This isn’t an easy topic to write about nor is it an easy topic to find information about since it’s quite complex. However, we will share with you as much information as possibly can about this subject so that you no longer have any questions left un-answered by the end of this article.
Function
are a group of substances that are needed for normal cell function, growth, and development. There are 13 essential vitamins. They are:
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Vitamin E
Vitamin K
Vitamin B1 (thiamine)
Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
Vitamin B3 (niacin)
Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine)
Vitamin B12 (cyanocobalamin)
Pantothenic acid (B5)
Biotin (B7)
Folate (folic acid or B9)
Vitamins are grouped into two categories:
Fat-soluble vitamins are stored in the body’s liver, fatty tissue, and muscles.
Water-soluble vitamins are not stored in the body. The nine water-soluble vitamins are vitamin C and all the B vitamins. They have to be consumed on a regular basis to prevent shortages or deficiencies in the body.
Some vitamin-like nutrients are also needed by the body such a.
Are You Getting What You Need?
There is a fine line between getting enough of these nutrients (which is healthy) and getting too much (which can end up harming you). Eating a healthy diet remains the best way to get sufficient amounts of the vitamins and minerals you need.
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 1890 a nerve disease (polyneuritis) broke out among his laboratory chickens. 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 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 believed that some human diseases, particularly beriberi, scurvy, and pellagra, also were caused by deficiencies of factors of the same chemical type.
Discovery And Original Designation
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 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.