Vitamins in GeneralBiol 135 Lecture: VI. Structure, Function and Source of Micronutrients.

VitaminsA vitamin is an organic compound and is a vital nutrient. It is only required in limited amounts but the human body cannot function properly if it is deficient in any one of the fourteen known vitamins.

An organic chemical compound is called a vitamin when the organism cannot synthesize the compound in sufficient quantities, and it must be obtained through the diet; thus, the term "vitamin" is conditional upon the circumstances and the particular organism. For example, ascorbic acid (one form of vitamin C) is a vitamin for humans, but not for most other animal organisms.

What Are Vitamins?The body requires vitamins (virtually tasteless, organic compounds) in small amounts to maintain normal metabolic functions. Vitamins help regulate metabolism, convert energy into ATP, promote growth and reproduction, and help avoid serious conditions related to deficiency.

There are criteria for classifying vitamins: A compound is a vitamin when:1) it cannot be built in ample amounts by the body; and 2) physical symptoms have been linked to a chronic deficiency. In addition, replenishment of deficient vitamin removes symptoms of deficiency.

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1. Symptoms of deficiency should resolve when the vitamin has been fully restored in the body, as long as permanent damage has not resulted.

2.Using these criteria, 13 compounds are classified as vitamins (four fat-soluble vitamins and nine water-soluble).

The Brief History of Vitamins: They began to be discovered over 100 years ago.

All vitamins are organic but differ in structure and function. They all contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, and in many cases contain nitrogen and in some contain sulfur. The chemical structure of each vitamin is unique; each performs numerous essential functions in the body.

Provitamins can be converted to active vitamins by the body. Provitamins are substances found in foods that are not in a form directly usable in the body. The term "previtamin" is a synonym (means the same thing).Preformedvitamins are already active and do not need to undergo conversion to be useful to the body.

An example of a provitamin isProvitaminB5, it is called panthenol, which can be converted in the body to Vitamin B5or Pantothenic Acid.

Another great example is that Beta-Carotene can be viewed as provitamin A, even though there are several different types of vitamin A; beta-carotene can be converted to an active form of Retinol (Vitamin A)by normal metabolic processes. As such, both beta-carotene and retinol are simply considered to be different forms (vitamers) of Vitamin A. Also, the plant form of provitamin D2 is ergosterol and the animal form of provitamin D3 is 7-dehydrocholesterol.

Unlike dietary minerals, essential fatty acids, or essential amino acids, vitamin are not divided into essential or non-essential, though all 13 universally recognized vitamins must be obtained by the diet. Vitamins are classified by their biological and chemical activity, not their structure – and the two basic categories of vitamins are fat soluble and water soluble.

Year of Discovery

Vitamin Food Source

1913 Vitamin A (Retinol) Cod liver oil1910 Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) Rice bran1920 Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) Citrus, most fresh foods1920 Vitamin D (Calciferol) Cod liver oil1920 Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) Meat, dairy products, eggs1922 (Vitamin E) (Tocopherol) Wheat germ oil, unrefined veg oil1926 Vitamin B12 (Cobalamins) Liver, eggs, animal products1929 Vitamin K1 (Phylloquinone) Leafy vegetables1931 Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic acid) Meat, whole grains, many foods1931 Vitamin B7 (Biotin) Meat, dairy products, eggs1934 Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) Meat, dairy products1936 Vitamin B3 (Niacin) Meat, grains1941 Vitamin B9 (Folic acid) Leafy vegetables

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Each "vitamin" refers to a number of vitamer compounds that all show the biological activity associated with a particular vitamin. Such a set of chemicals is grouped under an alphabetized vitamin "generic descriptor" title, such as "Vitamin A", which includes the compounds retinal, retinol, and four known carotenoids.

Vitamer sare convertible to the active form of the vitamin in the body, and are sometimes inter-convertible to one another. The different compounds that make up Vitamin A are an example; and both niacinamide and nicotinic acid have vitamin B3 activity and are often referred to as Niacin.

Vitamins have Diverse Biochemical FunctionsSome vitamins, like vitamin D, have hormone-like functions as complex regulators of mineral metabolism. Others,l ike vitamin Aare regulators of cell and tissue growth and differentiation. Others still, function as antioxidants like vitamin E and vitamin C.

