Research Guides: CHEM 1217: Environmental Chemistry II: Nutrient Poster

Explore your Nutrient

Where to look...

Use a basic source to get an overview

Science encyclopedias and government health organization fact sheets are good places to start. Frequently, fact sheets will come in two versions, one for consumers and one for health professionals. Start with the consumer version to get familiar with the topic and then move onto the health professional version to get more detail.

Alternate names (Vitamin B1 = Thiamin)
What function the nutrient has in our bodies and how much we need in our diets each day
What happens to us if we are deficient in the nutrient
What foods contain the nutrient

Office of Dietary Supplements Fact Sheets – National Institute of Health
This collection of fact sheets and other resources from the NIH Office of Dietary Supplements and other federal government sources presents information about dietary supplements and their ingredients. These include vitamins, minerals, herbs and botanicals, probiotics, and more.
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health – National Institute of Health
A-Z list of health topics. Some entries include links to other credible resources.
MedlinePlus - Herbs and Supplements
Browse dietary supplements and herbal remedies to learn about their effectiveness, usual dosage, and drug interactions.

Use a chemical database to find the physical properties and structure

These will help you find:

Chemical symbol or molecular structure
Atomic/molar mass
Physical properties: appearance, density, melting point, boiling point

PubChem This link opens in a new window
PubChem is world's largest collection of freely accessible chemical information. Search chemicals by name, molecular formula, structure, and other identifiers. Find chemical and physical properties, biological activities, safety and toxicity information, patents, literature citations and more.

Interactive Periodic Table - The Royal Society of Chemistry
Click on the element you are researching to find data, uses and properties, history, podcasts, and video resources
Periodic Table of the Elements - PubChem
Click on your element to see basic stats, or follow the link to the full element page to access more in depth background information.
Example: Sulfur Element Page at PubChem

Databases for Researching Nutrients and Dietary Supplements

PEN: Practice-based Evidence in Nutrition This link opens in a new window
PEN is a fully searchable, full-text database of information about dietetics, developed from key practice questions and evidence-based answers, with links to tools and resources consistent with the evidence. Knowledge pathways are grouped under four broad Practice Categories: Population Health/Lifecycle; Health Condition/Disease; Food/Nutrients; Professional Practice.
Alt Healthwatch This link opens in a new window
Focuses on complementary, holistic and integrated approaches to health care and wellness. Includes articles from over 174 journals, magazines, newsletters, and reports. Citations and some full-text.

Further Research on Nutrients or Dietary Supplements

For more in depth information on medical uses, historical research, or consequences of over consumption, try one of the books on this page, or search for review articles in a database.

ScienceDirect College Edition This link opens in a new window
Indexes more than 2,000 peer-reviewed journals from Elsevier and other publishers, with full articles from over 1,000 journals.

Restrict your search to Review articles, using the checkboxes on the side of the search results

Science Encylcopedia

Gale Encyclopedia of Science
Call Number: Online

Books on Dietary and Nutritional Supplements

Dietary Supplements
Call Number: RM 258.5 M35 2012
PDR for Nutritional Supplements
Call Number: RM 258.5 H46 2008
Vitamins and Minerals
Call Number: TX 553 V5 K76 2011
The Oxford Book of Health Foods
Call Number: TX 369 V38 2003