AQA GCSE Food Preparation and Nutrition: Revision Guide

Food Safety > Food spoilage and contamination Nutrients Key learning: What you must know about VITAMINS (micronutrients) Vitamin A (Retinol) Fat soluble • Healthy skin • To see in dim light • Growth of children • Moist and healthy mucus membranes • Antioxidant (helps prevent heart disease and cancers) Animal foods (retinol): milk; cheese; butter; eggs; liver, kidney; oily fish, vegetable fat spreads (added by law) Plant foods (beta carotene): cabbage, spinach, kale, lettuce; peas; orange/yellow/red vegetables and fruits (e.g. carrots, apricots, mango, papaya, peppers, tomatoes) • Dry and infected skin and mucus membranes • Night blindness leading to total blindness • Poor growth in children • Poisonous if too much taken, e.g. in supplements, especially to unborn babies Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol) Fat soluble • Helps the body absorb calcium • Helps calcium to be laid down in bones and teeth for strength Sunlight on skin; oily fish, meat, eggs, butter, vegetable fat spreads (added by law), fortified breakfast cereals • Bones weaken and bend (rickets in children / osteomalacia in adults) Vitamin E (Tocopherol) Fat soluble • Antioxidant (helps prevent heart disease and cancers) Soya, corn oil, olive oil, nuts, seeds, whole wheat, vegetable fat spreads • Rare Vitamin K (Phylloquinone) Fat soluble • Helps blood clot after injury Green, leafy vegetables, liver, cheese, green tea • Rare but may happen in new born babies Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) Water soluble • Allows energy to be released from carbohydrates Meat, especially pork, milk, cheese, eggs, vegetables, fresh and dried fruit, wholemeal bread, fortified breakfast cereals, flour • Beri-beri – affects nerves and muscles Vitamin B2 (Ribo avin) Water soluble • Allows energy to be released from carbohydrates, fats and proteins Milk and milk products, eggs, fortified breakfast rice, mushrooms • Rare – sore corners of mouth Vitamin B3 (Niacin) Water soluble • Allows energy to be released from carbohydrates, fats and proteins Beef, pork, wheat flour, maize flour, eggs, milk • Pellagra – diarrhoea, dementia, dermatitis Vitamin B9 (Folate) Water soluble • Makes healthy red blood cells • Helps prevent spinal cord defects in unborn babies Green leafy vegetables, yeast extract (e.g. Marmite); peas, chickpeas, asparagus; wholegrain rice; fruits; added to some breads and breakfast cereals • Megaloblastic anaemia • Possibly spina bifida in new born babies Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) Water soluble • Makes healthy red blood cells • Makes healthy nerve cells Liver, meat, fish, cheese, fortified breakfast cereals, yeast • Pernicious anaemia Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) Water soluble • Helps the body absorb iron • Maintains connective tissue to bind body cells together • Antioxidant (helps prevent heart disease and cancers) Fruits and vegetables, especially citrus fruits (e.g. oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit), blackcurrants, kiwifruit, guavas, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, broccoli, new potatoes, milk and liver • Scurvy • Anaemia (not enough iron absorbed) • Bleeding under skin • Loose teeth • Wounds do not heal 4 Book-link: 1.1.4 Vitamins, pages 22–30 Vitamins What you must know about vitamins What vitamins do in the body (their functions) Main sources of vitamins De ciency (not enough) of vitamins in the diet 3218