Summer BanksVitamins and working
October 23rd 2006 11:04
Vitamins and working :
A vitamin is a small molecule that your body needs to carry out a certain reaction. Your body has no way to create vitamin molecules itself, so the vitamin molecules must come in through food that you eat. The human body is known to need at least 13 different vitamins:
Vitamin A (fat soluble) - Retinol; comes from beta-carotene in plants (When you eat beta-carotene, an enzyme in the stomach turns it into Vitamin A.)
Vitamin B (water soluble):
B1 - Thiamine
B2 - Riboflavin
B3 - Niacin
B6 - Pyridoxine
B12 - Cyanocobalamin
Folic acid
Vitamin C (water soluble) - Ascorbic acid
Vitamin D (fat soluble) - Calciferol
Vitamin E (fat soluble) - Tocopherol
Vitamin K (fat soluble) - Menaquinone
Pantothenic acid (water soluble)
Biotin (water soluble)
Inside the body, vitamins are used in many unique ways. For example, one of vitamin A's main roles is in the production of retinal. Retinal is used within the rods and cones in your eyes to sense light. There is no way for your body to produce retinal without vitamin A, and without retinal you cannot see.
The different B vitamins are often embedded within the structure of different enzymes that a cell produces. For example, aspartate aminotransferase is an enzyme that transfers amines between amino acids. Each copy of the enzyme contains two vitamin B6 molecules, and without these molecules the enzyme cannot do anything.
One use of Vitamin C is in the formation of collagen. Collagen is produced by special ribosomes in certain cells, and then exported from the cells to form collagen networks. During the process of collagen formation, the body must manufacture hydroxylproline from the amino acid proline. Vitamin C is essential to this reaction. Without vitamin C, collagen cannot be produced -- the first signs of this are very weak (and easily broken) blood vessels and loose teeth (which are held in their sockets by collagen).
The body is able to store some vitamins, such as vitamin A (up to a year's supply is stored in your liver). Other vitamins need to be re-supplied frequently.
A vitamin is a small molecule that your body needs to carry out a certain reaction. Your body has no way to create vitamin molecules itself, so the vitamin molecules must come in through food that you eat. The human body is known to need at least 13 different vitamins:
Vitamin A (fat soluble) - Retinol; comes from beta-carotene in plants (When you eat beta-carotene, an enzyme in the stomach turns it into Vitamin A.)
Vitamin B (water soluble):
B1 - Thiamine
B2 - Riboflavin
B3 - Niacin
B6 - Pyridoxine
B12 - Cyanocobalamin
Vitamin C (water soluble) - Ascorbic acid
Vitamin D (fat soluble) - Calciferol
Vitamin E (fat soluble) - Tocopherol
Vitamin K (fat soluble) - Menaquinone
Pantothenic acid (water soluble)
Biotin (water soluble)
Inside the body, vitamins are used in many unique ways. For example, one of vitamin A's main roles is in the production of retinal. Retinal is used within the rods and cones in your eyes to sense light. There is no way for your body to produce retinal without vitamin A, and without retinal you cannot see.
The different B vitamins are often embedded within the structure of different enzymes that a cell produces. For example, aspartate aminotransferase is an enzyme that transfers amines between amino acids. Each copy of the enzyme contains two vitamin B6 molecules, and without these molecules the enzyme cannot do anything.
One use of Vitamin C is in the formation of collagen. Collagen is produced by special ribosomes in certain cells, and then exported from the cells to form collagen networks. During the process of collagen formation, the body must manufacture hydroxylproline from the amino acid proline. Vitamin C is essential to this reaction. Without vitamin C, collagen cannot be produced -- the first signs of this are very weak (and easily broken) blood vessels and loose teeth (which are held in their sockets by collagen).
The body is able to store some vitamins, such as vitamin A (up to a year's supply is stored in your liver). Other vitamins need to be re-supplied frequently.
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