To achieve and maintain optimal health, it is essential that the vitamins in foods are present in sufficient quantity and are in a form that the body can assimilate. Vitamins in Foods: Analysis, Bioavailability, and Stability presents the latest information about vitamins and their analysis, bioavailability, and stability in foods.

The contents of the book is divided into two parts to facilitate accessibility and understanding. Part I, "Properties of Vitamins," discusses the effects of food processing on vitamin retention, the physiology of vitamin absorption, and the physiochemical properties of individual vitamins. Factors affecting vitamin bioavailability are also discussed in detail. The second part, "Analysis of Vitamins," describes the principles of analytical methods and provides detailed methods for depicting individual vitamins in foods.

Analytical topics of particular interest include the identification of problems associated with quantitatively extracting vitamins from the food matrix; assay techniques, including immunoassays, protein binding, microbiological, and biosensor assays; the presentation of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methodology illustrated in tables accompanied by step-by-step details of sample preparation; the explanation of representative separations (chromatograms) taken from original research papers are reproduced together with ultraviolet and florescence spectra of vitamins; the appraisal of various analytical approaches that are currently employed.

Comprehensive andcomplete, Vitamins in Foods: Analysis, Bioavailability, and Stability is a must have resource for those who need the latest information on analytical methodology andfactors affecting vitamin bioavailability and retention in foods.

This single-source reference draws together the current knowledge of the vitamins' biological properties in the context of human nutrition. Vitamins are co-enzymes, antioxidants or precursors of hormones and are therefore involved in a great many biochemical and physiological processes. They play a vital role in the maintenance of health, and there is evidence that dietary sources of vitamins have beneficial effects in the prevention of heart-related diseases, bone diseases and possibly cancer.

Following introductory chapters on historical and nutritional aspects of vitamins, the next four chapters cover relevant and detailed aspects of physiology and functional anatomy, biochemistry, immunology and the regulation of protein synthesis by nuclear hormone receptors. These background chapters, supported by a glossary of terms, provide the scientific principles upon which vitamin functions are based. The following thirteen chapters deal with each vitamin in turn. Subject areas include chemical structure, intestinal absorption, transport, metabolism, biochemical and physiological actions, immunoregulatory properties, deficiency-related diseases and potential toxicity. An extensive bibliography refers the reader to the original research literature.

Vitamins is aimed at nutritionists, biochemists, physiologists and physicians whether they be researchers, teachers or students. Food scientists, food technologists and many others working in the health professions will also find much of use and interest in the book. The inclusion of the theoretical principles in the background chapters makes the book an ideal starting point for those working outside the area who need asolid overview of the subject.