Water Soluble Vitamins

Dr. B.L. Goonapienuwala

Department of Biochemistry
 Objectives
• Types of water soluble vitamins
• Functions
• Deficiency
• Sources
• Requirements
 What are vitamins?
• Organic compounds
• Essential for maintaining bodily functions
• Do not provide energy or serve as building
units
• Act as coenzymes in regulation of metabolism
• Required in minute amounts
• Found in food
• Usually not synthesized in the body
 Water soluble vitamins
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin B complex:
B1 – Thiamin
B2 – Riboflavin
B3 – Niacin
B5 – Pantothenic acid
B6 – Pyridoxine
B7 – Biotin
B9 – Folate
B12 - Cobalamin
Vitamin C – Ascorbic acid
• 6 carbon compound closely related to glucose
• Solutions unstable
• Rapidly oxidized: Cu, Fe, alkaline pH
• Heat labile
• Readily absorbed at distal SI
• Excreted from kidney
• Metabolism is affected by Cu,
Fe, Zn & pectin in diet
Vit C metabolism
• Tissues concentrate
• Pituitary >> adrenal >> leucocytes
• Ascorbate pool → muscle, brain, liver
- 1.2 – 2g
• Metabolized to oxalate &
2,3 diketogulonic acid
• Excess excreted in urine
Functions of Vitamin C

• Antioxidant
• Reducing agent in hydroxylations:
Proline → hydroxyproline
Lysine → hydroxylysine
Needed for collagen synthesis

• Carnitine synthesis → fatty acid oxidation

 Antioxidant activity of Vit C

DR-E
DHA – Dehydroascorbate
DR-E – Dehydroascorbate reductase
GSH – Reduced glutathione

Back
• Synthesis of adrenal hormones
• Tyrosine degradation
• Normal function of fibroblasts & osteoblasts
• Leucocyte function
• Cancer preventive nutrient?
• Non-haeme Fe absorption
Fe absorption
Vitamin C deficiency
• Collagen defects: poor wound healing
rupture of capillaries
defective teeth formation
• Compromised immunity

Scurvy:
bleeding gums, petechiae
follicular hyperkeratosis
Joint pain & effusions
muscle weakness, osteoporosis
fatigue, depression
Scurvy
Vit C requirements
• Taking into account;
to prevent & treat scurvy
to maintain body reserves
the amount metabolized

RDA: men – 90 mg/d

women – 75 mg/d
More needed in; pregnancy, lactation, smoking
Elderly???
Stress
Dietary sources

• Storage, prolonged cooking,

damage, maturation level affect vit C content in
food

• Fruits: Kiwi, citrus, guava, nelli, star fruit, mango,

papaya, tomatoes, cashew fruit, berries
• Vegetables: cabbage, cauliflower, green leaves, bitter
gourd, capsicum
• Water soluble
• Destroyed by high temperatures
• Important role in energy metabolism – carbs,
protein, lipids
• Availability by ; prolonged cooking
boiling & throwing away water
food processing
alcohol
 B vitamins
B1 – Thiamin
B2 – Riboflavin
B3 – Niacin
B5 – Pantothenic acid
B6 – Pyridoxine
B7 – Biotin
B9 – Folate
B12 - Cobalamin
 B 1 - Thiamin
• British soldiers in Asia suffered from a disease
with muscle wasting, swelling, burning hands
& feet
• They were on rice based diet
• “Beri beri”
• Japan → birds fed with polished & unpolished
rice
• 1st B vitamin identified
Metabolism of thiamin

• Absorbed at jejunum
• At jejunal mucosa,
Thiamin → thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP)
• Transport → in blood cells
free thiamin in plasma
• Highest concentrations in; liver, kidney, heart
 Functions

• Oxidative decarboxylation of α-ketoacids

Pyruvate → Acetyl Co A
α-ketoglutarate → Succinyl Co A

• Transketolase reaction in HMP shunt

 Thiamin deficiency
• Now not common, except in alcoholics
• Affects:
Nervous system – Dry beri beri &
Wernicke – Korsakoff syndrome
Heart – Wet beri beri
Acute beri beri
• Acute beri beri
Due to lactic acidosis
Sp, when starved people are given I.V. glucose
Present as acute HF
• Wet beri beri
HF (arteriolar dilatation due to lactic acid &
pyruvate)
Leg oedema, SOB, PND, tachycardia
• Dry beri beri
Chronic deficiency with high carb diet
Muscle wasting, myalgia, tingling/burning extremities,
paralysis, nystagmus, confusion

• Wernicke’s encephalopathy
damage to nerves
alcoholics with malnourishment
parenteral glucose to starved/severely ill pts can lead
to acute wernicke’s encephalopathy
Nystagmus & extra-occular palsy

• Korsakoff
memory loss & psychosis
insidious
 RDA

• Depends on energy intake (carb)

• RDA
(For a diet where 40% of calories coming from
fat;)
0.5 mg/ 1000 kcal
With < 2000 kcal intake, 1 mg/d is recommended

• Elderly, 1.5 mg/d (?)

Dietary sources

• Meat (sp. Pork)

• Whole grain cereal
• Nuts
• Legumes
• Bran
 Vitamin B2 - Riboflavin
• Yellow, fluorescent compound
• Widely distributed in plants & animal food
• Bacteria & fungi can synthesize
• Participate in numerous reactions
• Co-enzymes→ FMN, FAD
• Inactivated in sunlight/fluorescent light
(milk shouldn’t be stored in glass bottles)
• Heat stable
Metabolism of B 2
• Absorbed at upper SI
• Converted to FMN & FAD in mucosa
• Bound to proteins in plasma
• Colonic bacteria produce B2 with veg diet &
human can absorb
• No significant storage
Functions of B2

• As electron carriers in oxidation-reduction

reactions
Electron transport chain
FA & AA oxidation
TCA cycle
Glutathione reductase
• Role in metabolism of fats, drugs & steroids
Cont…
FAD
• Tryptophan Niacin

FMN
• Vit B 6 pyridoxal (coenzyme)

• Help to maintain normal homocysteine level

• Enhances iron absorption and mobilization
 Deficiency
• Not fatal
• Overlap with other vitamin deficiencies
• Skin: angular stomatitis
magenta tongue (desquamation)
swollen, cracked lips (cheilosis)
swollen mouth, throat
• Itchy red eyes
• Cataracts (glutathione reductase)
• Low metabolic rate of fats
• Anaemia (interference with Fe metabolism?)
• Resistance to malaria
 RDA

• Calculated to achieve
normal activity of glutathione reductase*
significant urinary excretion

19+ years Pregnancy Lactation

Male 1.3 mg/ d - -

Female 1.1 mg/ d 1.4 mg/d 1.6 mg/d

 Dietary sources

• Milk & dairy (processing → loss of B2)

• Eggs
• Meats (beef liver)
• Fish
• Mushrooms
• Spinach
• Yeast extracts
• By colonic flora from plant based diet
 Summary
• Water soluble vitamins – C & B complex
• Important for metabolic functions
• Vit C important for antioxidant, collagen, bone,
immunity
• Vit B1 → coenzyme for enzymes in glycolytic and TCA
pathways
• Vit B2 → electron carrier (ETC, TCA, Glutathione
reductase)
• Deficiency;
Vit C → scurvy, bleeding
Vit B1 → Beri beri
Vit B2 → Skin manifestations, anaemia
• Dietary sources & RDA