Nutrient requirements Biotin

At higher ethanol concentrations the intracellular alcohol interferes with membrane organization, increasing its fluidity and permeability to ions and small metabolites and inhibiting transport of nutrients. Especially Ca and Mg ions are able to increase the plasma membrane stability. It has been demonstrated that incorporation of unsaturated fatty acids and/or sterol(s) as well as proteolipids into cellular membrane of yeasts helps to alleviate ethanol tolerance. For the synthesis of the unsaturated fatty acids the presence of traces of oxygen under fermentation conditions is required. Further to Ca and Mg ions, other trace elements such as Co, Cu, Mn and Zn " and vitamins, e.g. pantothenate, thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, pyridoxine, biotin, folic acid and inositol, are essential for the growth and ethanol production by yeasts. 

An Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) is the average daily nutrient intake level estimated to meet the requirements of half of the healthy individuals in a group. EARs have not been established for vitamin K, pantothenic acid, biotin, choline, chromium, fluoride, manganese, or other nutrients not yet evaluated via the DRI [cocess... 

For some nutrients, such as the vitamins biotin (section 11.12) and pantothenic acid (section 11.13), and a number of trace minerals, deficiency is unknown except under experimental conditions. For these nutrients there are no estimates of average requirements, and therefore no reference intakes. As deficiency does not occur, it is obvious that average levels of intake are more than adequate to meet requirements. For these nutrients there is a range of intakes that is defined as safe and adequate, based on the observed range of intakes. 

MINERAL AND VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS. There is considerable controversy among nutritionists and pediatricians regarding the amounts and types of nutrient supplements that are required by infants, since breast-fed infants have long been given little or no supplementation. Furthermore, the need for supplementation depends upon a variety of factors such as (1) status of the infant at birth, since preterm or low birth weight infants have higher nutritional requirements to attain the rates of growth and development of normal infants (2) type of milk or formula used (3) affliction of the infant with diarrhea, fever, infection, and/or other stresses and (4) age at which supplemental foods are introduced. It is noteworthy that even breast milk is low in iron, copper, fluoride, vitamins A, D, and E, and biotin, folacin, niacin, thiamin, and vitamin B-6. Furthermore, diluted evaporated milk is notably inferior to breast milk with respect to the contents of iron, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin E, and vitamin C. Therefore, the need for nutrient supplements should be evaluated by a health professional who is familiar with the diet and the overall health status of the infant. 

This is the clearest evidence there is at present to account for the effect of pimelic acid as a bacterial essential nutrient. The particular strains of C. dipMheriae which require pimelic acid as a nutrient are probably strains lacking the ability to synthesize biotin. And this defective synthetic power would appear to concern the fatty acid side chain of biotin, since when pimelic acid is provided, the rest of the molecule appears to be synthesized. This is supported by the finding that C. diphtheriae Allen strain, using pimelic acid, was not inhibited by the antibiotin factor avidin, whereas inhibition did occur when biotin was the external source of growth factor (see next section). (Cf. also 73a.)... 

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