Probably to most common and best-known function of vitamins are their roles in assisting enzyme-substrate reactions as coenzymes! The largest number of vitamins belongs to the B complex of vitamins. These function as precursors for enzyme cofactors that help enzymes in their work as catalysts in metabolism. Without them, the normal physiological processes of the body cannot function properly.

In the varied and complex role of assisting in energy metabolism, vitamins may be tightly bound to enzymes as part of the functional groups. For example, biotin is part of enzymes that are involved in making fatty acids. They may also be less tightly bound to enzyme catalysts as coenzymes, detachable molecules that function to carry chemical groups or electrons between molecules. For example, folate may carry methyl, formyl, and methylene groups in the cell. In a succinct way, we can view co-enzymes as ‘shuttle’s for electrons.

Until the mid-1930s, when the first commercial yeast-extract vitamin B complex and semi-synthetic vitamin C supplement tablets were sold, vitamins were obtained solely through food intake, and changes in diet (which, for example, could occur during a particular growing season) usually greatly altered the types and amounts of vitamins ingested. However, vitamins have been produced as commodity chemicals and made widely available as inexpensive semi-synthetic and synthetic-source multivitamin dietary and food supplements and additives, since the middle of the 20th century. The study of structural activity, function and the role of vitamins in maintaining health is called as vitaminology.

Vitamins are essential for the normal growth and development of a multicellular organism. Using the genetic blueprint inherited from its parents, a fetus begins to develop, at the moment of conception, from the nutrients it absorbs. It requires certain vitamins and minerals to be present at certain times. These nutrients facilitate the chemical reactions that produce among other things, skin, bone, and muscle. If there is a serious deficiency in one or more of these nutrients, a child may develop a deficiency disease. Even minor deficiencies may cause permanent damage.

For the most part, vitamins are contained in foods and obtained from eating those foods, but a few are obtained by other means. For example, microorganisms in the intestine — commonly

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known as "gut flora" — produce vitamin K and biotin, and vitamin D3 is synthesized in the skin with the help of the natural ultraviolet B wavelength of sunlight. Humans can produce some vitamins from precursors they consume. Examples include vitamin A, produced from beta carotene, and niacin, from the amino acid tryptophan.

Vitamins are Required throughout LifeOnce growth and development are completed, vitamins remain essential nutrients for the healthy maintenance of the cells, tissues, and organs that make up a multicellular organism; they also enable a multicellular life form to efficiently use chemical energy provided by food it eats, and to help process the proteins, carbohydrates, and fats required for respiration.

SupplementsIn those who are otherwise healthy, there is no evidence that supplements have any benefits with respect to cancer or heart disease. Vitamin A and E supplements not only provide no health benefits for generally healthy individuals, but they may increase mortality, though the two large studies that support this conclusion included smokers for whom it was already known that beta-carotene supplements can be harmful. While other findings suggest that vitamin E toxicity is limited to only a specific form when taken in excess – and from supplements, never from having eaten too much vitamin E rich foods!

Vitamins Differ in Their Absorption and Storage in the Body All vitamins are absorbed in the small intestine, although the method of absorption differs between fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins.

Vitamins differ in Bioavailability.Bioavailability is how much of the nutrient you can extract from it after consuming it. In terms of bioavailability for vitamins, it is the portion of that active element that is capable of being absorbed through your intestines into your bloodstream and then be made available for use by your organs tissues and cells.

According to some sources, each vitamin’s bioavailability varies and can be from as low as 20% to as high as 98%. This will be influenced by many factors and it is worth knowing that sometimes multiple factors are acting at any given time.

So what are some important things that account for these significant variances in bioavailability?

Bioavailability of vitamins is affected by the following factors:

1. The Amount of Vitamin in the Food. How much of the vitamin that is there to begin with will have an impact on how much of the vitamin you can get from that food.

