Vitamins and Animal Nutrition

Most fat-soluble vitamins are not easily eliminated from the body and are instead retained in the liver and adipose tissues alongside fat. On the other hand, the body tends to keep a far smaller quantity of water-soluble vitamins than it does fat-soluble vitamins. The majority of vitamins found in livestock and human diets are produced either by plants or microorganisms. Some animal cells can synthesize vitamins like vitamin D, niacin, and ascorbate, and convert pro-vitamins to the active form (McDowell, 2008 ). Additionally, commensal microbes in the digestive tracts of both ruminants and non-ruminants have the potential to operate as a source of some vitamins, including vitamin K and the water-soluble B-complex vitamins (McDowell, 2008 ). Regarding human nutrition, meat has long been acknowledged as a reliable source of B vitamins (Obeid et al., 2019 (link)).