Lecture 7A: Vitamins & Minerals- part 1

FN 225: Nutrition
Noy Rathakette, Ph.D.
Health Professions Division
Lane Community College
Eugene, Oregon

LECTURE 7A: Vitamins & Minerals- Part 1
Part 2 is Week 8

If you're interested, the LCC Bookstore should have this 8-page laminated fold-out: A Functional Approach: Vitamins and Minerals:

There is an EXAM this week (Week 7, due THURSDAY at 11:55pm. If you can't take it by then, please let me know BEFORE the due date.)

If you do not meet the exam deadline (and do not contact me BEFORE the due date), as of the following Monday, you may take a makeup exam at the Testing Lab on the LCC Main Campus (CENTER 456). Students taking this exam in the Testing Lab are allowed to use only ONE 3 x 5 notecard (both sides).

Check this link below for the hours and rules of the Testing Lab. https://teach.lanecc.edu/timmerst/

FORUM (posted Monday of Week 7):

Take a look in your packet at the chart called Some Food Sources of Vitamins & Minerals on page 101. What is a food you like (or want to try) that is on at least two of the vitamin lists and which list is it on?
Have you been to any of the Farmer's Markets shown in Lecture 7B: Local Food and/or do you garden or farm yourself?
Do you have any questions about Week 7 Study Questions or Lectures?
One of your Study Questions last week asked you to think of a question about protein and ask that of Google. What did you find out and what did you think of that answer?

LECTURE 7A: Vitamins & Minerals- Part 1

Vitamins & Minerals- Part 2 will be Week 8.

Use this information to fill in blanks on pages 93-97 of your packet. Pages 98-100 in your packet will be discussed during Week 8.

A vitamin is defined as an essential caloric/non-caloric organic nutrient needed in tiny amounts in diet. As you learned in Week 1, vitamins are organic and DO have calories, so that's what I mean by caloric.

But they don't have calories for us because we don't make the enzymes we'd need to break vitamins apart to release the energy. So that's what I mean by non-caloric. There would be very little energy there for us anyway- GRAMS of starch, sugar and fat give us a lot more energy than MILLIGRAMS of vitamin C. And we need that vitamin C for important functions in the body.

A mineral is defined as an essential non-caloric inorganic nutrient also needed in tiny amounts in diet.

Vitamins can be divided into 2 categories:

Fat-soluble vitamins are absorbed with fats from food into lymph vessels then travel hooked to protein carriers (“boats”, also known as chylomicrons).

They go from cells lining the villi into lymph vessels into the bloodstream and then to the liver.

They are stored in the liver and fatty tissues until the body needs them.

In more detail: Fats & fat-soluble vitamins go from cells lining the villi into lymph vessels (as part of chylomicrons then somewhere near the heart they enter the bloodstream which takes them to the liver.

Here's a very short (less than one minute) animation about the absorption of vitamins, on a webpage of Jones and Bartlett, an independent publisher:
http://nutrition.jbpub.com/resources/animations.cfm?id=25&debug=0

As you can see with the image below, fat-soluble vitamins include vitamin E, vitamin A and its precursor beta-carotene, vitamin K and vitamin D.

Beta-carotene is fat-soluble, but most foods with beta-carotene, like carrots, are low in fat. It takes very little fat for that beta-carotene (a pigment) to be soluble.

I got some carrots I was grating in my lap and didn't notice them until they'd been there for awhile. The beta-carotene pigment stained the skirt and it took several washings to remove the stain.
Water-soluble vitamins are absorbed directly into blood where they travel freely (NOT hooked to protein carriers) and are not stored in body but tissues can be “saturated”. Water-soluble vitamins include vitamin C and the 8 B-complex vitamins, including the lesser-known biotin and pantothenic acid, as well as vitamin B₆ (pyridoxine), vitamin B₁₂ (cobalamin), thiamin (vitamin B₁), folate, niacin (vitamin B₃) and riboflavin (vitamin B₂).

Minerals are absorbed directly into blood and are always water-soluble.

Examples of minerals include:

iron,
calcium,
zinc,
magnesium,
potassium,
sodium,
chloride,
fluoride,
manganese,
phosphorus and
selenium.

Minerals and water-soluble vitamins are absorbed directly into blood. Fat-soluble vitamins are absorbed into the lymph.

