Vitamins are micro-nutrients. They were discovered by Eijkman (1897) in Indonesia, Java, while studying a disease called beriberi common among natives whose main diet was rice. He noticed that fowl fed on polished rice, developed beri beri, but not when fed on crudely milled rice.
In 1911 Funk obtained an alcoholic extract of the outer husk of rice which cured beri beri. This was thought to be a vital amine introducing the name vitamine. The “e” was later dropped to read “vitamin”.
Vitamins Functions And Sources:
As micro nutrients, vitamins are required in small quantities. Generally your body cannot manufacture or synthesize vitamins from scratch. So you need to get them from the food you eat or from supplement pills. Though, vitamins can be synthesized by some bacteria, yeast, mould, algae and some plant species. Some vitamins like vitamin B5 have been found to be synthesized by bacteria in the human large intestines. However it is not clear if the vitamins are available for absorption and use by the body.
