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Micronutrients and Phytochemicals

Functional Roles of Micronutrients

  • Enzymes, coenzymes, and cofactors

  • Fluid and electrolyte balance

  • Antioxidant systems

  • Building bones

  • Energy metabolism

  • Blood health

Can Food Be Medicine?

Examples:

Scurvy: fatigue, bleeding gums, bruising

  • a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, characterized by swollen bleeding gums and the opening of previously healed wounds, which mainly affected poorly nourished sailors until the end of the 18th century.

  • 1753, James Lind, a British Navy physician found citrus fruit prevents disease

Rickets: bone disease in children

  • 1922, cod liver oil an effective treatment

Vitamin D: promotes the body’s absorption of calcium and phosphorus

  • Extreme or prolonged lack of vitamin D makes it difficult to maintain proper calcium and phosphorus levels in bones, which can cause rickets.

  • Vitamins and minerals work together to perform various physiological functions

Chlorosis: green skin color, weakness

  • 1700’s Physician Sydenham prescribed, “mineral water with the Iron”

Vitamins

Vitamins: carbon-containing substances needed in small amounts by the body

  • Vitamin content is most significant when a fruit or vegetable is ripe

  • Essential: can’t be synthesized by the body

  • Absence leads to a deficiency that can be cured if the vitamin is resupplied in time

  • Avoid intakes over the Upper Level (Megadose)

Fat Soluble Vitamins:

  • Vitamin A: Vision, Reproduction, Bone Health, Immune System

  • Vitamin D: Strengthens Bones, Calcium Absorption

  • Vitamin E: Immune System

  • Vitamin K: Blood Clotting, Bone Health

  • Absorbed with dietary fat

  • Anything interfering with fat absorption will impair fat soluble absorption

Fat Soluble Vitamins: Deficiencies

Vitamin-A: Night blindness, Dry eyes, Rough skin, Slower bone growth & Improper tooth development

Vitamin-D: Cancer, Rickets & Softening of the bones

Vitamin-E: Muscular weakness and Neurological Issues

Vitamin-K: Blood clotting and Reduces the bone density

Water Soluble Vitamins & Choline:

  • Thiamin (B1)

  • Riboflavin (B2)

  • Niacin (B3, PP)

  • Pantothenic acid (B5)

  • Biotin (B7, H)

  • Pyridoxine (B6)

  • Folate (folic acid, B9)

  • Cobalamin (B12)

  • Vitamin C

  • Absorbed primarily in the small intestine

  • Relatively high bioavailability

  • Transported to the liver via portal vein & distributed to body tissues

  • Water-soluble vitamins are particularly susceptible to destruction by heat, light, air exposure, cooking in water, and alkalinity

Vitamin Toxicity

  • Vitamin toxicity is most frequently from supplemental sources, not foods.

  • Toxicity by vitamin A most frequently observed.

Symptoms of Vitamin A toxicity:

  • Dry, itchy skin

  • Headache

  • Nausea

  • Blurred vision

  • Can cause severe birth defects

Minerals

Minerals: Individual chemical elements that can’t be broken down further

  • Majority of minerals absorbed in the small intestine

  • Higher fiber diets can lower the absorption of iron and zinc

  • Vitamin C intake increases iron absorption

  • Stored in various tissues

  • Some minerals remain in the bloodstream

  • Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and fluoride stored in bone

  • Iron, copper, and zinc are stored in the liver

  • Others are stored in muscle tissue, organs, glands

Essential when:

  • Dietary inadequacy causes physiological or structural abnormality

  • An addition to our diet reinstates health

Major minerals:

  • Sodium

  • Potassium

  • Chloride

  • Calcium

  • Phosphorus

  • Magnesium

  • Sulfur

Trace minerals:

  • Iron

  • Zinc

  • Selenium

  • Iodide

  • Copper

  • Fluoride

  • Chromium

  • Manganese

  • Molybdenum

Ultratrace minerals:

  • Arsenic

  • Boron

  • Nickel

  • Silicon

  • Vanadium

GS

Micronutrients and Phytochemicals

Functional Roles of Micronutrients

  • Enzymes, coenzymes, and cofactors

  • Fluid and electrolyte balance

  • Antioxidant systems

  • Building bones

  • Energy metabolism

  • Blood health

Can Food Be Medicine?