You saw the above image earlier in the term. It shows why vitamins are organic (contain carbon to carbon bonds) and minerals are inorganic.

Looking at the Ingredient list for Honey Nut Chex cereal, which ingredients are:

Fat-soluble vitamins
Water-soluble vitamins
Minerals

Minerals are different than vitamins because they are INorganic, therefore they don't have calories. Also minerals are always absorbed directly into the blood.

Vitamin A and vitamin C are both organic. But Vitamin A is fat-soluble vitamin so it is absorbed into the lymph, travels with a carrier and is stored.

Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin so it is absorbed directly into the blood, travels without a carrier and is not stored.

Plants get vitamins by making them because they need them to function. Many of the vitamins that plants make are actually antioxidant pigments that they make to help them with photosynthesis. And each plant has its own set of pigments that it needs. A plant making orange carrots needs carotenes while a plant making cream-colored parsnips needs flavones.

Parsnips

Antioxidants in Photosynthesis and Human Nutrition, Demmig-Adams, Barbara; Adams, III, William W; Science; 12/13/2002, p2149, 5p. The harnessing of solar energy by photosynthesis depends on a safety valve that effectively eliminates hazardous excess energy and prevents oxidative damage to the plant cells. Many of the compounds that protect plant cells also protect human cells and have a role in human nutrition.

Now you should be read for the top of page 94 in your packet:

Vitamins can be made in the body in 2 ways.

1. One way is from precursors, which are something that can be changed into an active vitamin.

a. For example, niacin can be made from the amino acid tryptophan.


Tryptophan (above)	Niacin (above)

b. Retinol (the active form of Vitamin. A) can be made from beta-carotene in plant food.


Retinol (above)	Beta-carotene (above)

c. Vitamin D can be made when ultraviolet light in sunlight strikes cholesterol in the skin. So cholesterol, which our body can make, is a precursor for vitamin D.

These nursery school children in Murmansk, a seaport city in the extreme northwest part of Russia, are making vitamin D by standing in front of an ultraviolet light source. That light is causing a form of cholesterol in their skin to convert to vitamin D. Because the winter darkness can retard normal development, Murmansk schoolchildren receive extra vitamins as well as periodic doses of ultraviolet light.

The photographer for this 1975 photo was Dean Conger. I saved it when I saw it in 1977.

"Five Times to Yakutsk", by Dean Conger, National Geographic, August 1977, pages 256-269 (photo p. 267).

As the text says (in the list called Factors affecting sun exposure and vitamin D), lack of direct sunlight at latitudes between 35 and 50 degrees north prevents vitamin D synthesis from November through February.

Can you see Murmansk on the map below at the northwest tip of Russia? It's latitude is about 70 degrees north. (Lane County is 44 degrees north)

We just saw that vitamin D can be made when ultraviolet light in sunlight strikes cholesterol in the skin. Do you remember during Lecture 5B, you saw these images that illustrate how similar the structure of vitamin D is to the structure of cholesterol?

Cholesterol	Vitamin D

2. A second way our body can make vitamins is by letting good bacteria live within us since bacteria in our intestinal tract can make vitamin K and also biotin and pantothenic acid. Do you see on the list above what kind of nutrients biotin and pantothenic acid are?

Gut Flora? Great!, Maintaining a balance of microorganisms can help strengthen your overall health, Mary Carmichael, NEWSWEEK, January 23, 2006.

So now we're ready to move on to THE NUTRI-CHARTS on page 95.

These charts take sort of a "Three Bears" approach to vitamins and minerals as I have always loved their story. Of the three bowls of porridge Goldilocks came upon, one was too hot, one was too cold and one was just right.

So we'll look at what happens when there's too much of a nutrient, too little of a nutrient and just the right amount of a nutrient.

NUTRI-CHART 1 lists the Nutrients Involved that can be ANTIOXIDANTS.

Antioxidants protect cell substances from damage by oxygen.

Oxygen (O₂) can combine with substances, forming free radicals (unpaired electrons), which damage cell substances.

Remember when you saw the little animated "movie" about covalent bonding earlier in the term? Unpaired electrons are "anxious". They go hunting for electrons to complete their outer shell. Unpaired electrons can grab from where they shouldn't, which can damage cells.

