I’m eating cereal right now and it says it’s a good source of 5 B vitamins. You always see Vit B6 or B12. What are all these vitamins and why is there only one A or C vitamin?
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Vitamins are biological molecules that are not able to be created by the human body and which you need in small quantities for proper health. Inorganic compounds like iron, calcium, etc. as well as macronutrients (proteins, carbs, fats, etc) are excluded.
The vitamins were classified by letter during the early 1900s, before we knew what the chemicals physically looked like. At first, we mainly figured them out by looking at the different diseases caused by deficiency (for example, scurvy is caused by lack of Vitamin C).
Over time, we discovered that some vitamins were actually multiple very different compounds, so we started creating sub-assignments under the letter. That’s how we got some of the B’s.
There were also some vitamins that we later discovered weren’t actual vitamins, or were so similar to other vitamins that they didn’t really deserve their own letter. Vitamin H was renamed to B7. Vitamin F ended up being a type of fat. That’s why there are so many weird holes in the vitamin naming system nowadays.
Vitamins are biological molecules that are not able to be created by the human body and which you need in small quantities for proper health. Inorganic compounds like iron, calcium, etc. as well as macronutrients (proteins, carbs, fats, etc) are excluded.
The vitamins were classified by letter during the early 1900s, before we knew what the chemicals physically looked like. At first, we mainly figured them out by looking at the different diseases caused by deficiency (for example, scurvy is caused by lack of Vitamin C).
Over time, we discovered that some vitamins were actually multiple very different compounds, so we started creating sub-assignments under the letter. That’s how we got some of the B’s.
There were also some vitamins that we later discovered weren’t actual vitamins, or were so similar to other vitamins that they didn’t really deserve their own letter. Vitamin H was renamed to B7. Vitamin F ended up being a type of fat. That’s why there are so many weird holes in the vitamin naming system nowadays.
Vitamins are biological molecules that are not able to be created by the human body and which you need in small quantities for proper health. Inorganic compounds like iron, calcium, etc. as well as macronutrients (proteins, carbs, fats, etc) are excluded.
The vitamins were classified by letter during the early 1900s, before we knew what the chemicals physically looked like. At first, we mainly figured them out by looking at the different diseases caused by deficiency (for example, scurvy is caused by lack of Vitamin C).
Over time, we discovered that some vitamins were actually multiple very different compounds, so we started creating sub-assignments under the letter. That’s how we got some of the B’s.
There were also some vitamins that we later discovered weren’t actual vitamins, or were so similar to other vitamins that they didn’t really deserve their own letter. Vitamin H was renamed to B7. Vitamin F ended up being a type of fat. That’s why there are so many weird holes in the vitamin naming system nowadays.
In addition to what’s already been mentioned, there actually are numbers assigned to other families of vitamins. For example, there’s vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol), as well as K1 (phylloquinone) and K2 (menaquinone). However, in those cases, they’re very closely related chemically and serve similar biological functions, whereas the B vitamins are very different.
In addition to what’s already been mentioned, there actually are numbers assigned to other families of vitamins. For example, there’s vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol), as well as K1 (phylloquinone) and K2 (menaquinone). However, in those cases, they’re very closely related chemically and serve similar biological functions, whereas the B vitamins are very different.
In addition to what’s already been mentioned, there actually are numbers assigned to other families of vitamins. For example, there’s vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) and D3 (cholecalciferol), as well as K1 (phylloquinone) and K2 (menaquinone). However, in those cases, they’re very closely related chemically and serve similar biological functions, whereas the B vitamins are very different.
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I actually had a question about my B12 vitamin today… my vitamin D supplements come in 125% the daily dose (25 mcg) but my B12 has a whopping 35417% of the daily dose (850 mcg)!
Is there a reason for this?
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I actually had a question about my B12 vitamin today… my vitamin D supplements come in 125% the daily dose (25 mcg) but my B12 has a whopping 35417% of the daily dose (850 mcg)!
Is there a reason for this?
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