2. How the Food is Prepared. Bioavailability is altered depending on whether the food is cooked or raw. Not only that, but how long and at what temperature it is cooked at. Whether the food is soaked, fermented or refined will also impact the vitamin’s bioavailability. For the most part, raw food allows for more of the vitamin to remain intact and thus typically has greater bioavailability. There are several exceptions and

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there are many ways to cook food. But for instance, you actually get more vitamin C from cooked tomatoes than from raw tomatoes. Also, although boiled carrots have fewer overall vitamins than raw, the B6 content is higher in boiled carrots than in raw. Some anti-vitamins present in some foods can be destroyed by heat, e.g. the avidin in raw egg whites which binds to biotin (B7). Another important issue is that fermentation and soaking of foods is often a very effective way of removing anti-nutrients such as phytates, saponins and lectins – these prevent mineral absorption and may adversely impact vitamin absorption too.

3. Efficiency of your Digestion and Absorption. This is related to the health of your gastrointestinal system. This is often related to the existing nutritional status of the individual: There are times when poor health prevents the body for absorbing the nutrients it needs, such conditions as Crohn’s Disease, Ulcerative colitis, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Diverticulitis. In contrast, if there is a sever deficiency, the body will be quick to absorb it, often the more severe the need, the more sensitized the body is to capturing it from the diet. The greater the need for a vitamin, the greater the amount that will be absorbed.

4. Solubility of Vitamin. Fat-soluble vitamins tend to be less bioavailable than water-soluble vitamins. Vitamins in plant foods are generally less bioavailable than those in animal foods. Fat-soluble vitamins are stored after they are absorbed and if too much of a fat-soluble vitamin is ingested, it can lead to some toxicity. Water-soluble vitamins are not stored after absorption; they are absorbed with water and enter the bloodstream directly from the small intestine. Also, for many vitamins, in order to be absorbed, the vitamin must be released from the protein it is embedded with, from the help of pepsin and hydrochloric acid in the stomach. Absorption of these vitamins can be compromised if the body is lacking adequate fatty acids or bile.

5. Whether the Vitamin is Natural or Synthetic. Many vitamin and mineral supplements that are on the market are manufactured synthetically from chemicals in a creepy lab and certainly do not come straight from their natural sources. They are made to mimic the way natural vitamins act in our bodies. Natural vitamins are derived directly from the food source containing the vitamin, not from the petri dish or test tube of a chemical laboratory. The natural, original and intended form of any nutrient is always better for your health.

Ideally, we should be able to get all of our macro- and micro-nutrients from the foods we eat. If we were to create a diet that consisted of a wide range of colorful, organic, whole foods, rich in vegetables, we could easily meet our nutritional needs for vitamins each day. This is not likely for many and so we need to consider vitamin supplements. If you decide to take vitamins, it is important for you to know that there is a difference between natural and synthetic and you are worth paying the extra money to get the good stuff!

The Organic Consumers Association emphasizes that isolated vitamins cannot be used or recognized by the body in the same way as the natural version. The problem is that because

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synthetic vitamins have been “isolated.”, many will lack the transporters and co-factors associated with naturally-occurring vitamins – thus not function in the intended way. Vitamins in their natural form come in ‘packages’, often with other vitamins, enzymes and minerals that facilitate the way our bodies recognize, metabolize and use them.

Isolated vitamins can’t always be used by the body and are either stored until you obtain or create the nutrients required in order to use them effectively or they are excreted. Synthetic vitamins are also devoid of necessary trace minerals. This means the body must use its own mineral reserves which may lead to dangerous mineral deficiencies.

Factoid: More than 95% of all vitamin supplements sold today fall in to the synthetic category.Synthetic versions of vitamins contain chemical compounds that were not meant for human consumption and do not occur in nature. Over the very long period of time that the physiological processes in our bodies have been evolving, it has been in line with nature – in alignment with the real food present and growing on planet earth. Again, the real natural forms are in steep contrast to the ‘novel’ molecules developed by a pharmaceutical company.

For example, the synthetic version of Vitamin E is often referred to as the dl- form. The D and L are referring to the Latin term for Dexter (d) and Laevus (l) for right and left respectively. The d-form is the naturally occurring form. The dl- form is a combination of the d-form and the l-form. No big deal, right? In the case of vitamins, the body doesn’t actually use the l-form- we excrete it! Interestingly, this only applies to vitamins and not amino acids or sugars. As a matter of fact, all the amino acids in any living organism (bacteria, fish, plants, us) are Left handed only, that is, the l form is used and not the d form!

With regard to purchasing synthetic vitamins that mix the d and l forms, it will mean that whatever proportion is in the d form we cannot utilize it. It’s like if someone gave you a dozen eggs but half of them were hollow – to someone who does not know any better it may look like you got a dozen but you only actually got half of that.

