Nutrition: Vitamins, Prebiotics and Probiotics
Complete coverage of vitamins including water-soluble and fat-soluble classification, detailed study of each vitamin (A, D, E, K, C, and B-complex), their sources, functions, deficiency diseases, the rhodopsin cycle, bone health and osteoporosis, free radicals and oxidative stress, the nervous system and myelin, and the role of prebiotics and probiotics in gut health
Topics
Vitamins: Classification and Overview
The two families of vitamins, water-soluble and fat-soluble, their chemical names, dietary sources, biological functions, and deficiency diseases
Vitamin A: Retinol and Eye Health
How Vitamin A powers vision through the rhodopsin cycle, its role in immunity and tear production, the anatomy of the lacrimal apparatus, deficiency conditions, and dietary sources from plants and animals
Vitamin D: The Sunshine Vitamin and Bone Health
How the body synthesises Vitamin D through skin, liver, and kidney, the organic and inorganic composition of bone, deficiency diseases including rickets in children, osteomalacia in adults, and osteoporosis, the osteoblast-osteoclast balance, and risk factors
Vitamin K and Vitamin E: Blood Clotting and Antioxidant Defence
Vitamin K's role in producing clotting factors prothrombin and fibrinogen, haemorrhage from its deficiency, Vitamin E as a powerful antioxidant, what free radicals and reactive oxygen species are, the mechanism of oxidative stress and its damaging effects, and internal vs external sources of oxidants
Vitamin C and B-Complex: Immunity, Energy, and the Nervous System
Vitamin C's triple role as an antioxidant, collagen builder, and iron-absorption facilitator, scurvy and its symptoms, B-complex food sources, and the eight shared functions of the B-vitamin family covering haemoglobin synthesis, energy metabolism, skin and hair health, nervous system maintenance, neurotransmitter production, myelin sheath formation, and the consequences of demyelination
Individual B Vitamins: B1 through B7
Thiamine and beri-beri with heart complications, riboflavin and skin-mouth disorders, niacin and pellagra (the 4 D's), pantothenic acid and burning feet syndrome, pyridoxine's role in haemoglobin synthesis and microcytic anaemia, and biotin's deficiency effects
Folic Acid, Vitamin B12, Prebiotics and Probiotics
Folic acid's role in DNA synthesis and pregnancy, megaloblastic anaemia, Vitamin B12 and pernicious anaemia, the intrinsic factor, probiotics as beneficial gut microbes and their symbiotic relationship with the body, lactose intolerance and galactosidase, and prebiotics as dietary fibre that feeds friendly microbes