Vitamins And Minerals

Vitamins are organic compounds, generally seen under a compound light microscope, necessary in small quantities to given organisms that cannot synthesize them and must therefore ob¬tain them prefabricated in the diet. Note that a compound, usually seen under a microscope such as a compound light microscope, may be a vitamin for species A and not for species B, because B can synthesize it. Vitamins are necessary only in very small quantities, because they ordinarily function as coenzymes or as parts of coenzymes; you will recall that enzymes and coenzymes are catalysts that can be reused many times and hence are not needed in large amounts as discovered in studies using a microscope such as a compound light microscope.

It has been difficult to establish reliable minimum daily requirements for the vitamins even with the use of microscopes such as a compound light microscope. Those supposedly established are still very much open to question. Little is known, for example, about how requirements alter with age or with changing health. Although much research with the use of microscopes like a compound light microscope remains to be done, one thing can be asserted with reasonable confidence: Healthy persons who eat a varied diet including meats, fruits, and vegetables will probably get all the vitamins they need, numerous advertisements to the contrary notwithstanding.

Vitamins, with the use of a microscope, can be classified as water-soluble or fat-soluble. The water-soluble vitamins include vitamin C and the vitamins of the so-called B complex. They function as coenzymes in metabolic reactions that take place in almost all animal cells, as seen in studies using a microscope. Some animals can synthesize one or more of these coenzymes, and for them of course, such coenzymes are not vitamins and are not required in the diet. Water-soluble vitamin compound can be synthesized easily and excreted in the urine.

The compounds collectively known as the fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) are vitamins only for vertebrate animals (vitamin E, which is also required by a few invertebrates, is an exception). Though the same compounds, or very similar ones, occur in a great variety of other organisms, they apparently function differently in such organisms and are not dietary essentials. The fat-soluble vitamins generally do not function as coenzymes. As the name implies, these vitamin compound can only be dissolved by fats.

Like the green plants, heterotrophs require certain minerals, which are usually absorbed as ions and can be generally seen using a microscope. Some minerals-such as sodium, chlorine, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and calcium-are needed in relatively large quantities. In human beings the minimum daily requirement of these is 0.35 gram for magnesium.

Vitamins and minerals are essential to human health. They are needed to synthesize other compounds, helps the body fight against diseases and promotes physical and mental growth and development. It is said that too much or too little of a compound is harmful to the body. That is why humans must be vigilant in maintaining the proper diet in order not to disrupt the body’s homeostasis.