Another reason to avoid the synthetic form of vitamins is that they have the potential to be dangerous because you can get a high, overly concentrated serving of the vitamin rather than the normal ‘natural’ amount that you would get from a food-based form. Fat soluble vitamins in their synthetic form are especially dangerous because these more than water soluble or natural vitamins can build up in your fatty tissues and cause toxicity.

Natural VitaminsThe Organic Consumers Association has published an ingredient chart to help consumers identify natural vs. synthetic vitamins. Many vitamin producers want you to believe that you are getting a “natural product” because it seems more wholesome to take “natural” vitamins.

Please Note: Vitamins can be labeled as natural if they contain as little as 10% of the natural form of the vitamin. This means that your “natural” vitamin could contain 90% of synthetically produced chemicals! B-Vitamins and Vitamin C are also usually synthetically produced.

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Look for clues on your vitamin’s label that offer insight into the origin of the vitamin.

Common Synthetic Vitamins to Avoid: Vitamin A: Acetate and Palmitate Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): Thiamine Mononitrate, Thiamine Hydrochloride Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin): Riboflavin Pantothenic Acid: Calcium D-Pantothenate Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine): Pyridoxine Hydrochloride Vitamin B12: Cobalamin PABA (Para-aminobenzoic Acid) and Aminobenzoic Acid Folic Acid: Pteroylglutamic Acid Choline: Choline Chloride, Choline Bitartrate Biotin: d-Biotin Vitamin C: Ascorbic Acid Vitamin D: Irradiated Ergosteral, Calciferol Vitamin E: dl-alpha tocopherol, dl-alpha tocopherol acetate or succinate

NOTE: The “dl” form of any vitamin is synthetic.

Other Toxic Ingredients to Avoid in Supplements Magnesium stearate (or stearic acid) Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) disguised as “natural flavors” Carnauba wax is used in car wax and shoe polish Titanium dioxide is a carcinogen

What are Antioxidants?What are antioxidants and how do they work? They are a class of molecules capable of inhibiting the oxidation of another molecule. In order to fully understand antioxidants we need to know what free radicals are.

Free Radicals

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These are very unstable organic molecules that do not have an even number of valance electrons. This causes them to seek or "steal" that extra electron from anything it can in order to become stable. The "free" part of the name is because they float around until they stabilize, and the "radical" part is due to the wide variety of molecules from which they can take an electron. Free radicals are responsible for aging, tissue damage, and diseases. The damage continues though, as the ‘attacked’ molecule, for example a portion of a cell membrane, is now also missing an electron and has become another free radical. This snowball effect can wreak havoc on healthy tissue.

Here do Free Radicals Come From?Free radicals are created by environmental pollution, toxic smoke of all kinds (cigarette, vaping, car exhaust), and poisons like many household cleaners, cosmetics and herbicides. There are also free radicals generated during the heavy chemical alterations that occurring when making Processed Foods. This ‘industrialization’ of many foods can mean that not only is the food devoid of any real nutrients, but it is also now made to be toxic when consumed by you!

AntioxidantsThis is where antioxidants come in. These molecules protect us from attack by free radicals by taking that highly reactive free electron for us! Thus preventing free radicals (that are generated in many ways) from harming healthy tissue.

Antioxidants are present in many foods, and the more of those foods that are in our diets, the better protected we are from free radical attack. Your body naturally produces and circulates various nutrients in your body due to their antioxidant properties. It also manufactures antioxidant enzymes in order to control free radical chain reactions. Antioxidants are molecules found in fresh foods like vegetables and fruits, particularly in the vitamins found in these foods, including A, E, and beta-carotene. These molecules act like a giant boulder in the path of the snowball, stopping free radicals from causing untold damage. It's better to get antioxidants from a balanced diet, rather than vitamin supplements, because the body can more easily absorb them.

Free radicals are created by environmental pollution, cigarette smoking, and poisons like cleaners or herbicides. Their role in certain types of cancer, strokes, and heart disease is still

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being investigated. Preliminarily, low concentrations of free radicals have been associated with a reduced risk for heart disease and stroke, but more studies are needed to understand their relationship.

