Download Vitamins

 The first solid hint that a specific dietary deficiency
could lead to disease came in 1754. In that year the
Scottish naval surgeon James Lind showed that
scurvy--the painful and sometimes fatal bane of
mariners on long ocean voyages--could not only be
cured but also prevented with the juice of oranges,
lemons, and limes. By the late eighteenth century,
British sailors (soon nicknamed "Limeys") were
reaping the benefit of Lind's discovery.
 The advent of the Industrial Revolution in Britain in the late 1700s




brought with it a different scourge: rickets.
As more and more families left the outdoor life of the farm for factory
work in the smoggy air of industrial cities, rickets had become a
plague all over Europe.
Symptoms of the disease were: bones of afflicted infants remained
soft, like cartilage
As the children grew, their soft bones bent under the additional
weight, leaving the children with rickets' telltale pigeon breast, bowed
legs, or knock-knees.
This condition, later found to be symptomatic of insufficient calcium,
was often so severe that children died.
 Throughout the nineteenth century, sporadic reports of cures for rickets
surfaced, but with little effect.
 In 1822 a Polish physician observed that children in Warsaw suffered
severely from rickets, whereas the disease was virtually unknown in the
city's rural outskirts. After experimenting with the two groups, he concluded
that sunbathing cured rickets.
 Five years later, a French researcher reported cures among those given the
home remedy cod-liver oil.
 Neither treatment gained widespread attention, in part because the
prevailing medical wisdom was that people needed only to get adequate
amounts of the so-called macronutrients--proteins, fats, and carbohydrates-in order to maintain health.
 However, researchers looking into the causes of such diseases as pellagra
and beriberi began to suspect that the macronutrients might not be the whole
story--that, in fact, there was more to ordinary food than met the eye.
 English biologist Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins
developed the concept of “accessory food factors”
with his discovery in 1901 of the amino acid
tryptophan. Hopkins went on to demonstrate that
whole foods (as opposed to purified forms of
proteins, fats, and carbohydrates) contain certain
unknown constituents essential to health and growth.
 Biochemist Casimir Funk, whose own work led him
to believe these factors were amines (compounds
derived from ammonia), suggested they be called
"vital amines" or "vitamines" for short.
 needed for normal vision, skin tissue, bone growth,
reproduction and growth in the embryo, and immune
function
Excess
 liver damage
Deficiency
 night blindness (inability to see in low light), dry and
scaly skin, and tiredness/fatigue
 Fat soluble
 Stored in liver after absorption
 Other storing sites: kidney, lungs, adrenals, gonads
 Vitamin A is retinol, while its aldehyde is retinine
 Found in mammals and salt-water fish
 Its precursor, or provitamin, is called Beta Carotene,
and is the orange plant pigment that can be changed
into vitamin A in the intestines and liver
 helps to use calcium which is needed for nerve
function, bone repair, and growth, etc.
 Excess can be toxic, especially in children, because
too much extra calcium deposits in the kidneys and
organs and they become hard and non-functioning
 function of the immune system, anti-oxidant
(prevents or decreases the side effects of exposure
to pollutants to the body)
Excess
 not very common, but can cause digestive problems
and nausea and may interfere with blood clotting
Deficiency
 not common in present day, although sometimes
present in premature babies (erythrocyte hemolysis )
 Wheat germ oil
 Fortified breakfast cereals
 Sunflower seeds
 Almonds
 Safflower oil
 Hazelnuts and most nuts
 makes the protein needed in blood clotting
Excess
 rare
Deficiency
 newborns are at highest risk (and often receive
supplements)
 work together as coenzymes which helps
metabolize energy so it can be used in the cells
Excess
 toxicities are vary rare and rarely reported, although
niacin may be toxic from over-supplementing, which
causes
 blood vessels to dilate near the skin’s surface
(vitamin B9)
(vitamin B7)
 Alcoholism may increase the likelihood of deficiency due to




lack of absorption of several vitamins, which leads to a range
of symptoms, including nausea, loss of weight and appetite,
and affects the immune system
Beriberi is a thiamine (B1) deficiency that causes the above
symptoms plus poor coordination, and may cause edema
(water build-up in
legs) and possibly heart failure
Pellagra is a niacin (B3) deficiency disease with symptoms
including diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia, and death (the four
Ds)
Folate (B9) is given to pregnant women to ensure that the
cells divide and grow properly
Pernicious Anemia is a Vitamin B12 deficiency because the
vitamin does not absorb well - red blood cells don’t grow
properly and as a result, a person is weak and tired
 helps form collagen that holds the cells together -
this helps wounds heal
 helps the body absorb calcium and iron
 helps the immune system function
Excess
 excess is excreted in the urine; however, it may
cause nausea, diarrhea, and stomach cramps
Deficiency
 Scurvy which causes tiredness, weakness,
shortness of breath, sore bones and muscles,
bleeding gums, and loss of appetite
 Citrus fruits
 Strawberries, papaya
 Brussel sprouts
 Green peppers