Vitamania
Sources of Thiamin (B1)
yeast, grains, nut, and meat
Reasons for food fortification today
-->Americans do not meet their micronutrient requirements, and so food companies and vitamin manufacturers have created a symbiotic relationship where if they fortify foods, Americans can continue with their ultra-processed diet without worrying about deficiencies --> Help prevent nutritional deficiencies in products that are commonly consumed (milk, bread) Profitable --> Synthetic vitamins are essential to food companies: if processed products were not enriched with synthetic vitamins, the nutritional emptiness of their products would mean that we would have to eat something else to meet our nutritional needs.
Four steps as part of each vitamin's discovery and use?
1. Hypothesis that the vitamin existed (and in what foods) 2. Isolated it in its pure form 3. Figuring out its chemical structure 4. Learning how to synthesize it from scratch
Primary function of vitamins
1. aids enzymes in their work by facilitating chemicals reactions in the body to keep it alive 2. help our body create enzymes 3. antioxidants - neutralize free radicals so that they don't cause harm
Number of and primary function of vitamins
13
Development of Beriberi in Southeast Asia
1870: European colonists brought mechanized steel rollers to Asia so they could more efficiency polish rice Mechanized milling produced the desired white rice, but with no more leftover pericarp, resulting in low fiber low thiamin rice products Rice polishing- and indeed, the outer layers of many whole grains- contain thiamin among other vitamins and nutrients. The better the milling process, the lower the level of thiamin that remains. Beriberi is closely linked to diets heavy in white rice. Diets high in white rice (or other refined grain products), as result, results in thiamin deficiency
Decade during which the first multivitamin pill appeared on the market?
1930s: first multivitamin appeared on the market
Reasons for enrichment
1940 report said that in the prior year sugar and white bread accounted for 50% of Americans' calories so worry around the lack of B vitamins came in (Beriberi, Pellagra, etc.). More attention around the benefits of Thiamin increased, such as sports team pushing for it due to increased energy; increased morale, etc. 1941: government received pressure from physicians such as Wilder to enrich the flour. This was supported by "science" but really just faulty studies with sample sizes on nutritionally deficient psych patients. People thought that thiamin deficiency was the greatest nutritional wartime threat, and politicians pushed millers to enrich their flours. Millers, nervous about public upset, began to produce enriched bread 1942: gov. mandate to enrich America's bread but this mandate is no longer in effect
First educational eating plan released by the USDA in the early 1940s:
1943: Basic 7 eating plan released in response to World War II Pie chart that showed (1) butter and fortified margarine, (2) milk and milk products, (3) oranges, tomatoes, and grapefruit" (4) green and yellow vegetables" (5) potatoes and other vegetables and fruit, (6) meat, poultry, eggs and fish (7) bread and cereals 2020: MyPlate
What is Beriberi?
A disease that results from a deficiency in thiamin (B1) Dry beriberi: nervous system symptoms such as numbness, lack of appetite, confusion, convulsions Wet beriberi: cardiovascular symptoms such as tightness of breath, peripheral blood vessels dilate resulting in lower blood pressure, edema
fat soluble vitamins
A, D, E, K
Technical names for Vitamin A
Ascorbic acid, ascorbate (shorthand for antiscorbutic)
How did the FDA come to be:
Began as a one-person committee known as the Division of Chemistry that was extremely flawed, and became expanded upon by Harvey Washington Wiley The Division of Chemistry was established as a result of adulterated food products in the US, such as ground up lice in brown sugar, compounded by embargos on US food from Europe etc. Wiley then created several experiments that highlighted the flaws of our food system, with emphasis on the role that borax plays in harming health. Public support for the removal of borax and harsher regulations around adulteration pushed Congress to pass the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act This eventual established the FDA by 1930
Benefits of phytochemical
Bright orange-red of beta-carotene is helpful in absorbing light energy from the sun. It also acts as an antioxidant. Carotenoids in red, orange, yellow, and green plants may inhibit cancer growth and cardiovascular disease, and boost immunity Anthocyanins, which are chemicals that give many berries their dark blue, red, or purple colors, are thought to act as sunscreen for the plants by absorbing damaging wavelengths and to entice animals to eat the fruit. Associated with lower blood pressure Flavanols: protect plants from pathogens like insects or disease defense roles account for the astringent or bitter taste of many phytochemicals. Many fight inflammation and tumor growth Resveratrol is associated with longevity in some animals Other possible benefits: aid the function of the immune system, protect cells and DNA from damage that may lead to cancer, reduce inflammation, slow growth of some cancer cells, help regulate hormones
water soluble vitamins
C and B(1,2,3,5,6,7,9,12)
What is the definition of calorie?