Antioxidants play a significant role in your health, as they can control how fast you age by fighting free radicals.

The dangerous free radicals search for an electron to incorporate for stability, stealing from another molecule that then becomes a free radical itself; they can also release an electron onto another molecule, creating another free radical. Antioxidants help neutralize free radicals to halt further cell destruction.

Oxidative stress can occur when free radicals accumulate at a rate faster than the body can neutralize them. Damaging results of oxidative stress can contribute to chronic diseases and conditions, including heart disease, cancer, aging, diabetes, arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. Free radicals play a part in eye damage, contributing to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts. AMD damages the portion of the eye needed for central vision.

A cataract is diagnosed when the lens of the eye becomes cloudy, resulting in blurred vision, e.g., cataracts and macular degeneration. Some current research from the National Eye Institute reveals favorable activity from vitamins C, E, and beta carotene regarding vision protection and macular degeneration.

Phytochemicals, naturally occurring plant compounds that give plant food their vibrant colors, act as antioxidants in the body. Carotenoids and flavonoids are considered antioxidants. The various colors of plant pigments, their phytochemicals, and actual foods that contain that nutrient. Studies are underway to determine the worth of antioxidant supplements in the diet. Currently, supplements are not recommended; instead, phytochemical- and antioxidant-rich foods should be part of a balanced diet. Just like there are two types of vitamins, there are two

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types of Antioxidants: Water-Soluble and Fat-Soluble. Water soluble antioxidants are vitamin C and Vitamins A and E are the main fat soluble ones. However, many antioxidants are soluble in both lipids and water, so below is a list of some of the best and most powerful antioxidants your body could want!

Beta Carotene – antioxidant that can be converted to vitamin A when needed, the excess beta carotene acts as free radical neutralizer. High concentrations are found in green leafy vegetables and also in orange-colored fruits and vegetables, e.g. in carrots.

Lycopene – a type carotenoid that gives a red color in foods, a perfect example are tomatoes, but also found in pink grapefruit, pink guava, watermelon, and rose hip.

Lutein and Zeaxanthin– are like beta carotene (carotenoids), they are yellow or orange pigments found in some fruits and vegetables, including egg yolk. These two accumulate in the retina of the eye and protect it from oxidative stress, which decreases the risk of macular degeneration.

Astaxanthin - The most powerful carotenoid antioxidant, astaxanthin, is 40 times more effective as an antioxidant than beta carotene; 500 to 1000 times more effective in inhibiting oxidation of lipids than vitamin E; has almost 4 times the antioxidant capacity of lutein; and more! Found in shrimp, crab, lobster (first isolated in a lab 1938 from lobster), trout, salmon, fish eggs, carrots and red peppers

Endogenous AntioxidantsThese are antioxidants are made in our body and termed endogenous antioxidants. Since we can make them, they cannot be called vitamins. They are very important molecules and what we eat and do with our bodies will determine how much we make.

Glutathione - Nature’s most powerful antioxidant! Glutathione is naturally made by our liver and is found in high concentrations in liver cells. It attaches to toxins, makes them harmless, and escorts them out of the body. Glutathione works closely with two other antioxidants, catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) to combat superoxide radicals. It also recycles other antioxidants such as vitamins C and E to their original active form, so they can continue to function protectively. Glutathione's health benefits and efficacy have been confirmed in over 80,000 scientific studies.

NOTE: It consists of 3 amino acids, cycteine, methionine and glutamate, and to produce glutathione, our body needs other nutrients such as n-acetyl-cysteine (NAC). Supplements of glutathione (or L-glutathione) are not effective because: 1) glutathione cannot pass through the intestinal walls into the blood stream only the smaller ‘reduced’ form can; and 2) if unprotected, it gets digested in the stomach before getting to the intestines. Hence, the supplement must be enteric coated.

Methionine - An essential amino acid, it is also a free radical scavenger that neutralizes the dangerous hydroxyl radicals.

NOTE: During normal methylation processes in the body, methionine is broken down into homocysteine, which then breaks down to cysteine or turns back to methionine again. If the body's methylation is not operating optimally, homocysteine is not converted but becomes elevated, causing many different health problems and accelerates your aging process!

