Everyone knows what vitamins are, what are the benefits of them and where they are found in large quantities. Many books, articles and medical monographs have been written about them. But few people know that in nature there are substances that are very similar to them, but have absolutely opposite properties.
They were given the name - antivitamins.
Several decades ago, chemists tried to synthesize and enhance the biological properties of vitamin B9 (folic acid), which activates the processes of hematopoiesis and is involved in protein biosynthesis. But artificial vitamin B9 completely lost its activity and acquired other properties - the resulting compound inhibited the development of cancer cells, and soon it began to be used as an effective antitumor agent.
Antivitamins are chemical compounds that are similar in structure to vitamins, but are their absolute antipodes. Their structure is so similar to that of vitamins that they can completely take place in the structure of vitamin coenzymes. But with all this, they cannot fulfill the function of the latter. As a result, there are interruptions in the course of biochemical processes in the human body. If a sufficiently large amount of antivitamins accumulates, then a complete metabolic disorder is possible.
Antivitamins, having occupied the niche of vitamins in the human body, prevent them from performing their functions. But like any substance, antivitamins have their negative and positive sides.
Negative sides of antivitamins:
1. Forming stable bonds with vitamins or their receptors, they completely turn them off from metabolism.
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2. Block the absorption of vitamins coming from outside.
3. Catalyze the processes of removing vitamins from the body.
4. Destroy the bonds between molecules in the structure of vitamins, thereby inactivating them.
Positive aspects of antivitamins:
1. Antivitamins act as regulators of assimilation of vitamins, since both can be in one product. Due to this, hypervitaminosis occurs very rarely.
2. There are scientifically proven facts that antivitamins prevent certain diseases. In the future, the synthesis of specific drugs from them is possible.
3. Substances synthesized from antivitamins affect blood function and are used as anticoagulants.
4. One of the most beneficial effects of antivitamins is the inhibition of cancer cell growth. This substance was synthesized from vitamin B9 (folic acid) in an attempt to change its structure.
An interesting fact is that each vitamin has its own anti-vitamin, as a result of which a “conflict” of vitamins may arise. Since there are a huge number of them in nature, it makes no sense to list everything, you can dwell on only some of them.
Vitamin C has an anti-vitamin called ascorbate oxidase. This enzyme is found in many fruits and vegetables. It should also be noted that it has another antipode - chlorophyll, which is a substance that gives vegetables and fruits their green color.
Ascorbate oxidase and chlorophyll accelerate the oxidation of vitamin C. As an example, the following can be presented: when cutting fresh fruits and vegetables, up to 50% of nutrients are lost within 15 minutes to 4-6 hours. So if you cut fruits and vegetables, then it is better to do it immediately before use, or it is better to eat them whole.
Vitamin B1 (thiamin) has its own anti-vitamin thiaminase, which blocks all the beneficial properties of the substance. Thiaminase is found in the meat of some fish, so you should not get carried away with raw fish, for example, sushi. Since there is a possible risk of developing vitamin deficiency B1. This can be avoided quite simply by giving it a heat treatment. Because when exposed to temperature, antivitamins are easily destroyed.
The next well-known representative of antivitamins is avidin. It is abundant in raw egg whites. Due to the use of avidin, the vital vitamin H (biotin), which is found in the yolk, will not be absorbed. In a healthy person, biotin is synthesized in the intestine, or rather by its microflora. But with the slightest disturbance in intestinal function, the level of biotin is greatly reduced. Therefore, its intake with food is necessary. Eggs should be eaten only after preliminary heat treatment.
Vitamin A (retinol) belongs to fat-soluble vitamins, but despite this it is poorly absorbed with excessive use of cooking fats, butter and margarine. Therefore, when preparing foods with a large amount of vitamin A, it is necessary to use a small amount of fat.
Vitamin PP (niacin) also has its antipode. It is the amino acid leucine. If the daily diet is rich in soy, beans, brown rice, mushrooms, walnuts, beef and cow's milk, then the risk of developing niacin hypovitaminosis increases. In addition to leucine, vitamin PP has 2 more antivitamins: indoleacetic acid and acetyl pyridine. There are many of these substances in corn.
Antivitamin in relation to vitamin E is polyunsaturated fatty acids that are part of vegetable and soybean oils, legumes. Therefore, even with healthy fats, you need to be vigilant.
The most popular and most commonly used antivitamin of ascorbic acid and B vitamins is caffeine. In order not to earn health problems and also to consume your favorite drink containing caffeine, you must drink it one hour before a meal or an hour and a half after it.
Alcohol is an anti-vitamin substance for all groups of vitamins, but it “beats” more on group B, vitamins C and K.