Calorie = the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 degree C
What did the 1938 Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act do?
Changed the ways drugs were developed and sold by shifting the burden of responsibility from the governments to the manufacturers, who were not responsible for submitting evidence to the FDA that their products were safe before putting them on the market Crucial step towards the pharmaceutical testing requirements today Law did not mention vitamins nor had a strict set of safety standards and kept it vague
Which country produces most of vitamin D supplements
China
Three vitamins not made by plants
D, A, and B12 (animal products contain all except D and C)
What is pellagra?
Disease as a result of niacin (B3) deficiency Symptoms include change in skin color to red, emotional disturbances, vertigo, mania The four D's: diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia, death
What are the limitations of the FDA
Doesn't choose what is regulated nor does it have exclusive control over how it regulates these products. Instead, its job is to implement laws passed by Congress, which means to put it more bluntly, Congress tells it what to do. job is to implement laws passed by Congress which means there are only two situations in which the FDA can issue new regulations: (1) if the proposed new rules are in an area of law that the FDA already regulates (2) if Congress passes a new law telling it or granting it the authority to regulate something new
Impact of malnutrition during pregnancy on the offspring throughout life
Dutch Hunger Winter, began in September 1944- lead to famine. Killed nearly 22,000 people and left 200,000 sick from starvation. The average weight loss among surviving individuals was 15-20 percent. Around half of the women had stopped menstruating and nine months after the famine, the birth rate dropped to less than 50 percent of its previous level- a reflection of the effect the most acute period of starvation had on fertility. Depending on when their mothers' pregnancies occurred during the famine, the children of malnourished women were at increased risk of later physical and mental health problems as adults, including depression and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes. Children conceived during the famine also had a twofold risk of developing schizophrenia compared with those conceived at different times. These effects did appear to get passed down. Subsequent research has shown that exposure to the famine may have affected the physical and mental health of the mother's grandchildren as well. Since diet is an area over which individuals have a considerable amount of control, it suggests that we arent just what we eat, or even what our food eats. We are what our grandparents and parents ate. And our grandchildren may be affected by what we eat too. This aspect of nutritional genomics- the idea that our diets could have transgenerational epigenetic effects is still controversial.
Enrichment vs. fortification of food
Enrichment: replacing micronutrients that processing has destroyed (i.e. adding B-vitamins back into refined grains) Fortification: adding micronutrients at higher amounts than were originally present or introducing micronutrients to foods that never naturally contained them (i.e. adding vitamin D to milk)
What is biofortification
Fortifying nature (i.e. creating a variety of crops that produce higher levels of desired nutrients)
What are the health claims vs. structure/function of DSHEA
Health claims: supplements.foods could prevent, treat, mitigate or cure diseases, which then classifies the product as a drug. Ex: Kellogg's All Bran Cereal and L-tryptophan. In 1990 Nutrition Labeling and Education Act made it so that any health claims on labels of foods must be authorized by the FDA and be supported by significant scientific agreement...for supplements this is not so Structure/function claims: statements that explain how a particular ingredient might alleviate a nutritional deficiency, improve the structure of function of a particular part of the body, or simply promote well being FDA negotiated DSHEA - not allowed to use words like treat, mitigate, cure, prevent - can use improve Do not need to be pre approved but alert the FDA of the claim within 30 days after marketing product to demonstrate it is truthful Must say "these statements have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration
Function of vitamin A
Vision (building blocks of visual purple/rhodopsin), maintaining body's mucosal epithelial linings, and layers that surround the organs, and role in immunity
Where is vitamin A stored and how long can it be stored
Liver - up to 1 year
What nutrients are added to white flour?
