Consider what it takes to eat a healthy diet. Experts often point to fruits, vegetables, legumes, roots, tubers, nuts and other plants as excellent sources of calories and nutrients, ones which often lack the fats and cholesterol associated with processed foods. Recently, researchers found that bees and other pollinating insects are vital to keeping these plants productive.

A study appearing in the journal PLoS ONE found that insects that pollinate crops are responsible for the growth and proliferation of numerous foodstuffs around the globe. By extension, this means that bees and other pollinators are a precious resource, one that ensures the healthy growth of nutrient-providing plants of all types.

“Animal-pollinated crops contain the majority of the available dietary lipid[s], vitamin[s] A, C and E, and a large portion of the minerals calcium, fluoride and iron worldwide,” said researchers in Germany and Southern California.

The team warned that without these essential organisms, up to 40 percent of the vitamins and minerals provided by crops could be lost.

When fruits and vegetables do not provide one’s full daily amount of nutrients, vitamin supplements may be able to help.