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Vitamins are a group
of substances essential for normal metabolism, growth and development, and
regulation of cell function. Vitamins are organic compounds. They are rich
in carbon. Vitamins are found in all the organic components of diets. This
includes everything eaten from plant or animal sources. Unlike protein, fat
and carbohydrate, which are the main ingredients of all foods, vitamins
occur in much smaller amounts in food. The word vitamin was coined in 1911
by the Warsaw-born biochemist Casimir Funk (1884-1967) at the Lister
Institute, London.
Funk isolated a substance that prevented nerve inflammation (neuritis) in
chickens raised on a diet deficient in that substance. He named the
substance vitamine because he believed it was necessary to life and it was a
chemical amine. The e at the end was later removed when it was recognized
that vitamins need not be amines. The letters (a, b, c and so on) were
assigned to the vitamins in the order of their discovery. The one exception
was vitamin k which was assigned its k from koagulation by the Danish
researcher Henrik Dam.
Vitamins are important to many vital functions in the body. One of their
main roles is to act as enzymes or enzyme helpers. Enzymes act like keys
that turn on reactions in the body. Every reaction has a distinct enzyme to
start the process. Vitamins work together with enzymes, co-factors
(substances that assist enzymes), and other substances necessary for healthy
life. They regulate the metabolic process, converting carbohydrates and fat
into energy, and forming tissue and bone. The body cannot create vitamins
itself, and is reliant on dietary intake to provide vitamins. Vitamins are
frequently added to foods to increase their nutritional value.
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