It’s just dawned on me that after a life of being told to include enough vitamins in my diet that I haven’t a scooby what vitamins actually do. Can someone please why its important to have enough vitamins?
In: Biology
Scientists who studied diets would look at what a recommended balanced diet looked like and then start removing different elements one by one. When an animal would start to demonstrate certain effects from the lacking diet (compared to those receiving a normal diet), it would be determined that the missing element be considered as essential.
One guy named Casimir Funk (one of those names stuck in my noodle) found that a certain type of chemicals called “amines” were essential…or vital. He named them “vital amines” or “vitamins”.
Although vitamins are no longer strictly amines, each one has a different role in the body (skin, bones, neural networks). A lot of foods may start with vitamins in then, but due to heating, mashing, etc in the food processing, they can become ineffective. Because a lot of food travels long distances to reach us, or is heavily processed, it is recommended to supplement our diets with vitamins and other elements.
TLDR: each one is different and does different things.
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