Vitamins are organic substances that are essential for the maintenance of life activities. Generally, vitamins need to be obtained from the diet or from some synthetic source as the body cannot synthesize vitamins, or the amounts of the synthesized vitamins are insufficient. At present, vitamins are widely used in medicine, food additives, feed additives, cosmetics and other fields, and the global demand for vitamins is constantly growing. Vitamins can be produced from chemical or microbial synthesis. Chemical synthesis usually requires harsh reaction conditions, produces serious wastes, and creates great potential safety hazard. In contrast, microbial synthesis of vitamins is greener, safer, and requires much less energy input. This review summarizes the advances in metabolic engineering for vitamins production in the past 30 years, with a focus on production of water-soluble vitamins (vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12 and vitamin C precursors) and lipid-soluble vitamins (vitamin A, precursors of vitamin D, vitamin E and vitamin K). Moreover, the bottlenecks for fermentative production of vitamins are discussed, and future perspectives for developing next generation vitamins producing strains using synthetic biotechnology are prospected.
Biotechnology ; Metabolic Engineering ; Vitamin A ; Vitamin K ; Vitamins/analysis*

This study examined the experience and intention of health food use regarding the different type of health foods among 201 middle-aged Korean men form urban areas. Based upon the results of a prestudy, health foods were classified into 4 groups including Chinese medicine(CM), toner foods(TF), vitamin or mineral supplements(VMS), and other manufactured heath food supplements(MHFS). compared with the4 case of health food experience, the similar proportion of the subjects were intended to use CM( 70%) and MHFS( 40%), yet the smaller proportion of them had the intention for TF(46%) and VMS(52%). Our subjects mainly obtained information on CM and TF from social networks, such as families, relatives, friends and neighbors and VMS and MHFS from mass media. Expected effects of health food consumption were different by the type of health food. The most positive expected effects were found in CM, followed by VMS. However, there was weak evidence for the positive effects of the TF and MHFS. Upon the consumption of health foods, our subject appeared to expect to their body energy to increased and body functions to be improved in general. Multivariate analyses indicated the importance of expected effects of health food consumption and aging symptoms as determinants of future health food use. Experience was rarely associated with intention in health food use. This study suggests that educated middle-aged Korean men may have a rational attitude toward health food use. Regarding different attitudes and behavior toward the different type of health foods, further research should consider the nature of each type of health foods. The limitations of this study are also discussed.
Aging ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Friends ; Food, Organic* ; Humans ; Intention* ; Male ; Mass Media ; Multivariate Analysis ; Vitamins

It is generally accepted that urinary excretion of vitamin c increases when the blood concentration reaches the threshold of 1.0 mg/dl. Urinary excretion reaches a maximum 2-3 hours after loading with vitamin c, returning to normal after approximately 24 hours. If there is no vitamin c deficiency, approximately 50% of the loading dose is readily excreted within 24 hours. In the group B and C of this series, in which initial blood concentrations of the vitamin c was relatively low, the blood and urinary concentration increased noticeably after the loading. But the groups with higher initial blood levels did not experience increased concentration in the blood of vitamin c after the loading. Seminal vitamin c concentration in groups A, C and D increased after the loading, but in group E initially higher in seminal concentration was unchanged even after the loading. In 9 of 14 cases, motility of the sperms seemed to improve to a certain extent, though not very significantly after the vitamin c loading. Reed suggested in comparing the sperm velocity within a distance of 0.05 mm. That even 0.1 of a second might be a very important time difference. In this series the velocity changed from 1.66 to 1.52 seconds and the difference, 0.14 seconds, might be significant in fertilization.
Ascorbic Acid Deficiency ; Ascorbic Acid* ; Fertilization ; Infertility ; Semen Analysis ; Semen* ; Sperm Motility ; Spermatozoa ; Vitamins*

