What are vitamins and do you really need to take them?
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Vitamin is a term used to describe a number of organic compounds necessary for humans, which the body often produces in insufficient quantities.
Usually, the body gets the necessary vitamins from food. These chemicals perform a wide range of tasks, helping the body to grow, reproduce or simply survive/
About who discovered vitamins, why they are called letters and whether it is worth taking them yourself, reports ScienceAlert.
Who discovered the first vitamins
In fact, there was no discovery that discovered the category of vitamins.
| Photo: javiercorrea15/Depositphotos |
However, at the end of the 19th century, chemists and biologists shed light on the complexity of human nutrition.
Scientists realized that a healthy diet should consist not only of the correct balance of proteins, carbohydrates, fats and minerals.
Various studies of the growth and development of animals indicated the existence of additional factors.
In 1901, Dutch scientist Gerrit Greens suggested that nutrient deficiencies might be responsible for an outbreak of a devastating disease called beriberi (an illness that affects the human nervous system, resulting in weakness, loss of appetite, hyperexcitability, and paralysis) in Indonesia.
Subsequent articles by his colleague, Christian Eikman, inspired the Polish biochemist Kazimierz Funk to discover a special type of nitrogen compound (an amine) that he believed could prevent the disease.
Funk’s discovery of vitamin B3, or niacin, called the “vital amine,” gave us the term “vitamin” and the first clear link between the lack of an essential organic trace element and disease.
Why vitamins are called letters
In 1916, an article by the American biochemists Cornelia Kennedy and Elmer W. McCollum used the letters A and B to describe fat- and water-soluble organic compounds considered vital auxiliary factors in nutrition.
The system was soon expanded to include other vitamins discovered in subsequent years.
What are vitamins?
There are more than a dozen compounds that are currently considered vitamins. They can be found in certain types of meat, greens, nuts and mushrooms.
Vitamin A encompasses a small group of closely related compounds that are involved in regulating the growth and development of cells throughout our body.
The most active forms are retinol, retinal and retinoic acid, the deficiency of which seriously affects the development of the fetus during pregnancy, immunity and vision.
Preformed vitamin A, or retinol, can be absorbed in fruits and vegetables.
Vitamin B or B complex vitamins are a family of eight essential nutrients: thiamin (B1), riboflavin (B2), niacin (B3), pantothenic acid (B5), pyridoxine (B6), biotin (B7), folic acid (B9), and cobalamin (B12). Their functions are closely related: they activate enzymes that make or break down other substances involved in things like DNA repair and energy production.
Most of them cannot be stored in the body, therefore, in order to “replenish” the reserves, a person needs to eat greens, fish, eggs and meat.
Vitamin Cor ascorbic acid, performs a variety of functions in our body, including promoting iron absorption and wound healing.
Because we cannot store large stores of the compound, it is quickly depleted and must be replenished through a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables.
The lack of fresh greens was associated with a lack of this vitamin, which led to scurvy.
Benefit vitamin K is provided by its participation in the process of blood coagulation, development of bone tissue, maintenance of the health of the cardiovascular system.
The human body produces the most vitamin D under the influence of sunlight. It helps bones to be healthier because it improves the absorption of calcium and phosphorus.
Do you need to take multivitamins every day?
Although vitamins are important for health, most of us easily get the right amount through a balanced diet.
Many studies have shown no long-term benefit from daily multivitamin pills.
In fact, there is evidence that it is better to get vitamins from food whenever possible.
Unless your doctor has diagnosed you with a specific vitamin deficiency, it is unlikely that you need to take a daily supplement.
An excess of vitamins in the body can worsen health.
Even water-soluble vitamins like C and B, which don’t stay in the body, can cause diarrhea or heartburn in overdose.
Other vitamins, such as vitamin A, have been linked to birth defects if taken in excess during pregnancy.
We will remind you that earlier we wrote about what symptoms indicate a lack of vitamins in a child’s body.
Read also: 300-fold overdose: twin sisters from Lviv lost their hair due to an excess of vitamin A. PHOTO
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