Degradation of vitamins

This chapter covers the chemical changes food processing and storage can produce on vitamins. The four fat-soluble vitamins and nine classically recognized water-soluble vitamins have been systematically treated featuring their chemical characteristics, their nutritional and biochemical functions, the human body dependence on these micronutrients, and very importantly, the chemical mechanisms by which they are degraded during food processing and storage. Although one of the main concerns of food processors is to avoid or minimize the destruction of these organic substances so important to human health, losses are still inevitable and one of the purposes of this chapter is to lay down through schemes, figures, and concise explanations the reactions and the influencing factors of the degradative process in an attempt to guide food technologists, food processors, and health scientists.