The discovery of vitamin

Vitamins found to be one of the great discoveries of the 20th century. In 1897, C. Ackerman in Java can be found suffering from eating fine grinding of the rice beriberi, without the milling of brown rice to treat this disease. And found that can cure beriberi substance can be water or alcohol extraction, then known as the substance as "water-soluble B". 1906, except that the food contains proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, inorganic salts and water, other than the "secondary factors", its volume is small, but essential for animal growth. 1911 C. Fonck can be identified in the brown rice in the fight against beriberi substance amines (a class of nitrogen-containing compounds), it is necessary to sustain life, so the proposal named "Vitamine". Namely Vital (life) amine (amine), the Chinese meaning "life amine." Successively later found that many vitamins, their chemical properties are different physiological functions are different; also found that many of the basic vitamins contain amines, does not contain nitrogen, but the continued use of the naming of Fonck down, but the last letter "e" removed. The initial discovery was later confirmed to be vitamin B vitamin B complex, separated by the purification revealed that several substances, but the nature and distribution of food is similar, and the majority of coenzyme. Some of supply to be balanced with each other, such as vitamin B1, B2 and PP, otherwise, can affect physiological functions. Vitamin B complex include: pantothenic acid, niacin, biotin, folic acid, vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12). Some people will also be choline, inositol, p-amino benzoic acid (p-amino benzoic acid), carnitine, lipoic acid, including the B complex in vivo.