Statistics can be a confusing resource, and the old adage “Numbers don’t lie, but liars can calculate” comes to mind when discussing the amount of vitamins and nutrients in spices and herbs. In the United States, in 1968, the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) became the standard so that everyone knows the minimum levels of nutrients needed to maintain the daily requirements of most people. RDI can be viewed as DV or Daily Value, which is expressed as a percentage on food labels today. Another set of figures was introduced in 1997 out of concern and the potential harm of ingesting too much of a good thing. This is known as the RDA or recommended daily allowance. Hence, the confusion in the actual percentage of vitamins and nutrients that a spice or herb contains.
Few people discuss this topic because spices and herbs make up a very small part of your total food. Beware of exaggerated claims for certain flavorings that provide a large percentage of your daily needs, and look carefully at how much you need to eat to receive those benefits. For example, one teaspoon (this same amount is used in the examples given) of cayenne pepper would provide adults with approximately 83% of the recommended daily intake of vitamin A. But unless you really like spicy food, few would use this amount we have daily basis. (However, that is one way to increase your water intake.)
One spice that meets 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 iron needs, while the same amount of basil provides about 7% of your daily zinc needs. Cilantro leaf, also known as cilantro, provides about 6% of your daily vitamin C needs. Developing a taste for salsa, guacamole, and pesto sauces can be a very healthy thing to do among the basil, cilantro, cayenne and paprika. With the first two, it’s easy to consume more than a teaspoon at one time, therefore further increasing your vitamin intake.
Seven teaspoons of celery seed would provide you with the same amount of calcium as an 8-ounce cup of milk, but there are few recipes that call for that much celery seed. Therefore, one teaspoon would give you only 4% of the recommended daily 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’re making a meal and you use a teaspoon of any spice or herb, chances are you’re making more than one serving. A teaspoon of any spice goes a long way in flavoring a large amount of food. Therefore, as you can see, your actual intake of the mentioned vitamins is even lower. With herbs it’s a little easier, because you can easily eat a lot of basil or cilantro in either a sauce or a salad.
One way around this dilemma is to combine a variety of nuts with spice seeds (sesame, sunflower, caraway, and fennel, for example). Combine them into your own healthy gorp or add them to an existing trail mix. Although nuts are not a spice, they do contain many healthy vitamins, nutrients, good fats, and protein. Also, they go well with the seeds and you can eat them more easily.
If you love to spice up your food, combine a quarter teaspoon of this and that adds up to more than a teaspoon and a greater variety of vitamins and nutrients that you may not get anywhere else. In general, spices won’t provide much of your dietary essentials, but sprinkling them on your food is an easy way to supplement the vitamins and nutrients other foods provide.