Vitamins and Minerals Flashcards
What are minerals?
🌟 Naturally occuring inorganic substances
🌟 Important for normal functioning of the human body
🌟 Taken in via diet
🌟 Some are also electrolytes
What are vitamins?
🌟 Substances the body needed to carry out essential metabolic reactions
🌟 The body cannot synthesize enough of these components to meet all of its needs
🌟 Must be obtained from animal or vegetable tissue - taken in as food.
What are the general therapeutic actions of Vitamins and Minerals?
- Facilitate functions in the human body
- Build bones, make hormones, regulate fluid volume, generate nerve action potentials, and produce red blood cells
What are the general indications of Vitamins and Minerals?
- Treatment of deficiencies
- Dietary Supplements
- Specific therapies related to the activity of the vitamin or mineral
Vitamins & Minerals
Contraindications
- Allergy to drug OR any of the colorants, additives, or preservatives
- Levels of the vitamin and mineral that are already too high in the body
Vitamins & Minerals
Adverse Effects
🤢 GI upset
Vitamins & Minerals
Drug Interactions
🚫 Fat Soluble Vitamins: may not be absorbed if given with mineral oil, cholestyramine, or colestipol
🚫 Potassium with potassium sparing diuretics - risk of hyperkalemia
🚫 Magnesium and calcium with antibitoics and/or iron –> decreased absorption of antibiotics and iron.
What are the water soluble vitamins?
Vitamins B & C
readily excreted in urine
dissolve in water
daily intake necessary
What are the fat soluble vitamins?
Vitamins A, D, E, & K
dissolve in fat
tend to be stored in the liver
daily intake is not necessary
Vitamin A
Indications
⭐ Deficiency and malnutrition
⭐ Wound healing
Vitamin A
Signs of deficiency
👁️ Night blindness or other vision problems
🔴 Impaired skin integrity
Hypervitaminosis A
Signs of Vitamin A toxicity
- Mouth ulcers
- Cracked fingernails
- Bone pain
- Loss of appetite
- Cracked corners of mouth
- Blurry vision or other vision problems
- Dizziness
- Can cause severe liver toxicity
- GI effects
Vitamin A
Food Sources
- Beef, chicken, fish, eggs, cheese
- Sweet potato, squash, kale, spinach
- Mango, cantaloupe, grapefruit
Think orange and green fruits and vegetables
Vitamin C: Ascorbic Acid
Indications
⭐ Deficiency (Scurvy is a severe deficiency)
⭐ Enhances PO iron absorption
⭐ Wound healing
Vitamin C: Ascorbic Acid
Signs of deficiency
- Gingivitis
- Hair and tooth loss
- Nosebleeds
- Easy bruising
- Delayed healing
Vitamin C: Ascorbic Acid
Adverse Effects
🫘 Kidney stones
Vitamin C
Food Sources
- Citrus
- Tomatoes
- Berries
- Potatoes
Vitamin D: Calcifediol, Cholecalciferol, or Ergocalciferol
Indications
⭐ Deficiency and/or malnutrition
Vitamin D: Calcifediol, Cholecalciferol, or Ergocalciferol
Signs of deficiency
- Rickets (soft weak bones in children)
- Oseomalacia (soft bones in adults)
- Osteoporosis (thin, brittle bones in adults)
- Tetany
Hypervitaminosis D
Signs of Vitamin D toxicity
- Fatigue
- Loss of appetite
- Weight loss
- Excessive thirst
- Excessive urination
- Dehydration
- Constipation
- Irritability
- Nervousness
Vitamin D
Food Sources
- Fish
- Dairy
- Mushrooms
- Fortified orange juice
Vitamin B12: Cyanocobalamin
Indications
⭐ Pernicious Anemia
⭐ Deficiency or malnutrition
⭐ ETOH
⭐ Malabsorption syndrome
⭐ Vegan Diet
⭐ Prolonged use of PPIs or H2 Blockers
Vitamin B12: Cyanocobalamin
Signs of deficiency
- Megaloblastic anemia
- Mucous membranes - cheilosis (cracked lips), glossitis (red tongue), stomatitis
- Neurologic: paresthesias, balance problems, memory loss, thinking problems
Vitamin B12: Cyanocobalamin
Food Sources
- Fish, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy
- Fortified cereals and yeasts