Vitamins- final.docVIP

Vitamins Introduction The word vitamin comes from the Latin word vita, means life. Vitamins are organic compounds of low molecule weight. They are necessary for keeping natural physiological function, especially for intracellular specific metabolism. They can’t be synthesized in the body. They are not the material of the tissue. They exist in natural food in different form. They can’t supply energy. History From about 1500 BC it was known that various diseases could be treated with specific foods. Frederick Hopkins reported in 1906 that foods contain a small amount of growth factors needed to sustain growth and life itself. The general category of vitamins was defined as (1) substances found to be absolutely necessary for life (i.e., vital) and which (2) the body cannot synthesize on its own. In 1912 Cashmir Funk named these growth factors “vitamines”because they were required for life (vita) and because he found that thiamine isolated from rice husks contained nitrogen (called an amine - i.e., containing a nitrogen bound to three hydrogen atoms -NH3). Funks original term vitamine was changed to vitamin when many scientists identified, purified, and synthesized all of the vitamins and discovered they did not all contain nitrogen. In the 1930s a scientific discovery demonstrated the biochemical functions of the vitamins and established the bodys requirements for them. From then on, they have been commercially produced. Classification of Vitamins According to their solubility, they are classified into fat soluble vtamin and water soluble vitamin. FAT SOLUBLE A D E K WATER SOLUBLE B1- Thiamine B2 – Riboflavin B3 – Niacin B5 – pantothenic acid B6 –Pyridoxine B8 – biotin B 9-Folic acid B12 -CyanoCobalamin C vitamin (ascorbic acid) Water soluble Vitamins Water soluble (hydrophilic): B vitamins and vitamin C o??found in watery compartments of food o??moves directly into the blood after being absorbed o??can travel freely in the blood o?freely circulate