Our body requires vital elements including carbohydrates, proteins, minerals, fats and vitamins. The discovery of vitamins was a major scientific achievement in our understanding of health and diseases. Research flourished between early 19th century and mid-20th century resulting in plenty of discoveries.
British biochemist Frederick Hopkins conducted an experiment on rats by feeding them an artificial mixture of the known constituents of milk such as carbohydrates, proteins and fat. He found that rats died when they were fed the mixture of these ingredients, but thrived when fed real milk. Hopkins concluded that to grow, animals need another substance in their diet that was described as accessory factors.
In 1912, Polish biochemist Casimir Funk identified one of these in rice. On finding that it was a chemical called an amine, he proposed the name ‘vita mine’. Though all vitamins are not amines, the name Funk suggested was adopted after removing the ‘e’ from the end.
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