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Adequate levels of non antioxidant vitamins such as the B vitamins, B 6, B12 and folate are required for homocysteine to remain in safe level. Other potent nutrients that can help bring down the homocysteine level to a safe range are tri-methyl-glycine (TMG, also known as betaine).

Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA) - Your liver's best friend giving it potent protection. Unlike any other antioxidants, ALA can access all regions of the body. It can enhance the production of cysteine, which in turn boosts glutathione levels to start working overtime. It also regenerates vitamin C and E, CoQ10 and even ALA itself in the body. When ALA combines with acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) you get a powerful brain-heart nutrient combination.

Carnosine - As its name might imply, this antioxidant is found in meats! Especially red meat. It is able to neutralize even the most destructive free radicals, like the hydroxyl and peroxyl radicals, superoxide and singlet oxygen. It even protects SOD from being oxidized by peroxyl. Both carnosine and ALA help prevent glycation, a central problem facing diabetics and one of the four main causes of aging and degenerative disease. Free radicals, methylation (above) and chronic inflammation are the other three.

Coenzyme Q10 - also called CoQ10 not only helps quench free radicals, it also super charges your heart and boosts energy levels. Requires amino acid, tyrosine and at least eight vitamins and several trace minerals for the body to produce CoQ10!

Antioxidant Support System - must also be ample amounts of antioxidant support minerals like manganese, zinc, copper and selenium. The rests of the non antioxidant vitamins, the B vitamins, B1 and B2 also act as cofactors for the antioxidants—they are the behind the lines antioxidant support system.

Vitamin SupplementationsVitamin supplements are important when you consider the dramatic reduction in nutrient content in most foods that are available in this country. Many health problems stem from a simple lack of bioactive vitamins in our food, not to mention mineral depletion. Ideally we should not have to supplement our diets with vitamins and minerals if the major cultivation practices were closer to what small farms have done for thousands of years. Sadly, this is not the case. There are growing numbers of people who see the benefit of small farming practices and are working towards implementing it and spreading awareness of this important issue. Getting all the original nutrients back into the soil and into the foods we eat is a much better solution than taking supplements!

What’s the Best Source of Vitamins?Whole foods are rich in phytochemicals, antioxidants, and fiber. Therefore, having a diet that includes a significant intake of vegetables, fruits and healthy animal products has helped to encourage many people to actually meet their daily vitamin needs. It is important to realize that many vitamins can be destroyed during cooking or storage. Also, exposure to the oxygen in air can destroy water-soluble and some fat-soluble vitamins like A, E, and K. Vegetables should be stored in airtight, covered containers and used soon after purchase.

Light, especially ultraviolet (UV) light, can destroy vitamins, including the water-soluble vitamin riboflavin. Thus, foods stored in glass containers, such as milk or grains, or sun-dried fruits and vegetables can lose vitamins – often storing them in dark colored glass is best. Water-soluble vitamins will leach out of foods when soaked or cooked in liquids, so cooking foods in as little

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water as possible is recommended to retain those vitamins. As it turns out, cooking and heating it is not all bad, since adding vegetables to water that is already boiling can inactivate food enzymes that oxidize the vitamins.

Changes in pH significantly can destroy some vitamins, especially thiamin and vitamin C. Heat, especially prolonged heat from cooking, can destroy many water-soluble vitamins, especially vitamin C. Deepening on the specific food, steaming or stir-frying may be better than boiling sometimes.

Refrigeration and Pasteurization The main purpose of refrigerating foods right away is to preserve the vitamins in the food. As it may have been motioned before, any food that has been pulled out of the ground will start losing its nutrient value immediately. Refrigerating fresh food will slow the rate of loss. Just as when you make a vegetable or fruit juice, the enzymes, vitamins and phytonutrients are quick to oxidize, so the best time to drink it is immediately after making it! This is a good example of why pasteurizing any kind of juice essentially renders it useless in terms of nutrients! You might as well drink some flavored sugar water, because that is all that it has become, whether it’s organic or not makes no difference. In a conventional supermarket the juices in the juice section (refrigerated or not) have been pasteurized – this means they have been ultra heated to kill all those nasty germs that are lurking everywhere to get you. Naughty naughty germs: So the exalted health authorities must kill all the nutrients to protect you from any germs that may be there! Give me the germs any day rather than killing every good thing about a natural raw food. When your immune system is functioning properly and is not compromised, you are perfectly able to deal with any germs that might be present.

