This isn’t an easy topic to write about nor is it an easy topic to find information about since it’s quite complex.
Biological Significance Of Vitamins
Some of the first evidence for the existence of vitamins emerged in the late 19th century with the work of Dutch physician and pathologist Christiaan Eijkman. In 1897 he demonstrated that polyneuritis was caused by feeding the chickens a diet of polished white rice but that it disappeared when the animals were fed unpolished rice. In 1906–07 British biochemist Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins observed that animals cannot synthesize certain amino acids and concluded that macronutrients and salts could not by themselves support growth.
In 1912—the same year that Hopkins published his findings about the missing nutrients, which he described as “accessory” factors or substances—a Polish scientist, Casimir Funk, demonstrated that polyneuritis produced in pigeons fed on polished rice could be cured by supplementing the birds’ diet with a concentrate made from rice bran, a component of the outer husk that was removed from rice during polishing. Funk proposed that the polyneuritis arose because of a lack in the birds’ diet of a vital factor (now known to be thiamin) that could be found in rice bran. Funk believed that some human diseases, particularly beriberi, scurvy, and pellagra, also were caused by deficiencies of factors of the same chemical type.
Because each of these factors had a nitrogen-containing component known as an amine, he called the compounds “vital amines,” a term that he later shortened to “vitamines.” The final e was dropped later when it was discovered that not all of the vitamins contain nitrogen and, therefore, not all are amines.
Discovery And Original Designation
In 1890 a nerve disease (polyneuritis) broke out among his laboratory chickens. Funk proposed that the polyneuritis arose because of a lack in the birds’ diet of a vital factor (now known to be thiamin) that could be found in rice bran.
Because each of these factors had a nitrogen-containing component known as an amine, he called the compounds “vital amines,” a term that he later shortened to “vitamines.” The final e was dropped later when it was discovered that not all of the vitamins contain nitrogen and, therefore, not all are amines.
Solubility Product Experiment
Dietary Minerals
are inorganic compounds that work with other nutrients to ensure the body functions properly. Minerals are abundant in our everyday lives.
The amount of each mineral found in our bodies vary greatly and therefore, so does consumption of those minerals. When there is a deficiency in an essential mineral, health problems may arise. Major minerals (Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\)) are classified as minerals that are required in the diet each day in amounts larger than 100 milligrams.
These include sodium, potassium, chloride, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and sulfur. These major minerals can be found in various foods. Consuming a varied diet significantly improves an individual’s ability to meet their nutrient needs.
The most common minerals in the body are calcium and phosphorous, both of which are stored in the skeleton and necessary for the hardening of bones. Sodium and chloride ions are electrolytes in the blood and extracellular tissues, and iron ions are critical to the formation of hemoglobin. Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\) The major and trace minerals.