Biochemistry of the Water Soluble Vitamins: A Lecture for First Year Pharmacy Students

This manuscript describes the lecture on vitamins contained in the core course entitled, “The Biochemical Basis of Drugs and Diseases” (Pharmacy 3050). In the first year, our curriculum is designed to focus on systems and diseases. As such, this course acts in concert with both the Anatomy & Physiology course and the Pathophysiology course to present an integrated view of human diseases and systems. The second year of our curriculum is focused on learning about drugs classes and the mechanism of action. The third year of the curriculum is focused on simulated patients, while the forth year of the curriculum the students are presented with real patients. The lecture on vitamins is the last topic of a course focused primarily on metabolism. Because many vitamins play major roles in metabolic cycles, this lecture allows for a brief review of much of the material covered throughout the course. Therefore, vitamin examples are primarily chosen to reinforce major metabolic cycles and also their role in human dis...