|  | Diet Nutrition | Vitamins

The History of Vitamins

It is common knowledge today that vitamins are an essential part of a healthy diet and are necessary for proper growth and development. Yet this has not always been the case. Our knowledge of the importance of vitamins (and even of their existence) is a fairly recent development.

  1. Discovery of Vitamins

    • People have known for centuries that eating a balanced diet prevented illness. The ancient Egyptians knew that night blindness could be cured by feeding a patient liver, and by the time of the Enlightenment it was well-known that sailors could fend off scurvy by adding citrus to their diets. But what it was, exactly, about certain foods that helped to prevent and cure diseases remained a mystery. It wasn't until the 1880s that various researchers began to understand that trace amounts of essential substances could prevent illness.

      Various researchers working independently began to understand what these essential substances might be. In 1909, the first vitamin (retinol, aka vitamin A) was isolated. In 1912, both vitamins B and C were isolated from rice bran and lemons respectively. By the time 1929 rolled around, vitamins B2, E, B12, and K were known. In 1929, scientists Frederick Hopkins and Christiaan Eijkman won the Nobel Prize for Medicine for their pioneering work in the discovery of several types of vitamins.

    Naming of Vitamins

    • Each vitamin is given a generic descriptor (i.e., "vitamin C") as well as having a chemical name (in the case of vitamin C, "ascorbic acid"). The first two vitamins discovered were A and B, differentiated because A is fat soluble and B is water soluble. Vitamins were named in ascending alphabetical order after that. However, as time went on, some substances that had been mistakenly classified were renamed. This was the case with vitamin H, which was later renamed biotin.

    Water Soluble vs. Fat Soluble

    • Vitamins are either water soluble (meaning they dissolve in water) or fat soluble (meaning they can dissolve in fats or oils). Water soluble vitamins can be removed from the body during the course of the body's daily eliminatory processes. Therefore, water soluble vitamins like vitamin C and the B vitamins must be consumed daily to replenish the body's supply. Fat soluble vitamins like vitamin A can build up to toxic levels in the body if a person overindulges in foods or supplements high in these vitamins.

    Vitamin Supplements

    • In most countries, vitamin supplements are considered a dietary supplement, which makes them foods instead of drugs. This means that vitamins are regulated not by agencies such as the FDA, but by the companies which produce them. Today, various kinds of vitamins are available. Some are supplements for a single kind of vitamin, while others are multi-vitamins that can give you the full recommended dosages of many kinds of vitamins.

    Vitamins in Modern Medicine

    • Vitamin C is used to treat scurvy. Vitamin A can correct night blindness. Vitamin B3 (niacin) is essential to prevent pellagra. Vitamin B1, aka thiamine, is used to treat beriberi. Vitamin D staves off rickets.

Vitamins - Related Articles