Nutrition: Vitamins

What are the fat-soluble vitamins? Water soluble?

A, D, E, K (fat soluble)

C, B (water soluble)

What are the 3 forms of vitamins?

Retinol, Retinal, Retinoic acid

What is the precursor to vitamin A? What is the basic function?

carotene is the precursor, with the basic function of protecting epithelial tissues

What are some characteristics of vitamin a?

1. pale yellow crystalline solid, insoluble in water, but soluble in fats and various fat solvents

2. it is readily destroyed by oxidation on exposure to air and light

3. vitamin a does not occur in plants but rather as its precursor, carotene, or carotenoid pigments

what are some sources of vitamin A?

1. liver

2. egg yolk, milk fat

3. green forages (hays and legume-grass)

What species convert vitamin A the most efficiently? the least?

most: rat, poultry, dogs

least: beef and dairy cattle, sheep, swine

What is the effect of vitamin a deficiency on vision?

night blindness, where you have a poor ability to adjust to change in light. the ability to see in dim light depends on the rate of resynthesis of rhodopsin, rhodopsin formation is impaired where vitamin A is deficient

What are some issues associated with vitamin a deficiency?

1. night blindness

2. xeropthalmia (the surface of the eye breaks down)

3. infertility, abortion, fetal abnormalities

4. metaplasia (change of cell type)

5. infections

how is vitamin a supplemented? what are problems with toxicity?

you should be feeding a carotene rich diet, but can be supplemented by adding vitamin a to water, injecting, adding to grain mix, adding to salt or mineral mix, adding to complete diet.

problems are that if high levels for a long time, vitamin a builds up and can become toxic

what are some of the characteristics of vitamin D?

fat soluble, one of the nutrients you don’t have to eat, necesaary to use Ca + P, deficiency causes rickets, can be gotten from UV rays from the sun.

what is the form of vitamin d in plants? in humans? what is the difference?

plants = D2, has double bond

animals = D3, has single bond

what role does vitamin d play in metabolism?

facilitates deposition of calcium and phosphorus in bone, and increases the absorption of Calcium and phosphorus from the intestine

what are some vitamin d deficiency symptoms?

rickets, easily broken bones, bowed legs, swollen knees and hocks, elarged joins, occasional paralysis, retarded growth, reduced egg production, oesteomalacia, suceptibility to hypocalcemia

what are some problems associated with excessive vitamin d?

high does mobilize Ca & P from the tissues causing rickets, may cause the deposition of calcium salts in arteries, organs, and tissues

what are some qualities of vitamin e?

not toxic even though fat soluble, protects membranes, interacts with selenium, prevents muscle liver and blood vessel degeneration

What do we recognize Vitamin E as for the purposes of this class?

the main anti-oxidant operative in the body

What are some symptoms of vitamin E deficiency? (specific to species)

MOST IMPORTANT: reproductive failure

-Stiff Lamb Disease in sheep

-White muscle disease in calves

-Exudative diathesis in chickens, or leaky blood vessels in soft tissue

-Nutritional encephalomalacia in chicks

-Severe liver damage, muscular weakness, especially in heart in pigs

What are the functions of vitamin E?

Involved in many enzyme systems.

• biologial anti-oxidant

• involved in normal tissue respiration

• in normal phosphorylation rxns

• in metabolism of nucleic acid

• in synthesis of ascorbic acid

What trace mineral does Vitamin E have an interrelationship with?

Selenium, although the exact interrelationship is unknown. Deficiency symptoms of both are the same, and can be treated by either vit. E of Sel.

What are some good sources of Vitamin E? Poor?

Good: wheat germ, green forages, soybean, peanut, cottonseed oils

Poor: Corn, soybean, peanut, cottonseed meals

When we extract the oil from things to use them as protein sources (the “meals”) we love the vitamin E contained.

What are some qualities of vitamin K?

Vitamin K is necessary for blood clotting. Animals normally get enough by microbial synthesis. and menadione was a past synthetic compound used that animals could turn into vitamin K.

What are some compounds that have vitamin K activity?

Phyloquinone, found in green plants

Napthoquinone, vitamin K2

Menadione (K3) is a synthetic compound no longer allowed for humans, so it is starting to be removed from pet diets as well.

What are some functions of vitamin K?

NECESSARY for the formation of prothromin, i.e. for blood clotting!

