100 years of vitamins PETER ENGEL DSM Nutritional Products Europe Ltd. Member of AgroFOOD industry hi-tech's Scientific Advisory Board Peter Engel Vitamins are important! You probably remember your mother’s orders: Don’t forget to take your vitamins! We’ve all heard similar things but we seldom ask ourselves: What exactly are vitamins and why are they so important? Vitamins are essential organic compounds that the body cannot produce itself and must therefore be obtained through dietary means (exceptions: niacin and vitamin D). There are a total of 13 vitamins vital for many bodily functions, such as the formation of cells and bones and the strengthening of the immune system. Vitamins are designated both by their chemical structure and a letter in combination with a number. Alphabetical gaps have arisen because not all the substances which were originally identifi ed turned out to be single vitamins. Vitamins were discovered at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time, European rice hulling machines were brought to Asia to process rice. However, the hulling process stripped the rice of its vital nutritional elements. As a consequence, new health problems began emerging in the people and animals who relied upon the rice as a staple food. Typically, the symptoms included lower energy levels and signs of paralysis. This dietary defi ciency disease is known as beriberi. For a long time it was thought that food poisoning and infections were the causes of defi ciency diseases like beriberi. Inspired after reading an article on the illness, the Polish biochemist Casimir Funk set about discovering a suitable cure. Eventually Funk managed to identify and isolate a substance from rice bran that could cure patients. In 1912, he named this substance “vitamine” - a combination of “vita” (Latin for “life”) and “amine” (= nitrogen compound) - assuming that nitrogen compounds were the defi ning characteristics of this new substance group. Funk was widely expected to receive the Nobel Prize for his pioneering work, but in 1929 it went instead to Christiaan Eijkman of the Netherlands and Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins of England. For 100 years, the name “vitamins” has been an umbrella term for a group of organic micronutrients that play an essential From the Scientific Advisory Board role in our bodies. The majority of vitamins cannot be directly produced by the body and must therefore be obtained through dietary means (one of the very few exceptions is vitamin D). In the case of insuffi cient vitamin intake, the lack of these essential micronutrients can result in serious defi ciency illnesses, tiredness and susceptibility to infections. The history of vitamin-defi ciency diseases begins far earlier than the discovery of vitamins. Beriberi was described in China as early as 2600 BC. While sailing around Cape Horn at the end of the 15th century, Vasco da Gama lost more than 100 of his 160 crew members to scurvy, which is now understood to be caused by a serious vitamin C defi ciency. In 1645, there vol 23 n 2 was documentation of bone diseases that we now know were caused by a lack of vitamin D, i.e. by insuffi cient exposure - to sunlight, as a result of religious and cultural practices. Although the exact causes of such illnesses were not known at the time, there were already attempts to prevent and treat them. For instance, night blindness (caused by a lack of vitamin A) was already being treated with liver or liver extract (rich in vitamin A) in Egypt in 2500 BC. Even the hypothesis that sauerkraut (rich in vitamin C) could protect people from scurvy had already been established some 500 years ago. Dedicated research on vitamins, which began with the work of Funk 100 years ago, only took off in the fi rst half of the 20th March/April 2012 - century. During that period of time, scientists were able to identify and synthesize all 13 of the currently known vitamins, earning many of them the Nobel Prize. Since then, there has been a lot of research on the biological functions of vitamins and the intakes required by different population groups in order to stay healthy. Despite extensive knowledge now available on the crucial role of vitamins in the industry hi-tech body, vitamin defi ciencies are, unfortunately, not a thing of the past. In many developing countries people do not OOD have access to vitamin-rich foods, which F leads to high mortality rates and serious health gro A problems. However, micronutrient defi ciencies are not merely a problem for the developing world. Closer to home, in the world of abundant and modern lifestyles, vitamin defi ciencies are also surprisingly common. Comprehensive information campaigns, the fortifi cation of foods and nutritional supplementation are some of the attempts being made to close up the gaps in essential micronutrient intake - but these have only been partially successful. DSM works in partnership with other organizations, such as the World Food Programme (WFP), to help close up the gaps in essential micronutrient intakes and promote the imperative role of micronutrients in preventive health. The vitamins are now offi cially 100 years old and they will continue to make history for a long time yet. 2 .