Iron, riboflavin, niacin, thiamin
What is the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act?
It was passed by Clinton in 1994 and is technically an amendment to the 1938 Food Drug and Cosmetic Act. Purpose was to broaden legal definition of dietary ingredients in supplements beyond vitamins and minerals to include less studied substances like herbs and botanicals, amino acids, etc. - basically expand the definition of dietary supplement, make supplements regulated more like food than drugs Goal was to increase the number of products whose regulation that act would legally loosen. It allowed the supplements to take the form of liquids, gel caps, powders, and foodlike items such as bars (ex: Monster Drink can be sold like a supplement rather than food) Worst consequence: dramatic differentiation between what it takes to be a drug versus a supplement. There is a high cost and testing that goes into allowing a drug on the market but supplements are not subjected to this scrutiny thanks to DSHEA FDA has to demonstrate that supplements are unsafe once they are on the market (basically allowed on the market no matter what) -and so far only 1 supplement ingredient has been banned
What was the 1976 Proxmire Amendment?
Made it illegal for the FDA to ever establish standards for supplements, classify them as drugs, or require that they contain useful ingredients. Forbid the FDA fro never setting limits of the quantity or combo of vitamins, minerals, or other ingredients that a supplement could contain, unless the FDA could prove that the formula was unsafe (and usually this was after it was on the market) Basically, FDA could not establish standardization requirements for supplements - defense based on personal freedom American people reacted positively which caused it to pass in Congress (public was obsessed with nutrition and feared deficiencies)
Why is corn not a good source of niacin?
More common in people who ate a corn-heavy diet because corn is not only low in niacin, but the niacin that it does have is bound to glucose and protein so it is not readily available, and corn does not have tryptophan (precursor to niacin). Niacin can be liberated by grinding it with limestone
Sources of the vitamins in pills and fortified foods
Most vitamins in supplements or enriched foods are synthetic, man-made substances that have been fortified into premixes that companies can add to their products. niacin is often made using waste product of something called nylon 6,6- a synthetic fiber that is often used for commercial carpets, airbags, zip ties; thiamin is synthesized from chemicals derived from coal tar; vitamin D is made from sheep (more specifically, lanolin, the greasy substance found in wool)
Definition and cause of xerophthalmia
Nutritional blindness caused by lack of vitamin A Symptoms include night blindness that can progress to dry eye from lack of mucus. This leads to keratinization of eye, corneal ulcers, and eventually the inside of the eye to seep out as the cornea melts. Common in children and pregnant women in Africa and South Asia
Why do plants make vitamins?
Plants need vitamins for photosynthesis, the process of creating sugar and starches from sunlight and Co2. . Photosynthesis is a sloppy process, producing all sorts of damaging free radicals that are created when light breaks down water. One of vitamin's role in plants is to act as antioxidants that neutralize these free radicals so they do not cause harm. This means that the more photosynthesis a plant engages- the higher the levels of vitamins and other antioxidants that it is likely to have. The fact that darker colors absorb more light- - which is accompanied by higher levels of potentially damaging radiation- is the one reason why light-colored vegetables like iceberg lettuce tend to be lower in vitamins.
