Chapter 7: Vitamins Flashcards
Do we have micro nutrient deficiency disease problems nowadays?
Yes
The resentment harbored toward macro nutrients in particular carbs and fat is it consequence of what?
Is a consequence of our ability to absorb nearly all macro nutrients
Indeed we can hold nearly unlimited amount of fat and having 10 sweet cravings because our bodies need fuel for cellular work
What is the term used to define the fickle nature of the absorption of vitamins
How much a vitamin or mineral is absorbed
Bio availability
The amount of vitamins we absorb is depending on what
what we ate
how it was cooked
how it was processed
our physiology
True or false
micro nutrients vary in their bio availability
True
What can inadvertently eliminate or enhance the bio availability of a vitamin within a particular food
The processing of such food
What are the deficiency diseases caused by the absence of thiamine, niacin, and vitamin C
Betiberi
pellagra
scurvy
The root cause of thiamin and niacin deficiencies can be traced to what
They can be traced to how staple grains were processed
Indeed the embryo and run of seeds are rich in thiamine
—> The practice of removing the brown layer from greens was adopted in the early 19 century because it reduced losses due to spoilage (takes of the thiamin)
—> This loss is aluminate the most significant plant derived sources of time in in the diet causing deficiency to appear at the population level almost overnight
How can we avoid vitamin deficiency diseases
By having a diet that is diverse
By eating nutrient dense food
What is the main vitamin today there is a cause or a reason for having a deficiency disease?
Vitamin A
What is the importance of vitamin A?
It is crucial for the proper development of the epithelial cells
–> blanket the surface of the body, line the inside of lungs, digestive tract, blood vessels, fallopian tubes etc.
Basically crucial for the development of epithelial cells
What happens if we don’t have enough vitamin A? Why?
Pathogens can easily invade the body
This is because vitamin A creates the epithelial tissue which is a shield to the outside world
The stomach and get pretty messed up too
If we lack vitamin A, we have a deficiency and everything else too
Keratinization of the skin
It makes us lack mucus which is what makes the eye not being able to wash itself which then makes us blind if it goes overboard
How can we obtain vitamin A outside of the animal kingdom
From a precursor vitamin A (also called provitamin) called beta carotene
Once absorbed, beta carotene along with a few other carotenoids can be converted to vitamin A
What are carotenoids
They are pigments that give fruits, leaves, and tubers their orange, red, or yellow hue
What is golden rice and what is its purpose
It is a genetically modified rice that carries genes to synthesize beta carotene and store it in the endosperm of rice
—> Also uses bio fortification
Part of the efforts to eradicate vitamin A deficiencies on a global scale
What does it fortification of food Involve
It involves adding vitamins and/or minerals to processed foods as a method to reduce risks of deficiency diseases at the population level
What is bio fortification
Insert genes rather than nutrients into a plant to yield beta carotene
In developed countries what type of fortifications have we seen
The addition of vitamin D in milk to prevent rickets in small children
The fortification of wheat products with folic acid to reduce rates of congenital defects Caused by spinal bifida
Vitamin 12 to a range of processed foods consumed by vegans as this vitamin is entirely outside in plant-based food
What are the modern challenges to food fortification
The modern trends such as dropping the milk in alternative food group and abandoning all things grain and an emergent a version of genetically modified foods
What are the three types of vitamins that plants can carry (depending on the type) and why do they carry them
Leaves have Carotenoids
Fruits have vitamin C
Seeds have vitamin E
They are all antioxidants that protect plant tissues from free radicals
Nutrient dense food
Food that has a higher amount of nutrients per kilo calorie
It is not the same as energy dense food because this means that it has a higher amount of calories
Linolenic acid (omega 3) RDA
- 6 g for men
1. 1g for women
Threonine RDA
46g
Thiamin RDA
1.1 mg
Riboflavin RDA
1.1 mg
Niacin RDA
14 mg
Calcium RDA
1000 mg
Chromium RDA
25 ug
Where do the natural sources of vitamins come from
From the four kingdoms
Plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria
Which type of four main sources can we get our vitamins from
Natural sources
synthetic
fortification
enrichment
Enrichment
A food that has nutrients added back that were lost during processing
How are vitamins usually classed
In terms of solubility
Water soluble vitamins
Vitamin B and vitamins C
Easily transported in blood
Can be found in the water compartments of the bod
Easily excreted in urine
Fat soluble vitamins
Vitamins A, E, D, and K
In the body, they are pocketed in chylomicrons and then they are stored in fatty tissue
Because they cannot be easily excreted in urine, they can accumulate in the body and cause toxicity
What does our absorption of vitamins depend on
Our physiological needs such as age diet and gender, pregnancy status
What are the forms in which we can find vitamin A
Retinol
Retinal
Retinoic acid
Retinol
The form we observe from vitamin A rich animal food
How is the amount of vitamin A in a food expressed as?
