Vitamin Development History

You may be wondering what exactly a vitamin is and how we initially became aware of how important they are to our health. A concise answer to the first part of that question is that vitamins are organic micro-nutrients essential to normal human metabolism. Unlike fats, carbohydrates, and some proteins, vitamins are not metabolized to provide energy. Most are not manufactured by the body but are present in minute quantities in natural foodstuffs. Each of these naturally occurring organic compounds performs a specific vital function and is required by the body for disease prevention and good health.

The known vitamins are divided into four fat-soluble types (A, D, E, and K) and nine water-soluble types (eight B vitamins and vitamin C). The fat-soluble vitamins can be stored in the body and do not need to be ingested every day. Because the fat-soluble vitamins are not eliminated from the body through the urine, ingesting too much of them can create toxicities. The water-soluble vitamins are more easily eliminated and can be taken in larger amounts without much danger of toxicity. Vitamin C and the eight B vitamins (except for vitamin B12 and folic acid) are water soluble. They cannot be stored and must be consumed frequently for optimal health.

As an initial convention, vitamins were given letters to go with their chemically defined names. Not many people may know about the form of vitamin E d-alpha tocopheryl succinate, but most people know what “vitamin E” is and how it can be used. Some nutritional factors were originally given “B” names but turned out not to act as vitamins at all. You may not have heard of vitamin B4, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11, which were ultimately rejected as vitamin factors.

Although our knowledge and awareness of vitamins as important nutrients came about relatively recently, most of the ancient healing traditions dating back 5,000 years demonstrated some recognition that certain herbs and vegetables contained an invisible substance with an energy or life force that could reverse serious health conditions.

In both ancient Egypt and Greece, for instance, it was known that night blindness could often be successfully treated with carrots. Today we know this old remedy works because of the naturally occurring vitamin A found in that vegetable. Whether by common sense, by the power of observation, or by intuition alone, these ancient cultures understood the principle that a life force within the foods of nature could maintain human health and even restore it.

Our understanding of this principle took a quantum leap forward in 1747, when a Scottish naval surgeon, James Lind, discovered that an unknown substance in lemons, limes, and several other fruits and vegetables prevented scurvy, which was a serious problem for sailors of that period. This nutrient would eventually be identified as vitamin C.

Scurvy is a serious hemorrhagic disease that cause lack of energy, immune deficiency, and spontaneous bleeding, often leading to death. Although those who used citrus fruits or chickpea sprouts to prevent scurvy had no concept of “vitamins” as we do today, they did know that there was something in the citrus fruit or vegetables that prevented scurvy. Because limes traveled well, they were the common choice of sea captains, who distributed them to the sailors and crew. The use of limes by the British Navy and other British commercial shipping companies created the slang term “limeys”, referring to British sailors and citizens of the British Isles. It was also discovered that raw potatoes, which contain small amounts of vitamin C, could also prevent scurvy.