Examples:

Scurvy: fatigue, bleeding gums, bruising

  • a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, characterized by swollen bleeding gums and the opening of previously healed wounds, which mainly affected poorly nourished sailors until the end of the 18th century.

  • 1753, James Lind, a British Navy physician found citrus fruit prevents disease

Rickets: bone disease in children

  • 1922, cod liver oil an effective treatment

Vitamin D: promotes the body’s absorption of calcium and phosphorus

  • Extreme or prolonged lack of vitamin D makes it difficult to maintain proper calcium and phosphorus levels in bones, which can cause rickets.

  • Vitamins and minerals work together to perform various physiological functions

Chlorosis: green skin color, weakness

  • 1700’s Physician Sydenham prescribed, “mineral water with the Iron”

Vitamins

Vitamins: carbon-containing substances needed in small amounts by the body

  • Vitamin content is most significant when a fruit or vegetable is ripe

  • Essential: can’t be synthesized by the body

  • Absence leads to a deficiency that can be cured if the vitamin is resupplied in time

  • Avoid intakes over the Upper Level (Megadose)

Fat Soluble Vitamins:

  • Vitamin A: Vision, Reproduction, Bone Health, Immune System

  • Vitamin D: Strengthens Bones, Calcium Absorption

  • Vitamin E: Immune System

  • Vitamin K: Blood Clotting, Bone Health

  • Absorbed with dietary fat

  • Anything interfering with fat absorption will impair fat soluble absorption

Fat Soluble Vitamins: Deficiencies

Vitamin-A: Night blindness, Dry eyes, Rough skin, Slower bone growth & Improper tooth development

Vitamin-D: Cancer, Rickets & Softening of the bones

Vitamin-E: Muscular weakness and Neurological Issues

Vitamin-K: Blood clotting and Reduces the bone density

Water Soluble Vitamins & Choline:

  • Thiamin (B1)

  • Riboflavin (B2)

  • Niacin (B3, PP)

  • Pantothenic acid (B5)

  • Biotin (B7, H)

  • Pyridoxine (B6)

  • Folate (folic acid, B9)

  • Cobalamin (B12)

  • Vitamin C

  • Absorbed primarily in the small intestine

  • Relatively high bioavailability

  • Transported to the liver via portal vein & distributed to body tissues

  • Water-soluble vitamins are particularly susceptible to destruction by heat, light, air exposure, cooking in water, and alkalinity

Vitamin Toxicity

  • Vitamin toxicity is most frequently from supplemental sources, not foods.

  • Toxicity by vitamin A most frequently observed.

Symptoms of Vitamin A toxicity:

  • Dry, itchy skin

  • Headache

  • Nausea

  • Blurred vision

  • Can cause severe birth defects

Minerals

Minerals: Individual chemical elements that can’t be broken down further

  • Majority of minerals absorbed in the small intestine

  • Higher fiber diets can lower the absorption of iron and zinc

  • Vitamin C intake increases iron absorption

  • Stored in various tissues

  • Some minerals remain in the bloodstream

  • Calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and fluoride stored in bone

  • Iron, copper, and zinc are stored in the liver

  • Others are stored in muscle tissue, organs, glands

Essential when:

  • Dietary inadequacy causes physiological or structural abnormality

  • An addition to our diet reinstates health

Major minerals:

  • Sodium

  • Potassium

  • Chloride

  • Calcium

  • Phosphorus

  • Magnesium

  • Sulfur

Trace minerals:

  • Iron

  • Zinc

  • Selenium

  • Iodide

  • Copper

  • Fluoride

  • Chromium

  • Manganese

  • Molybdenum

Ultratrace minerals:

  • Arsenic

  • Boron

  • Nickel

  • Silicon

  • Vanadium

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