II. Answer the questions to the text.

1. Are vitamins used as a source of energy?

2. Are vitamins needed in small or huge amounts?

3. What can the overdosage of vitamins lead to?

4. What is B carotene?

5. What glands usually produce tears?

6. What is the specific sign of absence vitamin A in a human body?

7. What vitamin is mostly found in fresh foodstuff?

III. Retell the text about Vitamins.

IV. Match the adjectives with appropriate nouns from the text.

alimentary	a.complexity
organic	b. amounts
chemical	c. functions
small	d. amount
specific	e. substances
nutritional	masses
highest	coagulability
necrotic	value
normal	concentration
equivalent	canal

V.Read and translate the text.

Vitamin k.

Vitamins are substances that your body needs to grow and develop normally. Vitamin K helps your body by making proteins for healthy bones and tissues. It also makes proteins for blood clotting. If you don't have enough vitamin K, you may bleed too much.

Newborns have very little vitamin K. They usually get a shot of vitamin K soon after they are born.

If you take blood thinners, you need to be careful about how much vitamin K you get. You also need to be careful about taking vitamin E supplements. Vitamin E can interfere with how vitamin K works in your body. Ask your health care provider for recommendations about these vitamins.

There are different types of vitamin K. Most people get vitamin K from plants such as green vegetables, and dark berries. Bacteria in your intestines also produce small amounts of another type of vitamin K.

Why do we need vitamin K? Vitamin K is one of the fat-soluble vitamins. It helps the body make proteins that are needed for normal blood clotting. Vitamin K is also needed for making important bone proteins. What happens if we don’t get enough vitamin K? When people don’t get enough vitamin K blood takes a long time to clot. This can cause excessive blood loss and increased risk of death from injuries. Vitamin K deficiency is rare in healthy adults. However, people with severe digestive disorders or on chronic antibiotic therapy may be at risk. Eating very large or very small amounts of vitamin K can change how these drugs work. If you take an anticoagulant, you should pay close attention to your intake of foods such as spinach and turnip greens that are very high in vitamin K, and ensure that your vitamin K intake is about the same from day to day. You should also consult your doctor before taking vitamin E supplements, or supplements such as ginkgo and garlic, as these may also affect blood clotting.