The composition and choice of foods
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This chapter discusses the composition and choice of foods. The range of materials that can be used as food is very great. More than 100 different animal species and 300 plant species are used regularly as human food. A major part of the world’s total food supply is furnished by a mere 20 plant species such as cereals, legumes, and root crops. The approximate composition of the more common foodstuffs and many of the foods prepared from them is obtained from food tables, such as those of McCance and Widdowson. Such tables, though extremely useful, can serve merely as guidelines as they only give average values. Apart from this, the actual amount of nutrients obtained from food depend on the efficiency of the consumer’s digestive processes, how fresh the food was, how it was cooked, and how much was wasted. Human beings consume an enormous variety of different foods in an infinite number of combinations, and no single food pattern needs to be adhered to for ensuring good nutrition. Human diets range from the almost completely carnivorous diet of the traditional Eskimo to strictly vegetarian diets that do not include eggs, milk, or cheese. The latter tend to be very bulky and low in protein but, provided they contain a variety of plant products including protein-rich pulses, they can be adequate. It is necessary, however, to see that people consuming such diets do not become deficient in vitamin B12.
Cereals: rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, rye, barley and buckwheat.
Legumes: peas, beans and lentils.
Root crops: potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, cassava and sugar beet.
Miscellaneous: coconuts, groundnuts, bananas, plaintains and sugar cane.
The approximate composition of the more common foodstuffs and many of the foods prepared from them can be obtained from food tables such as those of McCance and Widdowson (Table 13.4). Such tables, though extremely useful, can serve merely as guidelines since they only give average values. Apart from this, the actual amount of nutrients obtained from food will depend on the efficiency of the consumer’s digestive processes, how fresh the food was, how it was cooked and how much was wasted.
Table 13.4
The composition of selected foods (per 100 g foodstuff)
| Foodstuff | Energy | Protein (g) | Fat (g) | Carbohydrate (g) | Calcium (mg) | Iron (mg) | |
| kJ | kcal | ||||||
| Milk (cow) | 276 | 66 | 3·4 | 3·7 | 4·8 | 120 | 0·08 |
| Milk (human) | 285 | 68 | 2·0 | 3·7 | 6·9 | 25 | 0·07 |
| Cream (double) | 1820 | 462 | 1·5 | 48·2 | 2·0 | 50 | 0·20 |
| Cheese (Cheddar) | 1780 | 425 | 25·4 | 34·5 | tr. | 810 | 0·57 |
| Eggs, fresh whole | 682 | 163 | 11·9 | 12·3 | 0 | 56 | 2·53 |
| Egg white | 155 | 37 | 9·0 | tr. | 0 | 5 | 0·10 |
| Egg yolk | 1470 | 350 | 16·2 | 30·5 | 0 | 131 | 6·13 |
