NFS 220 Chapter 8: Nutrition Ch. 8 Outline
25 Feb 2019
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Document Summary
Vitamins are essential, non-kcaloric, organic nutrients that are needed in trace amounts in the diet to help facilitate body processes. The amount of vitamins available from foods depends on the quantity provided by a food and the amount absorbed and used by the body-- the vitamins" bioavailability. Vitamin precursors in foods are converted into active vitamins in the body. Vitamins can be readily destroyed during processing. The water-soluble vitamins are the b vitamins and vitamin c; the fat-soluble vitamins are vitamins a, d, e, and k. The fat-soluble vitamins are vitamins a, d, e, and k. Vitamin a is essential to gene expression, vision, cell differentiation and integrity of epithelial tissues, immunity, and reproduction and growth. Vitamin a deficiency can cause blindness, sickness, and death and is a major problem worldwide. Overdoses of vitamin a are possible and dangerous. Vitamin d raises calcium and phosphorus levels in the blood. A deficiency can cause rickets in children or osteomalacia in adults.