Antioxidants seem to be able to "scavenge & quench" free radicals & may offer some protection against cancer and effects of aging. Studies showing benefits of antioxidants have been done on antioxidants in foods, not antioxidants in supplements.

Take a look at how these charts are organized. The column on the left shows the nutrient.

Then the next column describes a little of what happens in the body when there's TOO MUCH of that nutrient in the body.

The next column describes a little of what happens in the body when there's TOO LITTLE of that nutrient in the body.

The next column describes a little of what happens in the body when there's JUST the RIGHT amount of that nutrient in the body

Beta-carotene is changed slowly in body to retinol, so TOO MUCH beta-carotene is not toxic. Sometimes babies get very enthusiastic about carrots and squash and they may get excess carotene, but it doesn't have toxic effects. Their skin may turn slightly orange, but it isn't dangerous.

TOO LITTLE beta-carotene in the diet/body may elevate cancer risk.

JUST the RIGHT amount of beta-carotene can be changed in the body to retinol and then it can perform the functions of vitamin A.

Beta-carotene has functions as an antioxidant in the body that retinol cannot accomplish.

Moving on to vitamin E, TOO MUCH vitamin E can increase the effects of (interfere with) anticoagulant medication, including aspirin, risking uncontrolled bleeding.

Since vitamin E is transferred from the mother to the fetus late in a pregnancy, premature infants can be born with TOO LITTLE vitamin E. Without vitamin E's antioxidation, some blood cells rupture when oxidation destroys the cell's membrane.

JUST the RIGHT amount of vitamin E is an antioxidant for cell's lipids and proteins, especially those in the lungs and red blood cells because lungs & RBCs have high oxygen concentrations.

TOO MUCH vitamin C in the body can interfere with medical tests.

TOO LITTLE vitamin C in the body can suppress the immune system.

JUST RIGHT amounts of vitamin C in the body means the vitamin C can be an antioxidant and protect cell substances by becoming oxidized itself.

TOO MUCH selenium in the body can lead to nausea and liver damage.

TOO LITTLE selenium in the body can cause an uncommon form of heart disease.

JUST RIGHT amounts of selenium in the body means the selenium can play an antioxidant role by assisting vitamin E.

NUTRI-CHART 2 lists the Nutrients Involved in CERTAIN SPECIALIZED CELLS/TISSUES

Let's do the JUST RIGHT part of vitamin A first.

Vitamin A is needed for the production of epithelial tissue, which is both your inner and your outer skin. Examples of "inner skin" would be the lining of your lungs and intestinal tract. Epithelial tissue is also on the outside of the cornea.
Vitamin A also functions in the retina of the eye to help see in dim light.

With there is TOO LITTLE vitamin A in the body, the cells make a dry, hard protein called keratin (NOT the same thing as carotene, even though those words sound a lot alike).

A person can become blind when keratin builds up in the cornea, shown below in the Bitot's spots. A person is more vulnerable to lung infections when deficient in vitamin A because keratin builds up preventing the lungs from expelling harmful substances.

And a person without enough vitamin A can become night blind because retinol is needed for the eye to see in dim light. (There are MANY other reasons a person might be night blind besides vitamin A deficiency.)

photo from A New Labor Force
http://www.oregonnikkei.org/exhibit/building.html

The book, Stubborn Twig by Eugene author Lauren Kessler, is a factual account of three generations of a hard-working and successful Japanese-American family living in the Pacific Northwest. It begins in the Hood River area in the early 1900s, where a central character Masuo Yasui and his brother Renichi work on a a railroad crew possibly like the one above.

"Many men suffered night blindness from vitamin A deficiency; Renichi, for the rest of his life, attributed his poor eyesight to railroad-camp food. There were no real cooks employed on the line, just young bachelors like all the section hands."

".... the problems of getting fresh vegetables and meat to the remote camps and the constant urgings of the men to scrimp on costs."

Stubborn Twig is a selection of Oregon Reads 2009, a program that will take place in nearly every public library and in every county in Oregon during the state's sesquicentennial, January through April of 2009.
http://www.oregonreads2009.org/

TOO MUCH vitamin A in the body is very toxic.

Continuing with NUTRI-CHART 2:

JUST RIGHT amounts of vitamin C in the body helps you make collagen, the main protein that makes up connective tissue. Connective tissue has structural and supportive functions which are indispensable to blood vessels and all tissues within the body. This is one reason vitamin C can help you heal.

