MICRONUTRIENTS -VITAMINS
Hi friends!
As part 2 of the micronutrients article series, this article is about vitamins.
To view another article in the series, please click the article of interest below:
Micronutrients 1 – What The Body Really Needs
The vitamins
The term vitamin was defined by the biochemist Casimir Funk in 1912. He investigated a mysterious illness from the far-east, the Beri-Beri, and found the deficiency of a certain compound to be the reason for the disease. He isolated the substance of interest and called it thiamin, which is also known as vitamin B1. He also recognized that the compound is a kind of amin (a compound that contains nitrogen). He assumed that this amin was a vital substance, which is why he called it vitamin.
The vitamins count as micronutrients since they do not deliver energy to the body (in contrast to the macronutrients, i.e. carbohydrates, protein, and fats). However, they are mandatory for survival.
The vitamins must be taken in through nutrition, some of which are provitamins, which are transformed into their active form through metabolic processes within the body.
The substances known as vitamins today do not belong to one homogenous, biochemical group. They are rather part of very variable pharmacologic classes. Some discovered vitamins from the past have even been removed from the list, which explains the gaps in the entire vitamin list.
However, the vitamins still have some common features. All vitamins are biochemical substances that are mandatory and essential for proper body function, while the body is not able to synthesize them. This leads to different substances defined as vitamins depending on the species. Many animals, in contrast to humans, can produce their own vitamin C. Thus, this compound is not defined as a vitamin for them, but for us, as we cannot produce it on our own.
The vitamin’s functions
The functions and tasks of the vitamins are very variable in the body. Many of them act as so-called coenzymes. They are connected to enzymes to regulate and accelerate metabolic processes. Vitamins interfere with many metabolic processes through catalytic activity. They are mandatory for proper carbohydrate, protein, and fat metabolism.
Vitamins are also involved in energy generation processes, regulate cell division processes, modify the immune system and regulate the synthesis of blood and tissue cells.
Vitamin B1, for instance, is involved in energy generation from carbohydrate metabolism, vitamin B12 accelerates many body functions, vitamin A is a very important part of the visual cells within the retina and vitamin K is mandatory for hemostasis and proper blood coagulation.
Examples of vitamins that act without an enzyme are vitamins C and E. These vitamins act predominantly as antioxidants by catching free radicals. Vitamin D acts similarly to hormones and regulates potassium absorption from the intestines.
Scientifically accepted vitamins and “pseudo-vitamins”
Today, there are 13 scientifically accepted vitamins (see box below). However, there are different substances, which are sometimes called vitamins, whose vitamin-like behavior is not (yet) scientifically proven.
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An example of this pseudo-vitamins is vitamin B17. The active agent in vitamin B17 is amygdalin, a cyanide-releasing compound. Vitamin B17 has been removed from the German market due to danger considerations, but some reports state its positive effects. I cannot give a final statement on vitamin B17 here.
Another member of the pseudo-vitamin family is vitamin B22. This compound shall be found in the Aloe vera plant.
A mixture of different flavonoids has been called vitamin P, the permeability vitamin.
Vitamins are essential substances that play an important role in the human body.
The next article will cover vitaminoids in contrast to vitamins.
Enjoy it