Vitamin

Prepared and Presented

by
Cysilia K Hindarto, M.Farm.
 Vitamin: definisi dan kriteria
✘Definition - Organic compound required in small amounts.

✘Cannot be synthesized in ample amounts in the body

✘Chronic deficiency is likely to cause physical symptoms
✘Symptoms will disappear once the vitamin level in the body is
restored
✘Deficiency can cause permanent damage
✘13 compounds meet the above criteria
 Classification of Vitamins
✘Classification is based on solubility
Nine water-soluble: B vitamin complex and vitamin C
Four fat-soluble: vitamins A, D, E, and K
✘Solubility influences a vitamin’s: Digestion, Absorption,
Transportation, Storage, Excretion
 Naming Vitamins
✘Each new vitamin is temporarily named when discovered
✘The naming of vitamins follows the letters of the alphabet, starting
with A; we are up to the letter K
A, B, C, D, E, and K
B has many subscripts
F, G, and H were dropped
 Vitamin Structure and Function
✘All vitamins contain carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen
Some vitamins contain nitrogen and sulfur
✘Chemical structure of each vitamin is unique
✘Each vitamin is a singular unit
✘Vitamins are absorbed intact
✘Vitamins perform numerous essential functions
 Vitamin Absorption and Storage
✘All absorption takes place in the small intestine

✘Fat-soluble vitamins
Are absorbed in the duodenum
Storage
Vitamin A is mainly stored in the liver
Vitamins K and E are partially stored in the liver
Vitamin D is mainly stored in the fat and muscle tissue
Can build up in body to point of toxicity
 Vitamin Absorption and Storage
✘Water-soluble vitamins
Absorbed with water and enter directly into the blood stream
Most absorbed in the duodenum and jejunum
Most are not stored in the body
Excess intake excreted through the urine
Important to consume adequate amounts daily
Dietary excesses can be harmful
Digesting and Absorbing Vitamins

Figure 9.2
Digesting and Absorbing Water-Soluble Vitamins

Figure 10.1
 Fat-Soluble
Water-Soluble Vitamins
Vitamins
Absorbed in the Small Intestine Small Intestine
Hydrophobic or
Hydrophilic Hydrophobic
Hydrophilic
Absorbed into the Blood Lymph

Stored in the body Not Generally Yes

Can build up and become

Not Generally Yes
toxic

Need to consume daily Yes No

 Bioavailability
✘Varies based on
Amount in food
Preparation
Efficiency of digestion and absorption of food
Individual nutritional status
Natural or synthetic
✘Fat-soluble vitamins are generally less bioavailable than water-
soluble vitamins
✘Vitamins from animal foods are generally more bioavailable than
those in plant foods
 Destruction of Vitamins
✘Water-soluble vitamins can be destroyed by
Exposure to air
Exposure to ultraviolet light
Water
Changes in pH
Heat
Food preparation techniques
✘Fat-soluble vitamins tend to be more stable
 Toxicity with Overconsumption
✘Vitamin toxicity, AKA hypervitaminosis
Rare
Results from ingesting excess vitamins and tissue saturation
Can damage cells
✘Dietary Reference Intakes include tolerable upper intake limits (UL)
for most vitamins to prevent excess
 Provitamins and Preformed Vitamins
✘Provitamins
Substances found in foods that are not in a form directly usable by the
body
Converted to the active form once absorbed
✘Preformed vitamins
Vitamins found in foods in their active form
Vitamin A - Retinol

Retinol (vitamin A)

Sources in diet - Many plants (photoreceptors), also meat, especially liver.

Fat soluble, so you can get too much, or too little if absorption is a
problem.
Some uses:

Vision (11-cis-retinol bound to rhodopsin detects light in our eyes).

Regulating gene transcription (retinoic acid receptors on cell nuclei are part
of a system for regulating transcription of mRNAs for a number of genes).
Vitamin B1 - Thiamine

Thiamine

Some uses:

Cofactor for several enzymes (a precursor for thiamine pyrophosphate, one

of the cofactors used by the pyruvate decarboxylase complex (PDC).

Also, a cofactor for branched chain a-keto dehydrogenase.

Found in a wide variety of foods, including meat, grains. Deficiency causes

beriberi (muscle atrophy, neurological problems).
Vitamin B2 - riboflavin
Riboflavin is a precursor
for FAD and FMN.

