Vitamins In Spices And Herbs

Few people discuss this issue because spices and herbs make up such a small part of your total meal. Be wary of exaggerated claims of certain flavorings that provide a large percentage of your daily needs and look carefully at the quantity that you need to eat in order to receive those benefits. For instance, a teaspoon of cayenne pepper would provide adults with about 83% of the daily-recommended intake of vitamin A.

One spice that does meet the vitamin A requirement is paprika. One teaspoon has about 140% of your daily needs. A teaspoon of thyme has about 10% of your daily needs of iron, while the same amount of basil contributes about 7% of your daily requirements of zinc. Coriander leaf, also known as cilantro, fulfills about 6% of your daily needs for vitamin C.

Seven teaspoons of celery seeds would provide you with the same amount of calcium as an 8-ounce cup of milk, but there are few recipes calling for that amount of celery seeds. Thus, one teaspoon would give you just 4% of the daily-recommended amount of calcium. Even a teaspoon of mustard seeds provides only 3% of the daily magnesium and phosphorus needed by an adult.

So, if you are making a meal and you happen to use a teaspoonful of any spice or herb, the chances are that you are preparing more than just one helping. A teaspoon of any one spice goes a long way toward flavoring a large quantity of food. Thus, as you can see, your actual consumption of the vitamins mentioned is even smaller. With herbs it is a little easier, because you can easily eat a large amount of basil or cilantro whether in a sauce or in a salad.

If you do love to spice up your food, combining a quarter teaspoon of this and that will add up to more than a teaspoon and a greater variety of vitamins and nutrients that you may not get elsewhere. All in all spices won't contribute a huge portion of the essentials to your diet, but sprinkling them over your food is an easy way to supplement the vitamins and nutrients that other foods provide.