10. Good and Bad Bugs

12. Functions of the gut microbiome
• Regulates immune function
 • Prevents growth of harmful microorganisms
• Fermentation of indigestible food (fiber)
• Production of nutrients
 Vitamin K2 • B vitamins • Short chain fatty acids (SCFA)
• Influences hormone and neurotransmitter
production
Can gut bacteria improve your health?
Initial research suggests certain bacteria in your gut can
prevent and treat many common diseases

13. Health effects of an altered gut
microbiome
 • Impaired immune function
 • Increased susceptibility to infection
 • Allergies and auto-immune conditions may
be related to altered microbiome
 • Increased inflammation, both in the gut and
systemically
 • Increases risk of chronic diseases and
obesity
 • Aging
 • Gut microbiota in older adults is significantly
different from young adults
 • Altered brain function

14. Gut bacteria impact many brain functions
• Sleep regulation
• Mood
• Pain sensitivity
• Appetite regulation
• Stress
• Bacteria may influence stress response
• Stress response may alter the microbiome

15. The development of the microbiome
 • Begins at birth
 • Vaginal birth: exposure to vaginal and
intestinal microbes
 • C-sections: minimal bacterial exposure
 • Correlate with increased risk of allergies
and auto-immune conditions
 • Breastfeeding

16. Prebiotics
 • Prebiotics feed gut bacteria
 • Fermentable fiber in foods
 • Prebiotic supplements
○ • Types of supplemental prebiotics:
○ • Fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS)
○ • Mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS)
○ • Galacto-oligosaccharide (GOS)

17.  Feed your Flora with Fiber
 • Gut bacteria eat (ferment) fiber.
○ • Whole plant foods are main sources
○ • Vegetables • Fruits • Whole grains • Beans
and legumes • Nuts and seeds •
 Association between high fiber diet and
reduced risk of:
 • Obesity • Heart disease • Cancer

18. Putting together a healthy diet
 • Does your diet feed only 10% of you?
 • 90% of your cells are bacteria
 • Make sure you are feeding them!
 • Eat more plants (greater quantity and
variety)
 • Aim for consuming at least 30 different
plant species per week

19.  According to the Food
Guide Pyramid it is
recommended that one
consume 3-5 servings of
vegetables per day.
So how much to eat

20. How much is a serving?
 1 cup of raw leafy vegetables
 1 medium size piece of fruit
 ½ cup of other vegetables, cooked or
chopped raw
 ¾ c (6 oz.) of vegetable juice or fruit
juice

21.  Look for good color, firmness, and the
absence of bruises and decay.
 Avoid wilted and odd shaped vegetables
 Handle with care to prevent bruising.
 Choose vegetables that are medium in
size.
 Buy only what you will use within a short
time.
Shopping for Vegetables

22. Vegetables can be purchased:
 Fresh: best quality
 Frozen: next to fresh
it’s the best quality
 Canned
 Dried
 Fresh vegetables that
are in season usually
are of good quality
and low in price.

23. Fresh
 Most vegetables should be refrigerated.
 Store them in the crisper or in a plastic bag
(potatoes, store in a cool, dry place)
Frozen
Keep frozen: avoid re-freezing
Canned
Store in a cool, dry place
Storing - gradual loss of antioxidants
Storage

24. Pesticides
 All veggies & fruits soiled in pesticides
 even organic
 Washing remove some
 but better to have your own greens and
micro greens daily
 More than 20 variety GLV are available

25. How to get the GLV