“Fortification” of FoodsSome foods are fortified with vitamins. In fact, vitamins and minerals are the most commonly used nutrients in fortified foods, but fiber, amino acids, essential fatty acids, and other bioactive ingredients are also sometimes added. Enriched foods are a type of fortified food – this is another great creation of your government nutritional authorities at work! You will find that Enriched and fortified foods apply only to highly processed foods. These are foods that have had their nutrients completely stripped away from them during processing. After being rendered null and void of any real nutrients, manufactures then artificially add back a some key ‘nutrients’ to make up for the loss of the original nutrients. This is analogous to taking a beautiful healthy nutrient rich meal and destroying it; then throwing a handful of genetically modified peanuts in someone’s faces as a disgraceful form of equivalence. Most if not all of the vitamins imported into the dead processed foods are synthetic and as outlined previously in these notes (above), there is a big difference between real food source vitamins and the creepy phony molecules that are made in a lab and have zero compatibility with human physiology. Fortification is chump change being thrown in your face. And what, are you supposed to feel grateful that something like Froot Loops is “fortified with vitamins and minerals”? I think not. Do yourself a favor and skip any food that needs to be fortified by creepy people who have zero interest in you being a healthy, thoughtful and capable person.

Regulating Vitamin Supplements

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Why is it that many countries have strict regulations that define limits of vitamin (and mineral) dosages for their safe use as food supplements and cannot exceed a maximum daily dosage? Vitamin products above these legal limits are not considered food supplements and must be registered as prescription or non-prescription (over-the-counter drugs) due to their potential side effects. Compared to pharmaceutical side effects, the side effects from hypervitaminosis (excessive vitamin intake) are typically minor. As a result, most of the fat-soluble vitamins, such as the vitamins A, D, E, and K, that contain amounts above the daily allowance are classified as drug products. Wow huh? The daily dosage of a vitamin supplement for example cannot exceed 300% of the recommended daily allowance, and for vitamin A, this limit is even lower (200%).

Here is a question: Why are other things not regulated this way? Why not regulate alcohol or sugary products or artificial sweeteners in this same manner for example? There is no way that anyone with knowledge and ethics could deny the sever health problems caused by the “excess” of these products listed. And this is not to provide ammunition for the argument to ban these things – I am against banning foods, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, etc. Any adult should be able to do anything they like if it harms no one else. Go for it, knock yourself out - take all the vitamin A you can chug down, or sugar or heroin for that matter. It is none of my business what you decide to do with your own body. It is important for everyone to remember there is a consequence to everything we do! So if you are a mature and responsible person, then you will be able to handle or at least accept the consequences of your actions. In addition, if you have gained some wisdom in your life, you may be able to predict most consequences and decide beforehand whether or not something is worth doing.

It is wrong, morally and ethically wrong to try to regulate what others can and cannot do, even if you believe (erroneously or not) you are doing it ‘for their own good’. If you believe this premise, that a government should set the limits of what you are allowed to do because they are looking after you, then you accept being treated like an infant or a slave. If you recall from our Nutrition and Ethics lecture, Frederick Douglass (who was a slave and then a free man) described the perfect slave as being a thoughtless person with darkened morals. That is, a person who no longer has the power to reason or think for themselves. I am positive that on the face of it, none of us who are balanced would want to declare a desire to be a slave. From that same lecture, we looked at the two sides of the cerebrum needing to exist in balance, such that a whole person wants neither to be a slave nor a master.

Sample from an Antacid Calcium Supplement:

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500mg calcium supplement tablets, with vitamin D, made from: calcium carbonate, maltodextrin, mineral oil, hypromellose, glycerin, cholecalciferol, polyethylene glycol, and carnauba wax.

This label to the left is from a Tums antacid bottle. Just for starters it is to ‘fix’ a problem that would not exist if a person were eating healthy whole foods! Secondly, by taking any vitamin and mineral supplements in isolation of their whole foods and other elements, it creates imbalance in the body. Every vitamin and mineral is intricately interconnected with many other elements (see the mineral wheel to the right), such that to deliver just calcium and vitamin D will put your system off balance. Finally, just scanning the contents you will find some disturbing ingredients; mineral oil is a byproduct of processing crude oil into gasoline (mmm, yum); polyethylene glycol is primarily used in antifreeze; and carnauba wax is used in car polish! These are hardly the types of ingredients you’d want to knowingly put in your body if you want to look after your own health.