BACKGROUND: Influenza places a heavy public health burden in numerous countries every year. In addition to vaccines, there are some interventions that are effective in preventing influenza. OBJECTIVE: This overview of systematic reviews (SRs) aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of interventions for influenza prevention. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2020, Issue 1 for relevant Cochrane SRs using the keywords "common cold," "influenza," and "flu." INCLUSION CRITERIA: Cochrane SRs that investigated the prevention of influenza were included. Participants included the general population without influenza or influenza-like symptoms, who were treated with preventative interventions and compared to individuals receiving no treatment or placebo. DATA EXTRACTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers independently screened citations against pre-defined inclusion criteria and extracted data. The methodological quality of these SRs was evaluated using the Assessing the Methodological Quality of Systematic Reviews-II (AMSTAR-II) guidelines. The primary outcome of our analysis was the incidence of influenza, and the secondary outcomes were the incidence of influenza-like illness and hospitalization. In addition to the narrative summary of SR findings, we also pooled data from homogeneous trials among these SRs and produced evidence mapping. We conducted a network meta-analysis to compare the effect across interventions and used the Cochrane approach to grading of recommendations, assessment, development, and evaluation (GRADE) to assess the quality of evidence. RESULTS: Eleven Cochrane SRs were included, covering five medications, eleven vaccinations and four complementary therapies. Among these SRs, 73% scored "high" quality on AMSTAR-II rating. We found that eight interventions, including amantadine, garlic, and six different vaccines, were beneficial for reducing the incidence of influenza compared to placebo, while oseltamivir, zanamivir, Ganmao capsule, Echinacea, and another three types of vaccine were probably beneficial. Ganmao capsule ranked highest for influenza prevention in the network meta-analysis, followed by amantadine, garlic, and vaccines of all types. Monovalent inactivated parenteral vaccine was found to be beneficial in reducing the incidence of influenza-like illness. None of the interventions reduced the hospitalization rate. CONCLUSION High-quality evidence showed that garlic or vaccine had advantages in preventing influenza, and that vitamin C is not effective. The effect of other interventions needs to be further verified with high-quality evidence.
Bayes Theorem ; Humans ; Influenza, Human/prevention & control* ; Network Meta-Analysis ; Systematic Reviews as Topic ; Vitamins

PURPOSE: Postmenopausal women are a unique population with high risk for the degeneration of muscle. The aim of the present meta-analysis was to accurately evaluate the effects of vitamin D on muscular strength in postmenopausal women.METHODS: A review was conducted using electronic databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, Ovid Medline, CINAHL complete, and the Cochrane Library from inception through 19 March 2019. Included studies were selected by two independent reviewers. The meta-analysis were performed using Review Manager 5.3 software.RESULTS: A total of nine randomized controlled clinical trials were included in this review. Vitamin D interventions led to no changes in the upper limb muscle strength (mean difference –0.16, 95% CI: –1.09 to 0.77), lower body muscle strength (standard mean difference 0.08, 95% CI: –0.11 to 0.26), and back/hip muscle strength (standard mean difference 0.06, 95% CI: -0.05 to 0.17).CONCLUSION: Pooled results from eight studies indicated that supplementation of vitamin D did not increase muscle strength in postmenopausal women. Apparently, the present review suggests that supplementation of vitamin D alone had no didn't show any beneficial effects on muscle strength in postmenopausal women.
Female ; Humans ; Meta-Analysis as Topic ; Muscle Strength ; Postmenopause ; Upper Extremity ; Vitamin D ; Vitamins

Due to its ultra-high sensitivity, specificity and throughput, liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has become an important analytical tool in clinical laboratories in quantifying various small molecules, such as vitamins, bile acids, steroids and other internal metabolites relevant to maternal diseases. As an effective means of screening and diagnosing diseases in preventive medicine, LC-MS/MS has been widely used in maternal and child health, contributing to the reduction of the incidence of maternal and child diseases and premature morbidity and mortality. At present, LC-MS/MS is an emerging and powerful platform in laboratory testing in China, facing both challenges and opportunities. In this article, the representative applications in the field of maternal and child health are summarized and discussed, along with the major hurdles of LC-MS/MS in clinical recognition and implementation.
Child ; Humans ; Chromatography, Liquid/methods* ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry/methods* ; Child Health ; Steroids/analysis* ; Vitamins/analysis* ; Bile Acids and Salts

Adult ; Ascorbic Acid ; administration & dosage ; analysis ; Humans ; Male ; Nutrition Surveys ; Occupational Health ; Riboflavin ; administration & dosage ; analysis ; Thiamine ; administration & dosage ; analysis ; Vitamins ; administration & dosage ; analysis

