Vitamin Time

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Most people, I think, could benefit from adding quality supplements
to their diet. Proponents of supplementation will tell you a lot of the problem with our food supply is that it's being grown in soil depleted of minerals. Personally I don't know that for sure, having never seen the research. What I do know is how much difference supplements have made in my life. If I forget my vitamins one day, I'm dragging by nightfall. And if it happens two days running, by the afternoon I have a serious case of brain fog and a nagging ache behind my eyes. Not pretty. If I'm taking my supplements, on the other hand, I generally have enough energy to run (not walk) up my stairs and to keep up with the grandkids.

There are 13 vitamins, denoted by letters of the alphabet. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat-soluble. The 8 B vitamins and vitamin C are water soluble. Vitamins are necessary for the body to function properly, yet it can only produce two of these vitamins D and K, for itself, and then only under certain conditions. So the only place for us to get the vitamins we need is to ingest them, either in our food or in the form of supplements. The water soluble vitamins in particular are "washed" out of the body more quickly than the fat-soluble ones, and need to be ingested more often.
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So What are Vitamins, Anyway?

Vitamins are nutrients necessary for the regulation of many different bodily functions in animals and humans. They are important for the formation of tissues, blood cells, genetic material, hormones and chemicals for the nervous system. Vitamins can either be catalysts or coenzymes. As catalysts, vitamins bind with proteins to produce enzymes that will in turn produce essential chemical reactions within the body. As coenzymes, they act as chemical carriers from one body cell to the next.

Why we need vitamins

The human body can only produce one type of vitamin naturally and that is Vitamin D. Vitamin K can be produced by a type of bacteria in the gut. The other vitamins must be taken either through diet or supplements. The benefits of vitamins were discovered by using deprivation studies. Scientists were able to isolate different vitamins and determine that deficiencies led to certain illnesses, health risks and birth defects. As science progressed, vitamins made the jump from their natural sources such as plants and animals and became available in pill form.

Today, 13 different vitamins have been identified. They are categorized as either fat soluble or water soluble. Fat soluble vitamins include Vitamins A, D, E and K and water soluble vitamins include the Vitamin B group and Vitamin C.

Fat soluble vitamins, when they enter the body, are absorbed by the intestinal tract. They then join the bloodstream. Fat soluble vitamins are more difficult for the body to dissolve and excess amounts are often stored in the liver or in the body's fat. This means that it's not necessary to consume fat soluble vitamins every day.

Water soluble vitamins, on the other hand, are more readily expelled by the body through urine. Because they can't be stored, it's often necessary that they are taken more frequently.
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Whole Foods Companion:
A Guide For Adventurous Cooks, Curious Shoppers, and lovers of natural foods

While vitamin supplements can often help replenish the body's supply, the best sources of vitamins still come from fruits, vegetables and animal products. The problem is that in today's fast-paced society, people seldom take the time to eat as well as they should. Processed foods as faster to prepare than foods from scratch. Boxed and canned foods are also more convenient than fresh foods because they don't spoil as readily. The result is that people are seldom getting enough vitamins in the food they eat.

To compound the problem, most of our modern fruits and vegetables are being produced on land that has been used for years. The soil becomes increasingly more depleted of vital nutrients. Only a handful of these are replenished by commercial fertilizers. So today's fresh produce isn't as vitamin and nutrient rich as it was 100 years ago. Added to that, heat and light are culprits in destroying vitamins in food. So if food is stored improperly or cooked too long, even more nutrients are lost.

The solution, of course, is to use good vitamins and minerals to supplement our modern diet. Whole food vitamins are by far the best type, because they contain all the nutrients--vital and trace--that are found in the fruits and vegetables from which they are made.
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Vitamins as we know them today were largely unknown thousands of years ago and whatever nutrients and benefits vitamins give were only received through the ingestion of food. Some of the ancient civilizations discovered through observation, experimentation or purely by accident that some foods seemed to offer relief or cures for certain illnesses and ailments. Ancient Egyptian doctors, for example, would prescribe liver to patients suffering from night blindness.

Certain vitamin benefits were also discovered long before they were named. The benefits of citrus fruits, for example, a known source of Vitamin C, was first extolled in the mid 1700s long before it was known that vitamins existed. It was first used to prevent and cure scurvy. Although successful, the practice was initially met with skepticism.

Then, in 1897, a Dutch scientist named Christiaan Eijkman discovered that unpolished rice helped prevent beriberi. The next year, another scientist, Frederick Hopkins, coined the term 'accessory factors', unknown substances that certain foods contained which contributed to health and well being.

It was only in the early 1900s when a Polish biochemist named Kazimierz Funk was able to isolate and identify a complex group of micronutrients. In 1912, the name 'vitamine' was proposed and used, considered to refer to what Hopkins called 'accessory factors'. The name was later changed to 'vitamin' in 1920.
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