Most of the vitamin A in the diet comes from plant food sources in developing countries. This study was designed with an objective of determining β-carotene content of a total of 26 types of green leafy vegetables, tubers, other vegetables and fruits obtained from four wholesale markets in Delhi, India using HPLC. There was a wide variation in β-carotene content of green leafy vegetables, with means ranging from 2199 µg/100 g in Basella rubra to 7753 µg/100 g in Amaranthus gangeticus. A large variation was observed in β-carotene content of fruits and the mango varieties tested, ranging from undetectable levels in strawberry and 808.60 µg/100 g in totapuri mango up to 11789 µg/100 g in alphonso mango. Approximately 65 g and 100 g of a green leafy vegetable would meet daily requirement of a preschooler and older child/adult respectively. Mango has considerable amount of β-carotene, and consuming a medium-sized bowl by preschool children would meet 99% of Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA). The information generated is useful in identifying types of fruits and vegetables with higher concentration of the provitamin A in low income economies where fruits and vegetables are expensive. Individuals need to consume only small quantities of these vitamin A rich foods to meet daily requirement.

<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Milk and milk products are excellent sources of several important nutrients including retinol in the diets of young children. Household processing practices followed by the mothers (n=400) of young children (1-9 yrs) of Delhi was assessed using an interview schedule. The effect of boiling on the retinol content in milk and frying on cottage cheese was assessed using HPLC.  All households were boiling milk before consumption. Increasing the time period of boiling from 2 to 10 minutes did not lead to any significant losses (5 to 9 %) of retinol in milk. About 10.32 % of reduction in retinol content was observed in the milk which was boiled, cooled in refrigerator and cream was removed before consumption. However, children preferred removing the creamy layer formed on boiled, cooled milk before consumption which led to significant loss of 28.43% retinol especially if milk was stored overnight in refrigerator (p&lt;0.05). In cottage cheese, sautéing led to insignificant loss of 5.80 % in the retinol content while deep frying led to 15.78 % of significant reduction in retinol (p&lt;.05). Consuming milk immediately with cream after boiling or homogenising milk with cream after storage will retain most of the vitamin A. Sautéing is preferred over deep fat frying cottage cheese for different preparations for better retention. </span></span></p>