Tag: functions and principal sources of vitamins and minerals

Vitamins with some enzymes act as coenzyme. Coenzymes are organic molecules that are required by certain enzymes to carry out catalysis. They bind to the active site of the enzyme and participate in catalysis but are not considered substrates of the reaction.

Vitamin D is not one chemical but many. The natural type is produced in the skin from a universally present form of cholesterol, 7-dehydrocholesterol. Sunlight is the key: Its ultraviolet B (UVB) energy converts the precursor to vitamin D3. In contrast, most dietary supplements are manufactured by exposing a plant sterol to ultraviolet energy, thus producing vitamin D2. Because their function is almost identical, D2 and D3 are lumped together under the name vitamin D, but neither will function until the body works its magic. The sun’s energy turns a chemical in your skin into vitamin D3, which is carried to your liver and then your kidneys to transform it to active vitamin D. 

Biological assimilation, is the combination of two processes to supply cells with nutrients. The first is the process of absorbing vitamins, minerals, and other chemicals from food within the gastrointestinal tract. In humans this is done with a chemical breakdown (enzymes and acids) and physical breakdown. The second process of bio assimilation is the chemical alteration of substances in the bloodstream by the liver or cellular secretions. Although a few similar compounds can be absorbed in digestion bio assimilation, the bio-availability of many compounds is dictated by this second process since both the liver and cellular secretions can be very specific in their metabolic action. This second process is where the absorbed food reaches the cells via the liver.

Casimir Funk was a Polish biochemist and is credited with being among the first to formulate the concept of vitamins, which he called as vital amines or vitamins.
Therefore, the correct answer is option A.

The amount of nitrogen in the atmosphere remains fixed. Nitrogen cycle keeps the atmospheric. nitrogen more or less constant. Atmospheric nitrogen cannot be taken directly by plants and animals various steps process are done by microbes to convert it into usable forms. Vitamins contain nitrogen.

Monoglycerides and fatty acids enter absorptive cells in the small intestine through micelles; they leave micelles and recombine into chylomicrons, which then enter the bloodstream. Fat soluble vitamins are absorbed in the same manner as lipids; water soluble vitamins can be directly absorbed into the bloodstream from the intestine.

A vitamin is an organic molecule that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism.
A mineral is a chemical element required as an essential nutrient by organisms to perform functions necessary for life.
 Essential nutrients and minerals cannot be synthesized in the organism, either at all or not in sufficient quantities, and therefore must be obtained through the diet.
 They are present in foods (like leafy or yellow vegetables, citrus fruits, meat, milk, eggs). Food which contains adequate amounts of vitamins, minerals, and high-quality proteins is a protective food. And it also protect against the development of a deficiency disease (as pellagra, beriberi, scurvy). Hence, the vitamins and minerals containing foods are together referred to as protective food.