FAD -
flavin adenine dinucleotide. FMN - Flavin
mononucleotide

FAD is a cofactor for pyruvate

dehydrogenase complex (PDC), and FMN is an electron carrier in
succinate dehydrogenase in TCA cycle. the electron transport chain.
Vitamin B3 - nicotinic acid
(a precursor for NAD).
Also known as niacin.

nicotinic acid

NAD+ is needed for glycolysis, NADH gets oxidized in electron transport

chain, etc.
 Vitamin B5 - pantothenic acid (needed for making CoA)

pantothenic acid

Coenzyme A

We get pantothenic acid in our diet as CoA, which must be broken down
to pantothenic acid to be absorbed in intestine. We then use the
pantothenic acid in making our own CoA.
Vitamin B6 - pyridoxine

Precursor for pyridoxal phosphate

(PLP).
PLP
PLP is a covalently linked cofactor to
transaminases, and some
decarboxylases, and glycogen
phosphorylase; these are called “PLP-
dependent enzymes”.
Vitamin B7 - Biotin.

Used in fatty acid synthesis,

also other functions.
We saw biotin in chapter 14:

Biotin deficiency is rare.

Vitamin B9 - Folic acid.
Required for synthesis of glycine,
methionine, nucleotides T & U folic acid

Important for rapidly dividing cells

(very important in early pregnancy).

N5,N10 methylene-tetrahydrofolate is a
donor of methylene groups.

Deficiency in pregnancy causes neural tube defects.

Folic acid is now added to many grain products in the US.
Vitamin B12 - cobalamin. adenosyl-
(also hydroxycobalamin, adenosylcobalamin). cobalamin

We saw cobalamine in fatty acid

oxidation.

Cobalamin is needed in making

adenosylcobalamin, a cofactor for
“methyl malonyl mutase”, which
breaks down odd-chain fatty acids.

B12 is also used in regenerating folate

Sources are meat, milk and eggs.

Vegetarians who eat dairy products

are OK, but non-dairy vegans may not
get enough.
Vitamin C - asorbic acid

Required for collagen synthesis, and

as a cofactor for several enzymes.
Also scavenges oxygen radicals.
In almost all organisms, ascorbic acid is synthesized from glucose in 4 steps.

A relatively recent (40 million years ago) mutation in the ancestor of humans
made us unable to make ascorbic acid. So for us, and some closely related
primates, it’s a vitamin.

Guinea pigs can’t make ascorbic acid, either.

Sources of vitamin C are fruit and fresh meat. Vitamin C deficiency causes
scurvy, and in human history vitamin C deficiency may have been an
impediment to spreading northward.
Vitamin D refers to a group of similar lipid-soluble molecules (major
forms are D2 and D3, also D1, D4, D5).

Vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) Vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol)

Vitamin D3 can be obtained in diet, or derived from cholesterol in a
reaction that requires UV light.

UV light

spontaneous

liver enzyme
25-hydroxylase calcitriol

Vitamin D3
Vitamin D binds to a “vitamin D binding protein” (VDP) for transport to target
organs.

Vitamin D is not active itself (it’s a prohormone); it is modified to yield

biologically active forms, such as calcitriol.

Calcitriol (derived from vitamin D) is a transcription factor, influencing

expression of proteins involved in calcium absorption and transport.

Vitamin D is also important for immune system function.

Deficiency causes rickets, bone loss.

Calcitriol, from
vitamin D.
Vitamin D production requires UV light (sunlight).

Sometime after humans migrated north out of Africa about 50,000 years
ago, mutations appeared that reduced melanin (pigment) production in
the skin, permitting vitamin D production with less sunlight.

Disadvantages of less melanin production are skin that is easily

damaged by the sun, skin cancer risk, and loss of folic acid due to UV
damage.

The melanin-reducing mutations helped early humans make vitamin D

in northern europe in winter.
Vitamin E - Collectively refers to 8 related tocopherols.

It is essential, but roles are unclear.

Suggestions include neural membrane
component, antioxidant.

Obtained in diet, deficiency is rare.

Vitamin K - Refers to phylloquinone (vitamin K-1), and several
structurally similar molecules.

phylloquinone

Vitamin K is required for proper blood clotting.

It is used in synthesizing gamma carboxy glutamate, a

post-translationally modified amino acid in prothrombin.

Sources are vegetables and fruits, deficiency is rare.

 thanks!
Any questions?
You can find me at
cysiliakh@gmail.com