| Bacon, streaky fried | 2200 | 526 | 24·0 | 46·0 | 0 | 52·3 | 3·2 |
| Beef, roast, lean and fat | 1620 | 385 | 21·3 | 32·1 | 0 | 5·8 | 4·6 |
| Chicken, boiled, weighed with bone | 851 | 203 | 26·2 | 10·3 | 0 | 10·7 | 2·1 |
| Liver – calf, fried | 1100 | 262 | 29·0 | 14·5 | 2·4 | 8·8 | 21·7 |
| Cod, fried | 590 | 140 | 20·7 | 4·7 | 2·9 | 49·6 | 1·0 |
| Herring, baked in vinegar | 759 | 189 | 16·9 | 12·9 | 0 | 58·2 | 1·6 |
| Salmon, fresh steamed, no skin or bone | 835 | 199 | 19·1 | 13·0 | 0 | 28·9 | 0·8 |
| Flour (English 100%) | 1400 | 333 | 8·9 | 2·2 | 73·4 | 35·5 | 3·05 |
| Flour (Manitoba 100%) | 1420 | 339 | 13·6 | 2·5 | 69·1 | 27·6 | 3·81 |
| Bread (white) | 1020 | 243 | 7·8 | 1·4 | 52·7 | 92 | 1·8 |
| Bread (brown) | 1010 | 242 | 8·7 | 2·1 | 49·9 | 95 | 2·44 |
| Rice, polished, boiled | 510 | 122 | 2·1 | 0·3 | 29·6 | 1·3 | 0·16 |
| Cornflakes | 1540 | 367 | 6·6 | 0·8 | 88·2 | 7·4 | 2·8 |
| Oatmeal (porridge) | 189 | 45 | 1·4 | 0·9 | 8·2 | 6·3 | 0·47 |
| Beans, baked | 390 | 93 | 6·0 | 0·4 | 17·3 | 61·6 | 2·05 |
| Cabbage, spring, boiled | 33 | 8 | 1·1 | tr. | 0·8 | 30·0 | 0·45 |
| Carrots, old, boiled | 80 | 19 | 0·6 | tr. | 4·3 | 36·9 | 0·37 |
| Peas, fresh, boiled | 210 | 49 | 5·0 | tr. | 7·7 | 12·6 | 1·22 |
| Potatoes, old, mashed | 505 | 120 | 1·5 | 5·0 | 18·0 | 11·7 | 0·45 |
| Potatoes, new, boiled | 315 | 75 | 1·6 | tr. | 18·3 | 5·0 | 0·46 |
| Apples, English, eating | 189 | 45 | 0·3 | tr. | 11·7 | 3·5 | 0·29 |
| Bananas | 324 | 77 | 1·1 | tr. | 19·2 | 6·8 | 0·41 |
| Oranges, weighed with peel and pips | 113 | 27 | 0·6 | tr. | 6·4 | 31·0 | 0·25 |
| Lard | 3850 | 920 | tr. | 99·0 | 0 | 0·8 | 0·1 |
| Margarine | 3340 | 795 | 0·2 | 85·3 | 0 | 4·1 | 0·3 |
| Olive oil | 3900 | 930 | tr. | 99·9 | 0 | 0·5 | 0·1 |
| Boiled sweets | 1379 | 327 | tr. | tr. | 87·3 | 4·8 | 0·43 |
| Chocolate (plain) | 2280 | 544 | 5·6 | 35·2 | 52·5 | 63·0 | 2·9 |
| Icecream | 820 | 196 | 4·1 | 11·3 | 19·8 | 137 | 0·27 |
| Liquorice Allsorts | 1320 | 315 | 3·9 | 2·2 | 74·1 | 62·9 | 8·05 |
| Biscuits (cream crackers) | 2335 | 557 | 8·5 | 33·0 | 57·5 | 96 | 1·48 |
| Biscuits (sweet, mixed) | 2330 | 556 | 5·5 | 30·7 | 66·5 | 83 | 1·2 |
| Spaghetti | 1530 | 365 | 9·9 | 1·0 | 84·0 | 22·6 | 1·21 |
| Butter | 3340 | 793 | 0·4 | 85·1 | tr. | 15 | 0·16 |
| Ham, boiled, lean and fat | 1820 | 435 | 16·3 | 39·6 | 0 | 12·7 | 2·5 |
| Mutton, leg, roast | 1225 | 292 | 25·0 | 20·4 | 0 | 4·3 | 4·3 |
| Mutton chop, fried lean and fat (weighed with bone) | 2150 | 512 | 12·6 | 49·0 | 2·1 | 11·4 | 21 |
| kJ | kcal | ||||||
| Potatoes, old ‘chips’ | 1000 | 239 | 3·8 | 9·0 | 37·3 | 13·8 | 1·35 |
| Draught ale (bitter) | 132 | 31 | 0·25 | tr. | 2·25 | 10·8 | 0·01 |
| Cider (sweet) | 176 | 42 | tr. | 0 | 4·28 | 7·9 | 0·49 |
| Sherry (dry) | 478 | 114 | 0·19 | 0 | 1·36 | 7·1 | 0·39 |
| Champagne | 311 | 74 | 0·25 | 0 | 1·40 | 3·4 | 0·50 |
| Spirits (70% proof) | 930 | 222 | tr. | 0 | tr. | tr | tr. |
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