What Are Vitamins and Why Are Vitamins Important?

No doubt you've seen people react to advertising and/or information about the vitamin or mineral content of various foods. They routinely purchase products that are labeled as high in this vitamin or that. The truth is that most people lack a clear understanding of what these nutrients are and what they can do for you.

Over the last 40 years or so, multitudes of laws have been passed that require labeling of products with nutritional content, recommended daily allowances (RDA) and of course that ever changing food pyramid. Reliance solely on others to tell us what vitamins we need and in what amount is all too common.

A basic understanding of vitamins and what they do is helpful in assuring a...

proper, good and well balanced diet. Along with that, follow the General RDA Recommendations and Guidelines, or Consult your Doctor or Health Care Provider for a Professional Opinion.

Truth is, even though we began to gain an understanding of vitamins around 250 years ago, it is a more recent event that accurate and precise information about vitamins and their effect on the human body has been documented. However and moreover, even this knowledge is subject to continuous and dynamic change in understanding.

Scurvy and Vitamin C

"Back in the day!" of sailing ships when a voyage would last for months, sailors were often inflicted with Scurvy. Sailors would become emaciated, weak, get sore gums, lose teeth, hemorrhage, and become anemic. Dr. James Lind then conducted an experiment with seamen of the British Navy by giving them the juice of orange and lemon. The sailors on those voyages refusing to consume the juice, subsequently became ill. Scurvy had been prevented in the others. There was something in the fruit that was effective against this Scurvy malady. Dr Lind then became persistent and the British Navy eventually became convinced to stock limes on all sailing vessels. Limes had been more readily available within the British Empire. Subsequently, the term “Limey” became attached to the seamen of the British Royal Navy. A Learned Name!

Beriberi and Thiamine Vitamin B 1

Similarly, about a hundred years later an experiment was conducted in the Japanese Navy. Dr Kanehiro Takaki thought the weakened sailors, dying from Beriberi, lacked adequate nourishment by consuming white and polished rice. He interjected milk and meat into the diet of some sailors, and those maintaining a strict rice diet became ill. This disease or malady caused the inflammation and subsequent degeneration of nerves. Beriberi is a malady that has been widespread in rice eating regions of the Far East. In very bad cases, Beriberi can result in heart failure. Christiaan Eijkman first demonstrated that symptoms of Beriberi were from diet conditions which then led to the discovery of vitamins.

Food Factor, Vitamins that are Fat-Soluble and Water-Soluble

Initially the food treatment for Beriberi was called an accessory food factor. Then, around 1920 the term Vitamin was adopted as the label for food factors. Vitamin quickly became the popular terminology. Next was the task of delineating the various vitamins that had been discovered. In the end it was split into a water-soluble factor and an oil-soluble factor.

Ex:

• Oil-Based Paint: Thinned with Turpentine, Paint Thinner or Mineral Spirits (Pretty much the same result, (go figure!)). Mineral Spirits also cleans the Oil-Based Paint laden Paint Brushes

• Water-Based Paint: Thinned with Water. Water also cleans the Water-Based Paint ladened Paint Brushes

The Fat-Soluble Factor became Vitamin A and the Water-Soluble anti-Beriberi Factor became Vitamin B and thus Vitamin B 1. The anti-Scurvy factor found in citrus fruits became Vitamin C. Subsequently, as new vitamins became discovered, succeeding letters of the alphabet were used. The next Vitamin listed was the fat-soluble Vitamin D. This oil-soluble Vitamin D had been found to prevent Rickets, a bone disease that causes bow-leggedness and knock-knees. Say that ten times fast! Foods that contain Vitamin D assist the body in absorbing calcium, which aids in the prevention of bone diseases.

Vitamins are organic nutrients that the body requires regularly and generally in small amounts. Vitamins are essential for growth and the subsequent maintenance of good health. The absence of these necessary Organic Nutrients or Vitamins in your food can create what are called Deficiency Diseases such as, but not limited to, Vitamin Deficiency.

Since vitamin deficiencies are known to cause maladies like Rickets, Scurvy and Beriberi, it is a good idea to eat right and supplement when necessary.