TOO LITTLE vitamin C in the body can lead to connective tissue problems in the gums and also the blood vessels. Two of the classic symptoms of scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) are a type of gum disease and parafollicular petechiae (pinpoint hemorrhages underneath the skin).

JUST RIGHT amounts of Vitamin D in the body affects how cells grow, proliferate & specialize. Vitamin D can help keep cells from becoming malignant or vitamin D can have autoimmune responses & when cells do go bad, perhaps cause them to self-destruct.

Vitamin D may help curb breast cancer, study finds, By Marilynn Marchione, The Associated Press Medical Writer, on KOMONEWS.com, Seattle, Washington May 15, 2008

Part of what this article says is:

"The skin makes vitamin D from ultraviolet light. Too much sunlight can raise the risk of skin cancer, but small amounts — 15 minutes or so a few times a week without sunscreen — may be beneficial, many doctors believe.

While the vitamin is found in certain foods and supplements, some don’t contain the best form, vitamin D-3, and have only a modest effect on blood levels of the nutrient.

Vitamin D is found in many fortified foods, such as Wheat Chex cereal. But if it only lists Vitamin D as an ingredient, it is probably NOT Vitamin D3.

TOO LITTLE vitamin D in the body may increase risk of a variety of diseases.

TOO MUCH vitamin D in the body can lead to calcification of soft tissues like the heart, blood vessels, lungs and kidneys.

There has been an explosion in information about the many advantages to our health of vitamin D and many physicians are recommending that at-risk people have their blood tested.

A recent New York Times Health Guide webpage said

"The 25-hydroxy vitamin D test is the most accurate way to measure how much vitamin D is in your body.

"In the kidney, 25-hydroxy vitamin D changes into an active form of the vitamin. The active form of vitamin D helps control calcium and phosphate levels in the body."

It said that "The normal range is 30.0 to 74.0 nanograms per milliliter (ng/mL). Normal value ranges may vary slightly among different laboratories." http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/test/25-hydroxy-vitamin-d/overview.html

Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy
Below are what my blood test results said are Reference Ranges (There is currently no consensus on the level which indicates deficiency.)		Beth, February 18, 2008
<10 ng/mL	severe deficiency	29.9 ng/mL
10-19 ng/mL	mild to moderate deficiency
20-31 ng/mL	hypovitaminosis
32-80 ng/mL	optimum level
>100 ng/mL	possible toxicity
By this measure, it looks like I'm at the upper end of hypovitaminosis. I take a small amount of vitamin D that is in my calcium pill. I plan to have another vitamin D test done in late September after a summer of a little sun exposure. If anyone else has had a vitamin D test done, please let me know as I would like to add your results to this chart. Shannon said "Vitamin D levels checked and I did back in June of 2008 and it said my levels was 30 ng/mL. I have a hypothyriod and it was really low as well, even with my throid medication. My doctor said research is linking low levels of Vitamin D and hypothroidism together so, she suggested that I go on a perscription vitamin D supplement of 50,000 IU that I take once a week. I started taking the Vitamin D once a week and kept my throid medication the same and got retested 6 weeks later and my thyroid was fine and my Vitamin D level was 52.8 ng/mL (32ng/mL-80ng/mL is normal range). I have been on it ever since and I feel great."

My neurologist (who I really like) strongly believes I should take about 1000 IU of vitamin D daily, but I'm wary.

Below was a bone imaging report from a Springfield MD's office that a student gave us:

IMPRESSION: The single small focal bony abnormality involving the second lumbar vertebra is consistent with benign degenerative process. The symmetrical uptake of activity noted about the osseous structures of the shoulder joints, hips, knees, ankles, and mid feet most likely relate to the patient's hypercalcemia. The mild diffuse uptake in the lungs is secondary to hypercalcemia.

INDICATION: The patient is a 50-year-old female with recurrent iatrogenic hypercalcemia due to excessive intakes of calcium and vitamin D. The patient has renal failure due to this.

definition of iatrogenic- "induced by a physician's words or therapy (used especially of a complication resulting from treatment) "

This above woman was probably taking a prescription-level dose for too long a period or taking multiple high-level over-the-counter vitamin D supplements. But as Lecture 8B will say next week, it's important to consider the dose of nutritional supplements.

