Rich in B-vitamins, zinc and protein, pork is a healthy choice in a balanced diet and a favourite with seniors. Lean cuts of pork, such as tenderloin, leg inside round and loin chops, offer less than five grams of fat and about 175 calories per 100 gram serving. Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide recommends eating two to three servings of meat and alternatives each day, and suggests choosing lean meat more often. Lean pork is an excellent choice.
Pork is particularly rich in thiamine, an essential B-vitamin that helps build and repair muscles and release energy from carbohydrate-containing foods. Pork has more thiamin than any other meat, with about one milligram per 100 grams of lean pork. The Recommended Dietary Allowance for thiamin is 1.2 milligrams a day for men, and 1.1 milligrams a day for women, so one 100 gram serving of fresh pork provides about 85-90% of the recommended daily amount that adults require. All that, and it tastes great too!
The goodness from pork doesn’t stop at thiamin. In fact, pork is a source of these nine additional vitamins and minerals, which are all essential to a healthy diet:
Nutrient | Percent of Daily Recommended Intake | Nutrient | Percent of Daily Recommended Intake |
Vitamins | Minerals | ||
Riboflavin (B2) | Phosphorus | ||
Niacin (B3) | Magnesium | ||
Vitamin B6 | Iron | ||
Vitamin B12 | Zinc | ||
Pantothenate |