What Vitamins Do Strawberries Contain?

Eating healthfully while indulging in a delicious, sweet confection may seem like a paradox. However, one of nature's offerings is indeed a rare and nutritious treat that proves that nutrition and enjoyment can go hand-in-hand. The strawberry contains a tremendous amount of vitamins in a juicy red package -- one that is a friend to both the taste buds as well as a staple of a healthy diet.

Vitamin C

Strawberries rival citrus fruit in their content of vitamin C, also called ascorbic acid. One serving of strawberries -- about eight strawberries -- yields as much vitamin C as an orange, reports the California Strawberry Commission. This essential vitamin promotes healthy teeth and gums, aids in wound healing, and maintains tissue within the body, according to the National Institutes of Health's MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia 2.

Vitamins A, E and K

Calories in One Kiwi Fruit

Learn More

Other crucial vitamins contained within the strawberry are also vital to general health and wellness. Vitamin A plays a key role in healthy skin, mucous membranes and bones. Reports MedlinePlus, the sweet red fruit also adds vitamin E to a balanced diet, which promotes healthy red blood cells as well as enhances the body's absorption use of yet another strawberry-borne nutrient that helps blood coagulate -- vitamin K 2.

B Vitamins

Nutrients which help many aspects of overall health, B vitamins are found in abundance within the strawberry. These include B1/thiamine, B2/riboflavin, B3/niacin and B6. B vitamins play important roles in overall wellness, beneficial to many integral elements of physiological health, such as:

• as metabolism
  
• the central nervous system
  
• heart function
  
• nerves
  
• body growth

Folate

Foods and Vitamins to Help Heal Nerve Endings

Learn More

Folate, another B vitamin, is a valuable addition to the array of vitamins in strawberries. This particular vitamin is essential to the formation of DNA, and promotes healthy tissue growth and functional cells within the body. Folate also helps vitamin B12 in the formation of red blood cells. Low levels of folate have been linked to birth defects, so this singularly important vitamin is essential to both expecting mothers and their fetuses.