Vitamin discoveries began in the early nineteenth century and continued until the mid-twentieth century. The term “vitamine” was first coined by Casimir Funk back in 1912. Through the work and contributions of epidemiologists, physicians, physiologists, and chemists, the puzzle of each vitamin was solved one by one.

Research into the vitamins associated with major deficiencies began with the dominance of the germ theory of disease, and the dogma held that only four nutritional factors were essential: proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and minerals. However, clinicians soon recognized scurvy, beriberi, rickets, pellagra, and dry eye disease as specific vitamin deficiencies rather than diseases caused by infections or toxins. Experimental physiology using animal models played a fundamental role in nutritional research and greatly shortened the period of human suffering from vitamin deficiencies. Ultimately, it was chemists who isolated the various vitamins, deduced their chemical structures, and developed methods to synthesize them.

The discovery of vitamins is undoubtedly a major scientific achievement in our understanding of health and disease. The discovery of vitamins deepened our understanding of vitamins and, at the same time, paved the way for the development of dietary allowances, vitamin supplements, fortification of foods with vitamins, and a broader understanding of nutritional deficiencies.

Semba R. D. (2012). The discovery of the vitamins. International journal for vitamin and nutrition research. Internationale Zeitschrift fur Vitamin- und Ernahrungsforschung. Journal international de vitaminologie et de nutrition, 82(5), 310–315. [Link]