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to ascertain the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and risk factors associated with mortality in patients > or =50-year-of-age with hip fractures. METHODS: A total of 489 patients > or =50-year-of-age who sustained a hip fracture from January 2010 to October 2014 were followed-up for a minimum of 1 year. Clinical and radiological outcomes were evaluated including prevalence of vitamin D deficiency. Crude mortality rates were calculated, and the effects of different risk factors on mortality were assessed. RESULTS: Vitamin D deficiency was present in 76.5% of cases (n=237). The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency was 12.3%, and only 11.2% of patients had normal vitamin D levels. Accumulated mortality was 11% (54 patients) at 1 year. A univariate analysis showed that vitamin D deficiency (P=0.012), age (P<0.001), BMI (P<0.001), type of management (P<0.001), American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score (P=0.009), pre-fracture ambulatory status (P<0.001), and osteoporosis (P<0.001) were associated with mortality. A multivariate analysis performed using a Cox proportional hazards model demonstrated that ASA score (P=0.001) and pre-fracture ambulatory status (P=0.011) were independently associated with mortality after hip fracture. CONCLUSIONS: We did not find a relationship between serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels and mortality after hip fracture, although we observed a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and a significant association with mortality in the univariate analysis.
Hip Fractures ; Hip* ; Humans ; Mortality* ; Multivariate Analysis ; Osteoporosis ; Prevalence ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Risk Factors* ; Vitamin D Deficiency* ; Vitamin D* ; Vitamins*

PURPOSE: This study was aimed to assess selenium and zinc status in female collegiate athletes and their relationship with dietary intake. METHODS: Female collegiate athletic groups of judo and aerobics, and healthy sedentary collegiate females were recruited for this study and their serum selenium and zinc contents were measured by the neutron activation analysis (NAA) method. In addition, the dietary intake of subjects was measured using the two days 24-hour recall method. RESULTS: Serum selenium in judo athletes was 10.7 µg/dl, which was significantly lower than that of aerobic athletes (12.2 µg/dl), but not different from that of the sedentary group (11.4 µg/dl). Additionally, serum zinc levels were 96.1 µg/dl and 90.2 µg/dl in aerobic and judo athletes, respectively, which did not differ significantly. Moreover, dietary selenium and zinc intake of the athletic groups did not differ significantly from that of the sedentary female group. Overall, 33.3% of the serum selenium concentration variation was explained by the intake of vitamin E, selenium and saturated fatty acids, while 14.7% of the serum zinc level variation was explained by the intake of saturated fatty acids. The strongest dietary indicator for serum selenium and zinc levels was saturated fatty acids intake. CONCLUSION: Judo athletes appear to have lower selenium status than aerobic athletes, suggesting different body selenium status according to sport type. To maintain body selenium and zinc levels, the dietary intake of saturated fatty acids should be decreased.
Athletes* ; Fatty Acids ; Female* ; Humans ; Martial Arts ; Methods ; Neutron Activation Analysis ; Selenium* ; Sports ; Vitamin E ; Vitamins ; Zinc*

Objective: To explore the causal effects of the serum Vitamin D levels on the risk of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: A two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study was performed to infer the causality. Three Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for circulating Vitamin D levels, including 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃ [25(OH)D₃] and C3-epimer of 25-hydroxyvitamin D₃ [C3-epi-25(OH)D₃] published in 2020, and one GWAS for SLE published in 2015 were utilized to analyze the causal effects of the serum Vitamin D levels on the risk of SLE. MR analyses were conducted using the inverse-variance weighted method (IVW), weighted median, MR-Egger methods, MR-pleiotropy residual sum and outlier (MR-PRESSO) method. Results: 34, 29 and 6 SNPs were respectively selected as instrumental variables to analyze the causal association of total 25 (OH) D level, 25 (OH) D₃ level and C3-epi-25 (OH) D₃ level with the risk of SLE. The MR results showed that each standard deviation decrease in the level of 25(OH)D₃ would result in 14.2% higher risk of SLE (OR, 0.858; 95%CI, 0.753-0.978; P=0.022). The levels of 25(OH)D and C3-epi-25(OH)D₃ had null associations with risk of SLE (OR, 0.849; 95%CI, 0.653-1.104; P=0.222; OR, 0.904; 95%CI, 0.695-1.176; P=0.452). Conclusion: This study have identified a causal effect of 25(OH)D₃ on increased risk of SLE. These findings highlighted the significance of active monitoring and prevention of SLE in population of low Vitamin D levels.
Humans ; Genome-Wide Association Study ; Vitamin D ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/complications* ; Vitamins ; Causality ; Mendelian Randomization Analysis/methods* ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide