Types of Fat-Soluble Vitamins

Food is the basic necessity for human being to live. Food can be found in anywhere with variety of tastes, texture, colour and physical appearance. Vitamins are the negligible components of food that plays important role in human nutrition. Fat soluble vitamin is one of the types of vitamins in the food. “Fat-soluble vitamins are defined as “vitamins in the various food groups that related to their fat-solubility” (deMan, 1999, p.355).In general, fat-soluble vitamins can be classified into four major categories: vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K (refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).

The first type of fat-soluble vitamin is vitamin A. Vitamin A is a group of unsaturated nutritional organic compounds which includes retinol, retinal, retinoic acid, and several provitamins A carotenoids. According to Hickenbottom, Lemke, and Clifford (2002), the vitamin A is derived from beta-carotene which serves as an antioxidant and may help protect against certain cancers and heart disease. Rhodopsin is the photosensitive pigment that present in these nerve cells which is synthesized by vitamin A (Minke & Kirschfeld, 1979). Besides that, vitamin A helps the formation of mucopolysaccharide sulphates which used for cell adhesion, regulation of cell growth and developmental processes (Wolf & Varandani, 1960). Earl (1933) has mentioned that vitamin A is one of the vitamins that help in growth, repairs of body tissues, bone formation and formation of healthy skin and hair. For further information, vitamin A also participates in the synthesis of sex steroids that essential for skeletal development and the maintenance of bone health throughout adult life (Compston,‎ 2001).Vitamin A also play a role at the level of the cellular membrane. There a...

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...thesis a family of compound called menaquinones (vitaminK_2). People who do not eat them regularly are likely to be deficient in their intake of vitamin K. Well, it can be prevented by consuming a proper diet. Some people may take easy on this matter and do not care much about their healthy lifestyle, so this may cause to serious blood clotting problem. Besides that, low levels of vitamin K may increase the risk of uncontrolled bleeding and a health care provider might suggest the patients to take vitamin K supplements (Tremblay, n.d.). Hence, vitamin K is very important in helping the blot clot to prevent excessive bleeding.

In conclusion, there are four major types of fat-soluble vitamins and they are differentiated by the biological role, food sources and the deficiency diseases. They are the vital components in the food which important for us to be healthy.