Vitamins: a brief history and overview

The word vitamin was coined in the 1911 by a Polish-born biochemist named Casimir Funk. As a researcher at the Lister Institute in London, Funk discovered that adding or removing known ingredients to chicken’s diets would result in specific physiological ailments or improvements. The word vitamin is a union of two words “vital” and “amine.” Vital because he believed these were necessary to life and amine because of the type of chemical, though it was later discovered that not all vitamins are “amines” and so the “e” was dropped.

Vitamins were assigned letters according to the order of their discovery. The exception to this is vitamin K, where K stands for Koagulation, named as such by Henrik Dam the Danish-born scientist who discovered it.

Most physicians believe that supplementation though not always necessary, is helpful. Through personal and professional experience I have noticed tangible benefits through supervised supplement use. If you choose to use vitamin supplements, consult your doctor first. Some supplements should not be taken with certain medications. More...