Vitamins are important nutrients that help your body function properly. They all have different roles to play and a deficiency of any one vitamin can lead to a number of nasty side effects. Whilst they are all equally important, vitamin D is perhaps even more important over Christmas. In this article I will be discussing why vitamin D is particularly important over the festive period and how you can make sure that you get enough. As I discussed in my previous article on vitamin D it is one of the fat soluble vitamins. The main role of vitamin D is to help the body absorb calcium and … [Read more...]
Can Vitamin C Help You Avoid Christmas Colds?
As I discussed in my last article we are more susceptible to both the common cold and flu around Christmas time when the weather goes cold. Whilst there is no cure for the common cold or the flu there are a number of popular suggestions for preventing it. One such suggestions is to take high doses of vitamin C. Today, I will be discussing if vitamin C really can help prevent the common cold and any of the other potential benefits it can offer you over this Christmas period. In my previous post on vitamin C I mentioned that one of the benefits is that it can reduce the symptoms of the … [Read more...]
Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid) Explained
Vitamin C (also known as ascorbic acid) is a water soluble vitamin and is probably the most well known vitamin of them all. The discovery of vitamin C was the result of a search for a cure for scurvy (a disease which leads to problems with the connective tissue now known to be caused by a lack of vitamin C). Scurvy has been reported to affect explorers, sailors and soldiers throughout history. This is now thought to be because they stuck to a diet of dry biscuits and salted beef. They did not often take fruit and vegetables with them on their travels because they were not easy to preserve … [Read more...]
Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin) Explained
Vitamin B12 (also known as cobalamin) is a water soluble vitamin and part of the B complex group (a group of eight vitamins that were initially thought to be the singular vitamin B). Like many of the other vitamins the discovery of vitamin B12 was the result of research into a cure for a disease. This time researchers were searching for a way to treat pernicious anemia (a lack of red blood cells in the body which is now known to be caused by vitamin B12 deficiency). Up until the 1920s this condition often resulted in death. However, in 1926 George Richards Minot and William Perry Murphy … [Read more...]
Vitamin B9 (Folic Acid) Explained
Vitamin B9 (also known as folic acid) is a water soluble vitamin and part of the B complex group (eight vitamins that were initially thought to be the singular vitamin B). It was first noticed in 1930 when Lucy Willis and her group of researchers realised that yeast based tonic and crude liver extracts could help prevent macrocytic anemia (a condition where the red blood cells are larger than normal leading to a low number of red blood cells in the body) in pregnant women. Other researchers came forward with similar discoveries of a compound which could prevent anemia (a low number of red … [Read more...]
Vitamin B7 (Biotin/Vitamin H) Explained
Vitamin B7 (also known as biotin or vitamin H) is a water soluble vitamin and part of the B complex group (eight vitamins that were initially thought to be the singular vitamin B). The discovery of vitamin B7 dates back to the 1927 when M.A. Boas realised that feeding rats raw eggs for several weeks would lead to a condition called 'egg white injury' (where they would develop a skin condition similar to eczema, lose all their hair, become paralysed and bleed under their skin). Soon after this Boas discovered that a substance in liver which he named 'protective factor x' could treat 'egg … [Read more...]
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine) Explained
Vitamin B6 (also known as pyridoxine) is a water soluble vitamin and part of the B complex group (a group of eight vitamins which were first thought to be the singular vitamin B). It was first discovered when scientists were looking for a vitamin that would cure acrodynia (a skin inflammation) in rats. The acrodynia in the rats appeared to resemble pellagra (a disease where the skin becomes red and rough). Since scientists already knew that pellagra was caused by a lack of vitamin B3 and could be used to treat the condition, they assumed that B3 could also be used to treat acrodynia. In … [Read more...]
Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid) Explained
Vitamin B5 (also known as pantothenic acid) is a water soluble vitamin which is part of the B complex group (eight vitamins which were initially all thought to be vitamin B). It was first noticed by R.J. Williams in 1933 as a growth factor in yeast. In 1939 Richard Kuhn isolated vitamin B5 but it got little attention till over 10 years later. In the 1950s scientists performed further research into the effect vitamin B5 had on humans by feeding volunteers a diet that was deficient in the vitamin. After a few weeks on the diet the volunteers complained that they felt weak and unwell. … [Read more...]
Vitamin B3 (Niacin) Explained
Vitamin B3 (also known as niacin) is water soluble vitamin that is part of the B complex group of vitamins (a group of eight individual vitamins which were initially thought to be a singular vitamin B). The discovery of vitamin B3 is linked with a disease called pellagra (which causes the skin to become red and rough and can ultimately prove fatal). In the 1900s this disease was nearly epidemic and there were a number of rumours circulating regarding how it was caused. In 1915 Dr Joseph Goldberger linked the disease with diet. He added lean meat, eggs, milk or yeast to the diets of some … [Read more...]
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin) Explained
Vitamin B2 (also known as riboflavin) is a water soluble, B complex vitamin (a group of vitamins that were initially thought to be the singular vitamin B) that was first noticed in 1879 when a fluorescent yellow-green coloured pigment was found in milk. However, no one knew what this pigment actually did. In 1920 researchers heated food stuffs containing vitamin B (which we now know as the eight B complex vitamins) and found that the heat destroyed the beriberi preventing effect (now known as vitamin B1). However, it did not destroy the growth promoting effect as quickly which prompted … [Read more...]