Describe Nutrition Vitamins: Animal and Plant Foods

Nutrition-Vitamins
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Nutrition-Vitamins
Question 1
Pantothenic acid is the water-soluble vitamin that is widely distributed in animal and plant foods. The fact makes its deficiency unlikely as there is a high chance of its intake. Pantothenic acid is also known as vitamin B5. It is a crucial vitamin for basic processes in the body. Among the common foods, only olive oil that lacks this vitamin as it is lost during the pressing process due to its high solubility.
A deficiency of this vitamin would make a person unable to use fats, carbohydrates, and proteins to provide energy. It would also be difficult to make hormones leading to a collapse of the immune system (Herrmann & Obeid, 2011). Despite its availability in common plant and animal foods, there are excellent sources of this vitamin. For example, cauliflower, crimini, and shiitake mushrooms are the excellent sources of pantothenic acid. Other common sources of this vitamin include sweet potatoes, broccoli, asparagus, cucumber, turnip greens among others.
Question 2
Prolonged use of antibiotics could increase the risk of biotin deficiency. The basis for biotin deficiency is the alteration in the intestinal flora that results from prolonged use of antibiotics. The use of antibiotics for a long time reduces the biotin levels. The reduction of biotin results as antibiotics destroys the bacteria found in the gut (Combs, 2012). The bacteria are responsible for the production of biotin in the body. Biotin is also known as vitamin H. Herrmann and Obeid (2011) indicate that biotin is available in B-vitamin complexes and multivitamins. In diets, the vitamin is found in cooked eggs, nuts, soybeans, mushrooms, cauliflower and whole grains.
Question 3 Part I
Thiamin is essential for fatty acid synthesis due to its requirement as a coenzyme for the pentose phosphate pathway enzyme transketolase. Thiamine diphosphate, which is a cofactor joins a 2-carbon fragments resulting from a 5-carbon ketose and later transfers the 2-carbon fragment to a 5-carbon ...