What Foods Have Vitamins A, B, and C?

Vitamins A, B, and C play critical roles in maintaining your overall health

Vitamin A, often referred to as retinol, serves a number of crucial roles in the body. It helps your immune system, which is your body's natural defense against sickness and infection, function effectively. Vitamin A also maintains eye health and skin health.

Sources of vitamin A include yellow, orange, and red foods such as:

• Carrots: About ½ cup of raw carrots provides your daily requirement of Vitamin A. Sweet potatoes: When baked, a single sweet potato provides more than 1.5 times the amount of vitamin A that is required on a daily basis.
• Red peppers: A 1 cup serving of red peppers provides you with your daily requirement of vitamin A.
• Spinach: Spinach contains a type of vitamin A known as provitamin A, which works in your body after it is digested and processed.
• Beef liver: Beef liver is packed with vitamin A, which helps your immune system produce antibodies that fight against diseases.

Apart from the aforementioned sources, you can get vitamin A from mango, watermelon, cantaloupe, papaya, apricot, winter squash, goat liver, and cod liver oil.

In all, there are 8 vitamins in the vitamin B complex: B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), B3 (niacin), B5 (pantothenic acid), B6 (pyridoxine), B7 (biotin), B9 (folic acid), and B12 (cobalamin). 

B vitamins affect your energy levels, cognitive function, and cell metabolism and can help lower your risk of infection and other diseases. Moreover, vitamin B helps with red blood cell development, digestion, vision, and other crucial aspects of health.

Pregnant or nursing women should consume more B vitamins to ensure a healthy pregnancy, improve fetal brain development, and reduce the risk of birth abnormalities.

Sources of vitamin B include:

• Whole grains (brown rice, barley, millet)
• Meat (red meat, poultry and fish)
• Dairy products (milk, cheese)
• Eggs
• Legumes (beans, lentils)
• Kernels and nut foods (sunflower seeds, almonds)
• Dark, leafy vegetables (broccoli, spinach)
• Fruits (citrus fruits, avocados, bananas)
• Shellfish (oysters, clams)
• Nuts and seeds
• Soy products (soy milk)

Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, plays a crucial role in a number of different processes, such as protecting cell health, helping with wound healing, and maintaining the health of your skin, blood vessels, bones, and cartilage.

Sources of vitamin C include:

• Citrus fruits: One medium-sized orange contains about 83 mg of vitamin C. Other citrus fruits such as lemons, limes, grapefruit also contain a substantial amount of vitamin C.
• Kiwi: Kiwis contain even more vitamin C than oranges, in addition to fiber, flavonoids, and carotenoids that help protect cells. 
• Red pepper: There is about 95 mg of vitamin C in ½ cup red peppers. Red peppers also contain vitamins A, B, E, and K, potassium, folate, manganese, phosphorus, and magnesium. 
• Strawberries: There is about 85 mg of vitamin C in 1 cup of strawberries. Strawberries are also low in calories and rich in fiber and antioxidants.
• Broccoli: One cup of cooked broccoli contains 100 mg of vitamin C. Broccoli also contains fiber and antioxidants that can reduce inflammation.

Apart from the aforementioned sources, you can also get vitamin C from papayas, brussel sprouts, potatoes, guava, pineapple, tomatoes, kale, and parsley.