Chapter 18: Vitamins and Minerals, Pages 275-291
1. What is a deficiency disease? Give three examples.
2. Why are deficiency diseases rare in developed countries?
3. What are vitamins?
4. What protected British soldiers from scurvy? What was ration?
5. What is beriberi? How was it discovered? What is the cure?
6. How did ‘vitamin’ get its name?
7. Using the booklet, “Nutrient Content of Common Foods”, find the 5 top sources of Vitamin C.
8. What does an enzyme do?
9. Describe a vitamin molecule. Draw a picture.
10. What are the two categories of vitamins?
11. Water-Soluble Vitamins:
a. Where are water-soluble vitamins found?
b. Where are they absorbed in the body?
c. What happens when you get too much?
d. Why do you have to ingest vitamins every day?
e. How much water-soluble vitamins are there? Name them.
12. What is a precursor?
13. What is beta-carotene?
14. Name some excellent sources of beta-carotene.
15. What activates the precursor for vitamin D?
16. How much tryptophan is required for the liver to produce 1 milligram of niacin?
17. What is pellagra?
18. Describe pellagra.
19. Why was there such a problem with pellagra in the southern States in the 1800s?
20. Although the diet of people living in Central America is largely based on corn, not many people suffer from
pellagra. Why?
21. What happens if you take a megadose of fat-soluble vitamins like A and D?
22. What are minerals?
23. How much of our body weight is made up of minerals?
24. In general, what is the function of minerals?
25. How many minerals are considered essential to human beings?
26. What are considered the major minerals?
27. What is the purpose of sodium and potassium?
28. When is too much sodium not good for your health?
29. What mineral does your body contain the most of?
30. What are the three functions of calcium?
31. What is osteoporosis?
32. Why is milk such a nutritious food?
33. What are three functions of phosphorous?
34. How can you build dense bones now?
35. What are trace minerals?
36. What are the functions of the following 9 trace minerals? Complete this chart:
Name of Mineral
Function
Iron
Iodine
Zinc
Copper
Manganese
Fluoride
Chromium
Selenium
Molybdenum
37. What are phytochemicals?
38. How might a diet that is heavy in processed foods upset the body’s mineral balance?