Also functions for bone formation and circulatory system, but animal will die from lack of blood clotting first.

What is Vitamin C also known as?

Vitamin c, the water-soluble vitamin, is also known as L-ascorbic acid. It is particularly in citrus.

What is vitamin C most known for historically?

Known for being discovered as the cure for scurvy. Vitamin C is only in fresh food, not preserved ones, and particularly citrus. All the sailors that were dying of scurvy were dying of vitamin c deficiency.

What are some functions of vitamin c?

Important role in various oxidation-reduction mechanisms in living cells— particularly in the electron transport chain.

Also important for normal collagen metabolism, and thus key for connective tissue.

Who is vitamin C required by?

Most animals actually have the mechanism to make vitamin C. Man and other higher primates do not as well as guinea pigs and a few niche species.

NOT required by farm animals except under very specific circumstances where they are not able to complete metabolism properly.

What is the main role of vitamin B complex?

the B vitamins are involved in intermediary metabolism, each with a slightly different/unique role.

What is vitamin B1? What is it involved in?

Vitamin B1 is thiamin(e), which is involved in the electron transport chain, specifically a coenzyme in the oxidative decarboxylation of pyruvic acid. Thus, necessary for respiration.

What are the symptoms of B1 deficiency?

Build up of lactic acid, BERI BERI in humans, polyneuritis in chicks (nerve degeneration and paralysis). This as well as other indistinct symptoms shared with other vitamin b deficiences.

How much is B1 distributed? Which foods contain thiaminase?

Widely distributed in foods, particularly cereal grains, so deficiency is not really seen. However, some plants and raw fish contain thiaminase which destroys thiamin, so extra is added to CAT diets.

What is vitamin B2, what role does it play?

B2 is riboflavin, is part of the flavoproteins in the electron transport chain, particularly important in oxidation reduction reactions. If you don’t have enough, you won’t use energy efficiently.

What are B2 deficiency symptoms?

Rather inexact symptoms. typically some slowing down of growth and systems, as well as ectodermal issues (skin, eyes, nervous, repro).

What does the intake of B2 look like?

We often do not have enough B2, and the requirement is proportional to energy intake.

What is Niacin involved in? What can it be formed from?

Niacin is an active group of 2 important coenzymes- NAD and NADP, thus key for energy transfer. It can be formed from typtophan, but this reaction doesn’t reverse.

What are symptoms of niacin deficiency?

Pellegra in humans: diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia. Thus it impacts intestinal systems, skin systems, and the nervous system.

Also causes “black tongue” in dogs.

What kind of diets are a problem for getting the proper amount of niacin?

High corn diets, because corn contains very little niacin or tryptophan.

What are the three forms of vitamin B6?

Differ by R groups:

Pyridoxine (OH)

Pyridoxal (CHO)

Pyridoxamine (NH2)

What are the main functions of B6?

Amino acid decarboxylation and deamination,

C-COOH → C, COOH

C-NH2 → C, NH2

What are some symptoms of B6 deficiency?

Poor growth, anemia (not enough hemoglobin in blood), nervous symptoms caused by degeneration in nerves, poor reproduction.

When is the requirement for B6 increased in humans?

During pregnancy and when taking oral contraception.

What is pantothenic acid a part of? What does that make its function?

It is a component of coenzyme A, part of acetyl coA, which is the form pyruvic acid breaks down to to enter the krebs cycle. It is involved in fatty acid metabolism and CHO oxidation. Therefore, to use energy you need pantothenic acid!

What are some symptoms of PA deficiency?

Goose stepping in pigs (nervous incoordination of gait), indistinct symptoms.

What is folic acid? What is so important about it? What is its function?

Folic acid is actually 3 associated folate compounds that have activity. it is important because it is not so widely distributed and is of MOST CONCERN to world health in terms of deficiency. Its function is the movement of 1 carbon residues, thus synthesizing purines and amino acids.

What are some symptoms of folic deficiency? What is the biggest problem in people?

Anemia, just like B12, though not cured by B12.

Poor growth + feathering.

In PEOPLE, can cause issues in embryonic development, particularly with neural tube defects. We recognize spine bifida the most, which is an open spine, or open/gapped skull.

Very dangerous for pregnancy, as happens early on before many women realize they are pregant, and they may be folic deficient.