Vitamins are Important to Good Health
April 19, 2013
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow gives a child a dose of vitamin A, to help boost immunity, during a UNICEF-sponsored immunization Goma, capital of North Kivu Province.
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Bob Doughty.
And I’m Faith Lapidus. This week, we tell about vitamins.
Many jobs must be done with two people. One person takes the lead. The other helps. It is this cooperation that brings success.
So it is with the human body. Much of our good health depends on the cooperation between substances. When they work together, chemical reactions take place smoothly. Body systems are kept in balance.
Some of the most important helpers in the job of good health are the substances we call vitamins.
The word “vitamin” dates back to Polish scientist Casimir Funk in 1912. He was studying a substance in the hull that covers rice. This substance was believed to cure a disorder called beriberi.
Funk believed the substance belonged to a group of chemicals known as amines. He added the Latin word "vita," meaning life. So he called the substance a “vitamine” -- an amine necessary for life.
Funk was not able to separate the anti-berberi substance from the rice hulls. It was later shown to be thiamine. Other studies found that not all vitamines were amines. So the name was shortened to vitamin. But Funk was correct in recognizing their importance.
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