Nutritional quality of polished versus unpolished rice
Polished = how the rice was milled. Rice has a tough, indigestible husk that you remove before you eat it, leaving you with brown rice (unpolished). If you take off the second interior skin, known as the pericarp, you polish the rice and make white rice Polished rice: white rice → contains endosperm only; low in fiber; mostly starch Unpolished rice: brown rice → contains pericarp and endosperm; higher in fiber and thiamin
Contribution of Wilbur Olin Atwater
Positive Arrived at conclusion of what today is common knowledge: protein and carbs have 4 calories per gram, while fat contains 9 cals per gram Published influential series of series of articles that encouraged readers to think of food not simply as nourishment but as sum of its parts- encouraged Americans to think of their food in terms of calories, protein, carbs, fat For the first time, people were introduced to the idea they should be choosing foods based on their calories, carbs, protein, fat - a radical departure from the traditional view that food is a consolidated chunk of energy Negative Believed that the only two elements humans needed to keep track of are protein and calories Following this logic, he promoted that the best diets would be the one that was both the cheapest and the most protein and calorie dense
Impact of fat on carotenoid absorption
Positive - fat sources + vitamin A or beta carotene increases absorption and conversion of beta carotene to vitamin A
Risks associated with ingesting too much vitamin A, D, E, and K through pills
Possible overdose on fat soluble vitamins so they do not dissolve in water and are not easily excreted Vitamin A: most dangerous; irreversible liver damage, birth defects, death Vitamin D: high levels of calcium and thus calcium deposits in arteries and kidneys Vitamin E: interfere with blood clotting Vitamin K: interfere with blood thinning medications like warfarin
What was the impact of the 1906 Federal Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act
Resulted in two agencies, FDA and USDA, where USDA got meat and poultry and FDA got drugs and non-meat foods Separation then led to weird jurisdiction divides such as cheese pizza given to FDA but pepperoni pizza USDA, or meat-flavored pasta sauce given to FDA but meat-based sauce given to USDA
Vitamin A role in vision and visual purple
Rods in our retina allow us to see in low light and contain a pigment called rhodopsin (aka visual purple). When we are exposed to light, rhodopsin bleaches, and this bleaching breaks it down into new chemicals that translate light waves into nerve signals in the brain that create the images we see. Vitamin A is needed to recycle these chemicals back into visual purple so they can be used again (so Vitamin A is needed to "unbleach). Our bodies can recycle some vitamin A but not all, so we need to replenish the lost vitamin A through our diet.
St. John's wort; medications it interacts with; how it affects drug metabolism
St. John's wort: popular treatment for depression Medications it interacts with: interacts with many drugs that are used to treat heart disease, depression, seizures, certain cancers, as well as drug that prevent transplant rejection and pregnancy How it affects drug metabolism: can interact with prescription drugs in a potentially life-threatening way (for example, by triggering an organ transplant rejection). And yet, it is not required to have a warning label. The primary compound in St. John Wort that is responsible for these interactions is hyperforin. Hyperforin increases the production in the liver and small intestine of an enzyme called CYP3A4, which is responsible for metabolizing upward of 50 percent of conventional medicines. The more CYP2A4 your body produces, the more efficient your body will be at breaking down the drug, and the smaller amount of the active form that will get into your circulation. St. John's Wort renders most drugs ineffective. Thanks to the herb's a ability to render birth control ineffective, "there are a lot of miracle babies associated with the use" (page 165n)
What is the primary nutrient within the endosperm of the grain?
Starch
Association between high-dose vitamin supplements and disease
The results of nearly all randomized controlled studies of vitamins megadoses have suggested the opposite of what we want to hear: that the healthiest and safest doses of vitamins are the ones naturally found in foods. It is time to shift our focus from super doses and more toward moderation. High-dose vitamin supplements do not generally decrease our risk of certain diseases like cancer and death or cardiovascular disease or cognitive decline.
What amino acid can niacin be synthesized from?
Tryptophan
What department is the FDA in?
