Vitamins: Drivers of cell processes Chapter 8 Vitamins: Drivers of cell processes

What are Vitamins? A vitamin is an essential nutrient needed in tiny amounts to regulate body processes. Vitamins have no calorie value because they yield no energy. However, the body needs vitamins for the chemical reactions involved in releasing energy from other nutrients.

What vitamins help us do As a nutrient group vitamins assist with the following functions: Nutrient metabolism Energy production and release Tissue maintenance Normal digestion Infection resistance

Vitamin names In 1912, Casimir Funk coined the word vitamin. Vita means life; amine refers to a certain chemical structure that contains nitrogen. The e was later dropped when it was discovered that few vitamins had nitrogen in their makeup.

More Vitamin names Today there are 13 known vitamins. Some are most often referred to by a letter, such as vitamins A, C, D, E, and K. Most of the B vitamins are better known by their name, such as riboflavin, thiamin, and niacin.

How much of these vitamins are needed? Doctors have discovered that you need only about one ounce of vitamins for every 150 pounds (2400 ounces) of food you eat. All the vitamins you need in one day add up to only one-eighth of a teaspoon.

Vitamin deficiency There is a recommended amount of each vitamin required for optimum health. The first signs of vitamin deficiency take a month or so to appear in most people. There are two main causes of vitamin deficiency today. Insufficient amount of a vitamin in the diet. (Poor food choices, or poverty, etc.) Failure of the body to absorb a vitamin.

Vitamin classifications All vitamins are grouped as either fat-soluble or water-soluble. This refers to what the vitamin will dissolve in. Fat-soluble vitamins are A, D, E, and K. These vitamins when consumed in excess get stored in the body. Toxicity can occur if the build up to much. This occurs from taking large amounts of vitamin supplements.

More vitamin classification stuff Water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body to any great extent. Excess levels are excreted in the person’s urine. Without large stores of the water-soluble vitamins ( C and B vitamins) deficiency symptoms may take longer to develop. Water-soluble vitamin should be consumed every day.

Fat-soluble vitamins at work

Vitamin A Vitamin A is essential for the formation of healthy epithelial tissue. These cells are the surface cells that line the outside of your body. It also covers your eyes and lines the passages of your lungs, intestines, and reproductive organs. Maintaining healthy eyesight is also a function of vitamin A. Vitamin A is also important to the formation of health bones.

Where to find Vitamin A Vitamin A can be found in plant and animal sources. Animal sources are preformed as vitamin A and can be used right away. Plant sources are pro vitamins, (beta-carotene) and must be convert by the body into vitamin A.

Vitamin D Vitamin D is unique because in direct sunlight your body can make all the vitamin D it needs. The role vitamin is that it regulates the levels of calcium in the blood which helps keep nerve function normal. Vitamin D is also important for bone growth and maintenance.

Vitamin D comes from… Direct exposure to sunlight. Usually 15 minutes per day is enough. For darker skinned people it may take a bit longer. Dietary sources are fatty fish and fish oils, eggs, butter and fortified milk.

Vitamin D deficiency and excess Rickets, results in bones softening and a possible bowing of the legs and protrusion of the chest bones. Excessive amounts of vitamin D are the result of taking supplements and usually show up in children quite quickly. Levels of Vitamin D cause calcium levels in the blood to elevate. It is then deposited in the kidneys and causes them to harden and not function properly.

Vitamin E Vitamin E helps maintain healthy immune and nervous systems. The main function of vitamin E is to act as an antioxidant. Antioxidants are substances that react with oxygen to protect other substances (blood cell membranes and lung tissue) from harmful effects of single oxygen atoms.

Where you can find it…. Vegetable oils, some fruit and vegetables, and margarine, wheat germ, multigrain cereals and nuts are all good dietary sources of vitamin E.

Vitamin K The main function of vitamin K is to help make proteins needed in the coagulation of blood (clotting). It also helps make a protein that aids bones in collect minerals they need for strength. Most of your vitamin K needs are met by the production of the vitamin by the bacteria in your stomach. The best dietary sources are leafy green veggies.

The Water-soluble vitamins at work

The teamwork of B vitamins The B vitamins are: Thiamin Pantothenic acid Biotin B6 Folate B12

Coenzymes The B vitamins are coenzymes, meaning they combine with inactive enzymes in the body and make things happen. B vitamins are needed for the release of energy from carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. B vitamins are found in many food sources so deficiencies are rare. The symptoms of deficiency include nausea, loss of weight and appetite, exhaustion, irritability, depression, and forgetfulness. The heart, skin and immune system may also be affected.

Vitamin C Often referred to as ascorbic acid. Vitamin C assists in the formation of collagen (protein based, holds cells together). Collagen is needed for healthy bones, cartilage, muscles, and blood vessels. Vitamin C aids in iron and calcium absorption, and is an antioxidant.

Phytochemicals A very helpful non-nutrient substance. Plants produce these chemicals for their own benefit, however, scientists have found that many of them are good for people too. When we eat the plants, the phytochemicals can help prevent heart disease and some forms of cancer. They stimulate the body to make enzymes and some act as antioxidants.