Overview | What happens when essential vitamins and minerals are missing from our diets? In this lesson, students consider what they already know and believe about vitamins and supplements, research nutrient deficiencies and then create, analyze and discuss patient case studies.
Materials | Computers with Internet access; materials about nutrition, vitamins and minerals; packaging and nutrition labels from food packages and vitamin and mineral supplement packages; poster board (if desired).
Warm-Up | Before class, collect packaging and nutrition labels from various multivitamin supplements and a variety of foods, like fortified cereals, dairy products and packaged fruits, vegetables and beans. Alter natively, ask students to bring in packaging from their households.
At the start of class, initiate a discussion about vitamins and minerals. Ask: What vitamins and minerals can you list? How do people get the nutrients they need? Why do some people take vitamin and mineral supplements? Can you name any examples of common vitamins and minerals? Do you associate certain health benefits with any specific vitamins or minerals?
Hold a brief discussion, and write ideas on the board. Next, circulate the vitamin and mineral supplement packages. Let students examine the labels.
Ask: What vitamins, minerals and nutrients are contained in these supplements? Does the packaging give any clues as to their purpose? Add any additional answers to the list on the board. Shift the discussion to food by asking: Aside from supplements, how else do people get the nutrients they need?
Next, circulate the food packages and labels. Ask: What vitamins and minerals are contain ed in these foods? When food packaging mentions vitamins, does that mean that the food is good for you? Can you tell whether the vitamins and minerals occur naturally in the food or have been added? Compare the nutrition information with the ingredients list. What is fortified food? Why do manufacturers fortify foods?
At this point, you might take raw student ideas and create a chart, listing vitamins and minerals in the first column with facts about each one's role or importance in the second column and the foods it is associated with in the third.
Next, explain that you will read an article about vitamin D deficiency.
Related | In the Well blog post “Reasons That Vitamin D May Matter,†Jane Brody explains recent research about the importance of vitamin D:
At least once a week, someone, usually a woman over 50, asks me about vitamin D. Perhaps a routine checkup has revealed a deficienc y, prompting the doctor to recommend an over-the-counter supplement or, in severe cases, large prescription doses to correct the problem.
Often, though, the concern is bone health. Without vitamin D, the body cannot properly absorb calcium, and bones become fragile. At the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons last month, researchers reported that among 889 adult patients treated for a fracture at a Missouri trauma center, blood levels of vitamin D were “insufficient†in 78 percent and “frankly deficient†in 39 percent. The study group excluded those with known risk factors for vitamin D deficiency.
A second report, by doctors in Seoul, South Korea, found that vitamin D levels were “significantly lower†among 104 postmenopausal women who had broken a wrist than among 107 age-matched controls without a fracture.
Read the entire article with your class, using the questions below
Questions | For reading comprehension and discussion:
- What is a vitamin deficiency?
- What health problems are linked to vitamin D deficiencies?
- Which groups of people are at risk of vitamin D deficiency? Why?
- What are the scientific uncertainties surrounding links between vitamin D deficiencies and health problems?
RELATED RESOURCES
From The Learning Network
From NYTimes.com
Around the Web
Activity | Explain to students that they will work in groups, first to research vitamins and minerals and then create to a fictional case study of a patient experiencing a vitamin deficiency. Then, they will exchange case studies, diagnose each others patients and present their findings to the class.
Divide the class into six small groups and assign each group a vitamin or mineral to research. Tell groups not to share which vitamin or mineral they are researching because groups will diagnose each others patients in the next part of the activity.
Suggested vitamins and minerals include vitamin D, calcium, folate and folic acid, iron, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12.
Using available resources, each group should create a chart for the vitamin that shows why its important, who is at risk for deficiency and symptoms of deficiency.
Then, on a separate sheet of paper or on poster board, each group creates a narrative describing a fictional patient who is either experiencing a vitamin or mineral deficiency or is likely to have a deficiency. Patient profiles should include fictional details like name, age, gender, risk factors and symptoms. They should not include the name of the vitamin at issue because another group will attempt to diagnose the patient.
A model for these narratives is the Well blog's "Think Like a Doctor" series, as well as the related Diagnosis column in The Times Magazine. Students might read some of these before creating their patient profiles.
When profiles are complete, post them around the room and have students circulate and jot down notes. They then return to their groups and work together to diagnose the patients vitamin deficiencies, using materials about vitamins and minerals. Groups should also recommend a course of action, like eating more of a certain type of food or taking a supplement, and provide justification for the suggestions.
When groups have finished, invite groups to weigh in on each case and lead a short discussion. Ask: Were the diagnoses correct, according to the creators of the profiles? Were the recommendations for patients appropriate? Is it difficult to diagnose vitamin deficiencies? Why or why not? Were any of the diagnoses incorrect? Do some deficiencies have similar risk factors and symptoms? What additional information would you need to make definitive diagnoses?
Return to the supplement packaging and food labels. Ask: Why do people take supplements? What risks are associated with them? Can we get proper nutrition from eating food alone?
Going Further | Students keep food diaries for one week, documenting everything they eat. They then use resources like the vitamin and mineral charts at Teens Health to determine which vitamins and minerals are contained in the foods they have consumed. They might consider consulting a pediatrician or nutritionist to guide their examination of their vitamin and mineral intake.
Alternatively, students interview the director of their school meal program to discuss the vitamin and mineral content in this week's school lunches. Are there any United States Department of Agriculture school lunch requirements regarding vitamins and minerals? How does the school staff meet the requirements? What criticisms have been made of national school meal requirements?
Standards | This lesson is correlated to McREL's national standards (it can also be aligned to the new Common Core State Standards):
Health
1. Knows the availability and effective use of health services, products and information.
6. Understands essential concepts about nutrition and diet.
7. Knows how to maintain and promote personal health.
8. Knows essential concepts about the prevention and control of disease.
Science
11. Understands the nature of scientific knowledge.
12. Understands the nature of scientific inquiry.
13. Understands the scientific enterprise.
Language Arts
4. Gathers and uses information for research purposes.
5. Uses the general skills and strategies of the reading process.
7. Uses skills and strategies to read a variety of informational texts.
8. Uses listening and speaking strategies for different purposes.
Thinking and Reasoning
1. Understands and applies the basic principles of presenting an argument.
2. Understands and applies basic principles of logic and reasoning.
6. Applies decision-making techniques.
Working With Others
1. Contributes to the overall effort of a group.
4. Displays effective interpersonal communication skills.
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