US Department of Health and Human Services
History of golden rice
Vitamin A deficiency was seen predominantly in developing areas where white rice was a staple of the diet (China, India, Cambodia, Laos, etc.) Two men -Ingo Potrykus and Peter Beyer - tried to figure out how use recombinant DNA technology to try and develop rice that would produce beta-carotene in its endosperm In 1999, they figured out how to insert 4 genes - one from soil bacterium, two from daffodils, and one marker gene (gene used to indicate whether your other insertions had been successful) which resulted in the creation of rice plants that contained beta-carotene in the endosperm Resulted in a yellow-orange color of the grains and inspired the name golden rice Golden rice gained widespread popularity as a GM crop that could be used to benefit not just the farmer but those who consume it, but then soon became known as "Fool's Gold" → still pretty low in beta-carotene so needed to consume very large amount of rice to meet the daily vitamin A requirements and all GMOs earned a bad reputation as "franken-foods", and distrust in Syngenta, the biotech company that helped produce it Due to hurdles, golden rice is still not being grown outside research experiments
Risk of vitamin A deficiency
Xerophthalmia, night blindness, weakened immune system, death
Sources of vitamin A
animal products such as organ meats, whole fat milk, butter, cod-liver oil can be synthesized from beta carotene found in red, yellow, and orange fruits like papaya and carrots
Definition of phytochemical
compounds in plants (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes) that contribute to color, taste, and smell. They give carrots their vibrant orange, brussel sprouts their bitter taste. Chemical compounds produced by plants, generally to help them resist fungi, bacteria and plant virus infections. Phyto means plants
Function of Thiamin (B1)
crucial role in breaking down carbohydrates, synthesizing RNA and DNA, and maintaining brain and nervous system
Role of FDA
ensures the safety of non-animal foods, cosmetics, vitamins, and medications
symptoms of scurvy
ethargy, joints ache, arms and legs swell, skin bruises at the slightest touch, gums become spongy and your breath fetid, teeth loosen, internal hemorrhage makes splotches on skin skin. Old wounds open, mucous membranes bleed
Products that are. considered dietary supplements
every legal, non pharmaceutical product that can be ingested for help, such as herbs and botanicals, amino acids, enzymes, metabolites, organ tissues and glandurs, and vitamin pills Every vitamin is a dietary supplement, but not every dietary supplement is a vitamin
Definition of carotenoids
family of chemicals which are pigments that give fruits and veg. color
What are sources of niacin?
high protein foods that contain tryptophan
History of L-tryptophan dietary supplements and eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome
illness occurred among people taking dietary supplements of an amino acid L-tryptophan that had popularity as treatment for a number of problems, including PMS, depression, children's ADD, insomnia. L-tryptophan is found naturally in food, and so the supplements had been advertised as safe and natural. FDA has not been allowed to require any sort of pre-market testing of l-tryptophan due to the Poxmire amendment. Caused very crazy symptoms like nerve damage, cancer, hard and tight skin, fever, night sweats, immobility
Reasons for vitamin losses during food refinement and processing
many vitamins are sensitive to heat, light, temperature, moisture, and time, variables that often come into play in food processing
What did the 1962 Kefauver-Harris Amendment do?
passed in response to birth defects caused by thalidomide, a morning sickness drugs. Requires that drugs be proved safe and effective by "adequate, well controlled" studies and led to the rigorous drug approval process we have today
Sources of vitamin D for pills and fortified foods
sheep lanolin
Sources of vitamin D
sun, fortified milk and cereals
Health impacts of consuming individual amino acid supplements vs. variety of amino acids as part of proteins
to our bodies, an isolated amino acid is not food- it is a drug. The fact that L-tryptophan occurs naturally in foods does not mean it is safe in supplement form. Tryptophan is a dietary protein and is an important nutrient. When you have it in a protein it comes along with other amino acids, and needs all of the amino acids in order to utilize tryptophan and make your own protein. When you take pure tryptophan in pills, it is not natural. The body does not handle individual isolated amino acids the way it handles tryptophan in protein.