Before continuing with the remainder of Lecture 7A, watch the video below. This will help you answer a Study Question (#42 on page 106 in your packet).

Video Clip: Supplies The Most Nutrients
approximately 10 minutes

If the movie isn't showing up on your computer, you may not have the latest version of QuickTime on your computer. Click here to download the newest version of Quick Time.

Now continue below with the remainder of Lecture 7A.

NUTRI-CHART 3 lists the Nutrients Involved in ENERGY METABOLISM

There are 5 B-complex vitamins involved in energy metabolism. These are thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid and biotin. Return to page 51 in your packet, where by now you should have filled in most of the blank lines.

The 5 B-complex vitamins function as part of coenzymes for cellular respiration. This means that they help the enzymes bring about the reactions that release the energy from glucose (or from fat or protein).

Notice what page 51 says at the bottom right about Ch. 7, and fill in the blanks.

What are NAD and TPP?

NAD and TPP are coenzymes containing B-vitamins. NAD stands for (niacin adenine dinucleotide, so the B-vitamin that coenzyme contains is niacin. TPP stands for thiamin pyrophosphate so the B-vitamin it contains is thiamin.

Without any of those 5 B-complex vitamins, cellular respiration couldn't happen in the body. Fatigue, and eventually death, would be the result. It would be like having no way to strike a match for (or otherwise start) a fire. You could have a large woodpile, but you couldn't get heat from that wood.

In addition to those 5 B-complex vitamins, 1 other vitamin is especially important for energy metabolism to happen and that is vitamin C. Vitamin C is involved in the production of thyroxin, a hormone that helps regulate the basal metabolic rate. Someone with a low BMR would be sort of like a really wimpy fire that burned slowly.

Iodine (I), chromium (Ch), manganese (Mn) and phosphorus (P) are minerals that are important for the reactions of cellular respiration to happen.

The map below shows "goiter belts", areas of the world where, for some reason, iodine has been scrubbed from the soil, perhaps because of volcanic or glacier activity.

As part of cytochromes, iron (Fe) is a coenzyme involved in energy metabolism.

Above is the structure of a cytochrome. Can you see iron?

NUTRI-CHART 4 lists the Nutrients Involved in BLOOD HEALTH

Some of the MINERALS involved in blood health include iron (Fe.... that stands for ferrous), zinc (Zn) and copper (Cu.... that stands for cupric).

Iron in food can be found in both foods of plant origin and foods of animal origin. The iron in foods of animal origin is mostly in hemoglobin and it is called "heme iron". Heme iron is better absorbed than the non-heme iron foods of plant origin.

One of the most common causes of childhood poisoning is from the ingestion of way-too-many multivitamin/mineral supplements at one time.

/

Parents may be tempted to encourage children to "take their vitamins" by comparing them to candy. Children then may have the idea that they are as safe as candy, which they are not.

Too much iron from supplements can decrease the body's ability to absorb copper.
Zinc. Too much zinc from supplements can also decrease the body's ability to absorb copper.
Copper. I won't say anything else besides what's in the NUTRI-CHART.

Some of the VITAMINS involved in blood health include folate, vitamins B₁₂ and B₆ and also vitamins C and K.

TOO MUCH folate may accelerate growth of cancer cells but TOO LITTLE folate during pregnancy can lead to neural tube defects in the newborn, like spina bifida (Latin for "split spine"). Although surgery can improve the situation, some aspects of the condition is permanent.

Absorbing vitamin B₁₂ requires the intrinsic factor, something that is made in the stomach. Low stomach acid, known as hypochlorhydria, interferes with the absorption of vitamin B₁₂. Aging is associated with a decrease in the normal secretion of stomach acid. As a result, some older people with normal levels of intrinsic factor and with no clear cause for malabsorption will become vitamin B₁₂-deficient.

A "megadose" level of vitamin C is often considered to be an amount that is 10 times (1000%) of the DV.

Most animals make their own vitamin C from glucose.

Vitamin K helps make the proteins needed for blood to clot. With a deficiency of vitamin K, blood doesn't clot.

END OF LECTURE 7A
NUTRI-CHARTS 5 and 6 will be next week (Week 8)