PLANTS MAKE VITAMINS !
the bounty of a rooftop Veggie garden !
DID YOU KNOW? Many of the vitamins our bodies need to stay healthy are made by plants. Here are some vitamins we need and their common plant sources.
Maybe you can grow some in your garden – can’t get fresher than that !
CAROTENOIDS
These are yellow, orange, and red organic pigments that are produced by plants. It is what give the characteristic color to pumpkins, carrots, parsnips, corn, tomatoes, and daffodils! Just Don’t’ eat the daffodils – they have toxins !
corn
There are over 1,100 identified carotenoids. They are grouped into two classes – xanthophylls (which contain oxygen) and carotenes (contain no oxygen).
Here are just a few!
Beta Carotene – Betacarotenum, Provitamin A, Trans-beta-carotene
Beta-carotene is a pigment found in plants that gives them their color – Carrot orange ! They are an antioxidant that protects the body from damaging molecules called free radicals. Our bodies can convert it into Vitamin A (retinol).
Sources of beta carotene: sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, squash, spinach, mangoes, turnip greens.
Zucchini
Lycopene
This vitamin is essential for vision, may lower prostate cancer risk, keeps tissues and skin healthy, play an important role in bone growth, improve heart health, and prevent sunburn. In the immune system, it seems to lower lung cancer risk and offer protection against certain other cancers.
This pigment is what gives tomatoes and grapefruit their color.
tomatoes !
Lutein and Zeaxanthin
Both are powerful antioxidants that promote eye health. Some fruits and vegetables, like kale, offer more lutein than carrots alone. These pigments give fruits and vegetables a yellow to reddish hue. They’re structurally very similar.
THIAMIN (vitamin B1)
Helps convert food into energy. Needed for healthy skin, hair, muscles, and brain and is critical for nerve function. Watermelons and acorn squash have lots of this vitamin.
Watermelon – and seedless to boot !
RIBOFLAVIN (vitamin B2)
Required for healthy skin, hair, blood, and brain! Found in most green leafy vegetables.
leafy and green !
NIACIN (vitamin B3, nicotinic acid)
Niacin occurs naturally in food and can also be made by your body from the amino acid tryptophan, with the help of B6.
Sources included potatoes and peanut butter.
Potatoes !
PANTOTHENIC ACID (vitamin B5)
Helps make lipids (fats), neurotransmitters, steroid hormones, and hemoglobin.
Sources include whole grains, broccoli, mushrooms, avocados, tomato products
millet
PYRIDOXINE (vitamin B6, pyridoxal, pyridoxine, pyridoxamine)
Aids in lowering homocysteine levels and may reduce the risk of heart disease. Helps convert tryptophan to niacin and serotonin, a neurotransmitter that plays key roles in sleep, appetite, and moods.
Sources include legumes, tofu and other soy products, potatoes, non citrus fruits such as bananas and watermelons. Many people don’t get enough of this nutrient.
your going to have to buy bananas ! these will not grow in a NYC garden
BIOTIN
Needed for healthy bones and hair. Found in a few foods, including whole grains, soybeans. Some is made by bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. However, it’s not clear how much of this the body absorbs.
ASCORBIC ACID (vitamin C)
Foods rich in vitamin C may lower the risk for some cancers, including those of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, and breast. may protect against cataracts.
Helps make collagen, a connective tissue that knits together wounds and supports blood vessel walls. Helps make the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine Acts as an antioxidant, neutralizing unstable molecules that can damage cells.
Bolsters the immune system.
Fruits and fruit juices (especially citrus), potatoes, broccoli, bell peppers, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes, Brussels sprouts.
lemon – you might be able to grow indoors in a pot !
CHOLINE
Helps make and release the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which aids in many nerve and brain activities.
Normally the body makes small amounts of choline. But experts don’t know whether this amount is enough at certain ages.
peanuts
CALCIFEROL (vitamin D)
Helps maintain normal blood levels of calcium and phosphorus, which strengthen bones. Helps form teeth and bones. Supplements can reduce the number of non-spinal fractures
Many people don’t get enough of this nutrient. While the body uses sunlight to make vitamin D, it cannot make enough if you live in northern climates or don’t spend much time in the sun.
ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL (vitamin E)
Acts as an antioxidant, neutralizing unstable molecules that can damage cells. Found in a wide variety of foods, including vegetable oils, wheat germ, leafy green vegetables, whole grains, nuts.
rice
FOLIC ACID (vitamin B9, folate, folacin)
Vital for new cell an lower levels of homocysteine and may reduce heart disease risk May reduce risk for colon cancer.
Fortified grains and cereals, asparagus, okra, spinach, turnip greens, broccoli, legumes like black-eyed peas and chickpeas, orange juice, tomato juice.
okra
PHYLLOQUINONE, MENADIONE (vitamin K)
Activates proteins and calcium essential to blood clotting. May help prevent hip fractures.
Cabbage, spinach, broccoli, sprouts, kale, collards, and other green vegetables. Intestinal bacteria make a form of vitamin K that accounts for half your requirements.
Kale
Want to grow your own vitamins !
Our Garden Care Team can get you the right ones for you !
Call us !
PLANT SPECIALISTS
GREENING NEW YORK FOR OVER 53 YEARS !
Article written by our Staff Horticulturist, Peter B Morris, BSc, MSc, MBA
All photographs used with permission @SHUTTERSTOCK
