Vitamins 101

The third part of the course focuses on several important vitamins and the marker that reflects the functioning of these vitamins. The vitamin section of the Performance Laboratory Package includes vitamin D, active vitamin B12 (holotranscobalamin), red blood cell folate, ubiquinone (coenzyme Q10) and homocysteine, the product of sulfur metabolism.

VITAMINS 101
Polish biochemist Casimir Funk coined the term “vitamin” to describe substances essential to health. He created the word “vitamine” in 1912 by combining the Latin word vita (life) with amine (a nitrogenous group of compounds). Having discovered thiamine (vitamin B1), Funk assumed that all other nutrients also be amines. In 1920, British biochemist Jack Drummond suggested that the term be changed to “vitamin” when it was discovered that not all vitamins contained an amine group. Vitamins are organic compounds needed to maintain normal physiological functions (cf. minerals and inorganic trace elements).

A healthy individual has relatively low vitamin needs. However, factors such as stress, silent and chronic inflammation, long-term illness, many types of medication, smoking, pregnancy and breastfeeding, heavy physical labor, and various environmental stresses (toxins, chemicals, medicines, etc.) may significantly increase the need for vitamins. Genetic defects (mutations) may also inhibit vitamin absorption and the normal biological utilization of vitamins.

Vitamins are divided into fat-soluble and water-soluble vitamins. The manner of solution and transportation determines how readily the vitamins are absorbed and whether they can be stored in the tissues. Water-soluble vitamins are not easily stored in the body (except for vitamin B12) whereas fat-soluble vitamins are readily stored in the tissues, provided that there is sufficient intake of fatty acids and absorption from food.

Each vitamin fulfills a specific purpose in the body that no other vitamin, nutrient or chemical can compensate for. Vitamins are part of enzyme systems, coenzymes, or their reactants. They have a comprehensive role in various stages of metabolism in the entire body and biochemical cellular functions. These include energy production, immune system function, preventing and repairing DNA and RNA damage, cell division, detoxification, and repairing neuron damage. A sufficient intake of fat-soluble vitamins may prevent various types of cancer. Vitamins interact with each other as well as with various micronutrients.

Latent vitamin deficiency is impossible to detect without accurate laboratory tests. General vitamin intake recommendations are established to prevent deficiency diseases and to secure sufficient intake on a population level. National nutrition guidelines fail to consider the effects of vitamins on various genes (nutrigenomics), immunity, free radicals, oxidative stress, and cell signaling, i.e. the prevention of common illnesses. The guidelines are based on population-based follow-up studies and do not apply to all individual needs.