RAE (Retinal activity equivalents)
How are the amounts of beta carotene calculated
Calculated on the amount of retinol they use
Beta carotene
A lipid soluble
Bio availability increases if sautéed in butter or oil
An orange yellow pigment
What are the major functions of vitamin A and beta carotene
Cell differentiation
Vision
Antioxidant function
Cell differentiation
The process by which immature sells develop specific functions different from those of the original their characteristic of their mature type of cell soul
Basically cells divide and form an identity
a free radical
A molecule filled with one or more unpaired electrons
Causes the atom to become unstable and highly reactive
How to stop the negative affects of free radicals
Antioxidants donate electrons to free radicals
What makes vitamin D
Sunlight + cholesterol + body heat
What prevents us from synthesizing vitamin D and why?
Sunscreen, air pollution, tall buildings, and clothing
These are all stop UV radiation
What is the problem with vitamin D regarding our diet
It is not a common vitamin in food
Roles of vitamin D
Bone development
Vitamin D can regulate cell growth
It could perhaps have fighting cancer properties
How does vitamin D relate with bone growth
Vitamin D increases the bio availability of calcium
When we don’t have enough vitamin D the intestine absorbs only 10% to 15% of the calcium and foods
—> When we do you have vitamin D absorption can increase up all the way to 80%
—> calcium is deposited in bones
The two types of vitamn Ds useful to us
Vitamin D3 (inactive form) which is used to fortify milk and other dairy products
The active vitamin D form call calcitriol
How do we characterize Rickets and what is the cause of it
A deficiency characterized mostly in children by bowed legs
Lack of vitamin D
Osteomalacia
The adult form of rickets which can lead to osteoporosis
A bone disease characterized by softening of the bones
Symptoms include bending of the spine and bowing of the legs
Occurs more often in adult woman
What can happen if you get too much vitamin D
Can make us have too much calcium
This excess calcium is deposited in soft tissues of the body including arteries and kidneys which can then cause damage
Impossible to be caused by the sun
What can happen without Vitamin E
Can cause the red blood cells to break open and spill their content
Free radicals can also oxidize LDL deposited in plaque
The main functions of vitamin E
Major fat soluble antioxidant found in cells
Protects PUFAs in cell membranes from being damaged by free radicals
What is Vitamin K important for
It is important for the synthesis of blood clotting factors
—> without it, a minor cut could prove fatal
What synthesizes vitamin K
It is synthesized by the bacteria living in the large intestine
The rest of supplied by the diet
Vitamin K deficiency in infants
Can occur in infants because newborns have sterile intestines (no bacteria)
Children are at risk for vitamin K deficiency bleeding (VKDB)
Babies are given a single dose of Vitamin K at birth
—> they are in a sense, fortified
What are B vitamins crucial for
Crucial for energy metabolism
Support the generation of energy from macro nutrients
Without B vitamins your body you can be lacking energy
Energy metabolism
The sum total of all chemical reactions that go on in living cells
Includes all the reactions by which the body obtains and expo09mands the energy from food
What are the common features all B vitamins share
They work with coenzymes
B vitamins bind with coenzymes to activate them to enable chemical reactions
If it doesn’t bind to the coenzyme l, it will remain inactive, which will then prevent it from doing a chemical reaction
How did we discover in the 1980s that indeed, we needed thiamin?