Tobacco and what is in modern cigarettes is also an antivitamin for all useful substances, but more for ascorbic acid. When you smoke one cigarette, a person loses the daily dose of vitamin C (25-100 mg).
Modern drugs, and especially antibiotics, are the strongest antivitamins for group B, but they can also easily destroy the amount of vitamins in the body of any group of them. As an example, acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) accelerates the excretion of vitamin C from the body by 2-3 times.
In order to lead a healthy lifestyle, you need not only regular physical activity, but a rational and correct approach to nutrition. Especially in a large city, where the lack of vitamins is especially acute. Indeed, without an adequate combination of nutrients and physical activity, you can soon earn a bunch of chronic diseases and injuries, which will not make your life better.
Currently, antivitamins are usually divided into two groups: 1) antivitamins, which have a structure similar to that of a native vitamin, and have an effect based on a competitive relationship with it; 2) antivitamins, which cause a modification of the chemical structure of vitamins or impede their absorption, transport, which is accompanied by a decrease or loss of the biological effect of vitamins. Thus, the term "antivitamins" refers to any substances that cause, regardless of their mechanism of action, a decrease or complete loss of the biological activity of vitamins.
Structural antivitamins (some of them have already been mentioned earlier) are essentially antimetabolites and, when interacting with an apoenzyme, form an inactive enzyme complex, turning off the enzymatic reaction with all the ensuing consequences.
Antivitamin B12.
In addition to structure-like analogs of vitamins, the introduction of which leads to the development of true vitamin deficiencies, antivitamins of biological origin are distinguished, including enzymes and proteins that cause the cleavage or binding of vitamin molecules, depriving them of their physiological action. These include, for example, thiaminases I and II, which cause the breakdown of the vitamin B1 molecule, ascorbate oxidase, which catalyzes the destruction of vitamin C, and the avidin protein that binds biotin into a biologically inactive complex. Most of these antivitamins are used as therapeutic agents with a strictly targeted action on certain biochemical and physiological processes.
In particular, of the antivitamins of the fat-soluble vitamins, dicumarol, warfarin, and thromexan (vitamin K antagonists) are used as anticoagulants. Well-studied antivitamins of thiamine are oxythiamine, pyri- and neopyrithiamine, riboflavin - atherbine, acriquine, galactoflavin, isoriboflavin (all of them compete with vitamin B2 in the biosynthesis of coenzymes FAD and FMN), pyridoxine - deoxypyridoxine, isicoserine) on mycobacterium tuberculosis. Antivitamins of folic acid are amino and ametopterins, vitamin B12 - derivatives of 2-aminomethylpropanol-B12, nicotinic acid - isoniazid and 3-acetylpyridine, para-aminobenzoic acid - sulfa drugs; all of them are widely used as antineoplastic or antibacterial agents,inhibiting the synthesis of protein and nucleic acids in cells.
Vitamins are catalysts of biochemical processes, which, when entering the body, are converted into coenzymes, interact with specific proteins and accelerate metabolism. Moreover, each enzyme and its corresponding vitamin are specific, i.e. vitamins can only be incorporated into the corresponding protein (enzyme). And enzymes, in turn, can perform only a certain function and cannot replace each other.
Antivitamins have a similar structure to their corresponding vitamins. In the body, they turn into a false coenzyme and take the place of a real vitamin. Specific proteins do not notice the difference and try to fulfill their functions, but because of antivitamin, nothing works. The biochemical process corresponding to the enzyme is stopped.
Experts do not exclude that the resulting pseudoenzyme begins to play its equally important biochemical role. For example, such structural changes disrupt metabolic processes in mycobacterium tuberculosis, as a result, they delay the reproduction and growth of pathogens. Similar processes are observed in the action of antimalarial drugs. But not all antivitamins are used in medical practice. Chemists have already synthesized thousands of different vitamin derivatives, some of which have anti-vitamin properties, but most of them have weak pharmacobiological activity. Although it is quite possible that vitamin antagonists will become the main means of combating diseases.
All substances in food, including vitamins and anti-vitamins, are in an optimal ratio - they complement each other. On the one hand, anti-vitamins are a natural regulator, i.e. competing with vitamins, they practically exclude hypervitaminosis, even if the daily intake of vitamins is significantly exceeded. On the other hand, anti-vitamins are involved in biochemical processes, i.e. like vitamins, they prevent certain diseases. Therefore, if you start taking additional artificial vitamins, you can upset the balance. Vitamins, like other drugs, should be taken as prescribed by a doctor, when violations have already occurred in one direction or another (hypo or hypervitaminosis).