Vitamins are found in every whole food! Each vitamin is typically used in multiple reactions, and, therefore, most have multiple functions.

Bioavailability and the Effect of CookingThe bioavailability of any nutrient we consume is the proportion of the nutrient that is digested, absorbed and metabolized through normal pathways. The way the food is prepared will have a big impact on the bioavailability of the nutrients it contains.

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Effect of CookingShown below is percentage loss of vitamins after cooking averaged for common foods such as vegetables, meat or fish.

Vitamin C B1 B2 B3 B5 B6 Folate B12 A EAverage %loss 16 26 –3 18 17 3 20 ? 11 11

Important Note: Some vitamins may become more "bio-available" – that is, usable by the body – when steamed or cooked!

Various vitamins are susceptible to loss from heat—such as heat from boiling, steaming, cooking etc.—and other agents. The effect of cutting vegetables can be seen from exposure to air and light. Water soluble vitamins such as B and C seep into the water when a vegetable is boiled.

How to Preserve Vitamins in FoodsSince our bodies need vitamins to stay at optimum health, retaining as many vitamins as possible in the food you eat makes this goal a little easier. Explore several cooking methods, techniques and tricks that will help you know how to preserve vitamins in foods. Retaining vitamins in food is not as difficult as you might be thinking. In many of the cases, less time and preparation are involved, making the process even easier than what you might be doing now. For those who do not like to cook or just don't have a knack for it, this might be the best thing you have heard all day

1. Cook less. Many vitamins are heat sensitive, so the process of cooking destroys them. The longer heat is applied to food and the more intense the heat, the more nutrients are being stripped away. The more mushy your cooked vegetable is, the more vitamins have been sucked from it. Vegetables have held the most vitamins when they show a vibrant color.

2. Reduce surface exposure. Air, water and heat all attack vitamins starting at the surface of the produce. Vegetables cut into large pieces will retain more nutrients in cooking than small pieces. If you need smaller, bite-size pieces, you can always cut them smaller prior to serving.

3. Alter Cooking and Preparation methods. Less time, less heat and less water equal more retained vitamins. Steaming vegetables is a better option than boiling as vitamins do not leach into the water and get thrown away. Microwaving keeps cook time short. Stir-frying is another fast, low-water option. When boiling, add vegetables to already boiling water instead of allowing them to heat up with the water, giving time for more vitamins to leach out.

4. Keep the lid on. By keeping the lid on your pot while cooking vegetables, steam is created that helps cook the vegetables faster and any vitamins are held in the pot.

5. Reuse water. Any water that is used while cooking catches any excrement from what is being cooked. The water then takes on flavor and picks up some of the vitamins that cooked out of the food. Reusing this water in soups or gravies lets you intake those vitamins that would have otherwise been thrown out.

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6. Eat raw. The best way to get the most vitamins from your food is to eat it raw. Since no outside manipulators have altered the food, it is in its most natural and vitamin-bearing state. It is true that leaving the skin on varieties with edible skins gives you the best nutrient retention.

7. Eat fresh. Nutrients are most plentiful in produce when it is fresh. Waiting to eat fruits and vegetables or eating older produce means you are robbing yourself of some of the vitamins. Whole fruits and vegetables will have more nutrients than precut options. Only buy as much as you will use in a few days. It is better to shop more often and have fresher food options.

Ultimately, when discussing vitamins, the most desirable and effective benefits to human biology are when we get our vitamins directly from fresh whole foods. The important components in choosing Organic Foods over conventionally grown foods are many. Here are some of the most important reasons for selecting Organic Foods:

1. Higher nutrient, vitamin and mineral content.2. No growth stimulants, no antibiotics, no artificial fertilizers. 3. No pesticides, irradiation, preservatives, additives, artificial colors or flavors.4. No Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).5. Primarily Locally Grown, Seasonal food. 6. For all of these reasons and more the food tastes much better!

The two basic categories of vitamins are:

Fat soluble = A, D, E, K

Water soluble = C and B

Always chose natural sources of vitamins over synthetic if you truly value your health.