Since people would only eat white rice in a lot of Asian territories including prisoners and the poor, a vitamin B deficiency disease came about and affected chickens too
The chicken symptoms of beri beri where eradicated once they ate the bran from the refinement of rice
What are the effects if beri beri
Weakness
Memory loss
Weight loss
Wernicke korsakoff
Another deadly form of thiamin deficiency
Alcohol interferes with thiamin absorption
Related to chronic alcoholism
Deficiency or riboflavin symptoms
Weakness
Inflamed tongues
Sores on edges of lips
What does light do to riboflavin
It destroys it
What amino acid is used to produce niacin
What else can supply it
Tryptophan
Our diet can also supply it
Which deficiency disease is associated with a lack if niacin and what are the effects
Pellagra
Dementia
Dermatitis
Diarrhea
How can we free niacin from complex carbs and proteins
Using acidic substances such as lime
Why is Vitamin B6 crucial
It works as a coenzyme for over 100 enzymes
Needed for energy metabolism
Needed for amino acid metabolism
Needed cor Heme synthesis
It is necessary for the making of the non-essential amino acids
Converting tryptophan into niacin requires Vitamin B6
Needed to keep levels of Homocysteine low by converting it back into methionine
Con of Vitamin B6
In large amounts, it can be toxic as fuck
Homocysteine
It is used to covert the essential amino acid Methionine into the non essential amino acid Cysteine
It is a toxic thingy
Why does Homocysteine contribute to CVD
Anything that causes irritation to blood vessels leading to inflammation increases the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases
Heme
The iron in foods that is bound to haemoglobin in myoglobin proteins
Find only meat, fish, poultry, and eggs
Binds the four polypeptides to the homeglobin
What happens if we lack Heme because we lack Vitamin B6
Anemia because the RBCs is smaller than normal
Anything that compromises the ability of your red blood cells to carry the max load of blood will lead to anemia
The three key roles of folate
Energy metabolism
Amino acid metabolism
DNA metabolism (most important)
Folate deficiency
Affects cells that divide rapidly
—> basically, in early pregnancy
—> will affect the neural tube
——> spina bifida
——> anencephaly
Red blood cells also divide quick
—> lack makes large immature RBCs which makes cells get less oxygen
Spina bifeda
The tube fails to close properly
One of the most common types of neural tube defect’s
Characterized by the incomplete closer of the spinal cord and it’s bony encasement
Anencephaly
Brain is malformed are missing
An uncommon and always fatal type of neural tube defect
Importance of Vitamin B12
Energy metabolism
DNA metabolism
Amino acid metabolism
Also necessary for nerve cells by maintaining myelin sheaths
what happens if we lack Vitamin B12
maintaining myelin sheaths gradually undergo destruction
–> can lead to Neuropathy
Neuropathy
degeneration of the spinal chord
Vitamin B12 absorption
in food, this vitamin is bound to proteins that prevent its absorption
- HCI and Pepsin reales B12 from the protein
- B12 binds to intrinsic factor (IF), a protein produced by stomach cells
–> without IF, the absorption of B12 is impossible, even with supplements
- reaches the ileum where it can be absorbed
pernicious anemia
caused by a lack of the protein intrinsic factor (IF) not being produced or having the wrong shape because of incorrectly placed amino acids
commonly affects the elderly
percentage of people over 50 vitamin B12 deficient
15%
Pantothenic acid and Biotin
deficiencies are rare
abundant in food
requirements are low
Biotin is synthesized by our gut microbes
The best known deficiency disease
scurvy
best way to prevent scurvy
why?
eating oranges and lemons because they are loaded with ascorbic acid
what is Vitamin C best know for
for its anti oxidant power
–> donates electrons to free radicals
Which group of people is encouraged to increase Vitamin C intake beyond RDA
smokers
vitamins that play an essential role in energy metabolism
B6 and B12
vitamins that play an essential role in blood health
Vitamine B6
Vitamin B12
Folate
Vitamin K
vitamin that plays essential role in Vision
Vitamin A
vitamins that play an essential role in amino acid Metabolism
Vitamine B6
Vitamin B12
Folate
vitamins that play an essential role in growth and development
Vitamine B6
Vitamin A
Folate
Vitamin D
vitamins that play an essential role in DNA metabolism
Vitamin B12
Folate
vitamins that play an essential role in bone health
Vitamins D and C
vitamins that play an essential role in anti oxidation
Vitamins C, E, and carotenoids
