Vitamin Lecture 10-24-06

Calvin Broadus thinks it is a great lecture.

By the way…

• If you need CAS hours or are otherwise interested in judging 8th graders (that is why I live…)

• Lake Harriet school is looking for ‘Science invention judges’…

• You will be needed from 9:45 until 11:15 on November 2.

• We’’ll get Dr. Smith to excuse you.

Night Blindness –tunnel vision or lights that stay in the visual field (like after a flashbulb…)

• Caused by lack of Retinol

• (Vitamin A)

• Rod cells of the eye don’t work without Retinol

• Vitamin A is found in liver, carrots

Retinitis Pigmentosa VS. Macular degeneration

Retin A is retinol!!!• Repairs skin and promotes the growth of elastin.

Rumor is that BBT’s skin turned orange on the carrot diet.

Toxicity of Retinol?• Possible because Retinol (vitamin A) is fat soluble –

you don’t pee it out!

• Liver failure (mainly in alcoholics)

• Kidney failure if the liver goes…

Anemia –shortage of erythrocytes (red blood cells). Symptoms: tired, confused, short of breath, headache… You need RBC’s to get Oxygen around!

• Caused by lack of cyanocobalamin -B12 (because this makes RBC’s) found in beef, liver, milk.

• Caused by lack of tocopherol –Vitamin E (because this protects RBC’s from oxidation) found in green leaves, vegetable oil.

• Caused by lack of Iron (because this is a part of hemoglobin.)

Tongue is pale Anemia -look at RBC fragments normal smear

Toxicity of tocopherol, or cyanocobalamin, or Iron

• Vitamin E and B12 probably none… in a very few, weakness and diarrhea or small hemorrhage (bruise easily).

• Too much iron? Bad liver and bad other stuff because iron is very reactive… it gets to take electrons from stuff…

Scurvy –keeps cells together in tissues (namely the tissues of the blood vessels.)

• Caused by a lack of ascorbic acid

• Vitamin C

• Found in fruits (citric especially) and vegetables.

Too much ascorbic acid?

• Sunshine yellow pee

• Nausea, diarrhea

Rickets

• Lacking in Calciferol –Vitamin D (this helps the body deposit calcium into bones)– Found in fortified milk, codliver oil, and skin’s

exposure to sunlight.

• Lacking in Calcium –hardens bones and teeth.– Found in milk and milk products

• Lacking iodine so the body cannot make thyroxine –a hormone made by the thyroid gland and used for metabolism… individuals tend to be overweight with this condition.– Found in iodized salt and seafood

Goitre or Goiter

Muscle weakness, cramping, death

• Lack of potassium. Used in muscle and nerve activity as well as acid/base balance.

– Found in meat, milk and fruit (especially bananas.)

• Note: Lack of potassium is mostly due to diarrhea and or lots of vomiting.

Potassium toxicity?

• Take potassium salts (not a good idea…)?– Too much can give you an irregular heart beat

or even a heart attack.

Neural Tube defects like spina bifida –spine doesn’t close around the spinal cord

• Caused by a lack of folic acid (folate)

• It is one of the B vitamins.

LDL cholesterol

• Bad for you because it collects in your arteries and makes atherosclerosis

HDL cholesterol

• High density lipo-protein• Good cholesterol

Overall:

• These are fat soluble and the body cannot get rid of easily (pee out…)– ADEK

• These are water soluble and the body cannot save (excess gets peed out…)– C and the B vitamins.

Fun facts to know and tell• Not enough folic acid?

You get birth defects.• Not enough vitamin

D? You get rickets

Funny thing about sunlight… too much and it breaks down folic acid. Too little, and it prevents vitamin D from getting made.

One theory of evolution and skin color: the amount of pigment is comparable to the amount of sunlight in the area… races that originated near the equator have the most pigment. North and south have varying degrees in order to balance the need for vitamin D creation and folic acid saving… This theory makes sense because the amount of pigment in the skin can prevent births or prevent some children from reaching child-bearing age.

Know how to fill in this chart for the test:

Common Name

Scientific name Found in:

Deficiency symptoms?

Vitamin A

Vitamin D

Vitamin E

Vitamin K

Vitamin C

Vitamin B12

omit Folic Acid

Omit Calcium

omit Iron

Also know:

– Energy is in kiloJoules. There are 4.2 KJ per Kcal (calorie as we think of…)

– Teenage females need about 9000 kJ– 20 year old males need about 11000 kJ