Look at any nutrition aisle in your local grocery store and you’ll be amazed by the variety you see. A literal alphabet of pills: A, B, Calcium, D & E, Fish Oils, Glucosamine, Huperzine A, Iron, Joint Support, Vitamin K, Lecithin, Magnesium, Nettle (of the stinging variety), Oregano, Potassium, Quercetin, Rose Hips, Saw Palmetto, Tocotrienol, Ubiquinone, Vitamin C, Whey, Yohimbe Bark and Zinc.

Alright… so I couldn’t find an X but I think you get the idea. There is a TON of stuff out there to spend your money on and it can all be a little overwhelming at times. However, once you filter out all the herbs, minerals and snake oil cures, you are left with the essential Vitamins: A & the Carotenoids, B, C, D, E and K.

Vitamins are organic compounds that are involved in every day bodily functions including: growth, metabolism and maintenance of health. While humans do synthesize small amounts of some vitamins, most are obtained exclusively through our diet. Those vitamins that are synthesized in our body, such as biotin (B7) made by the flora in our digestive tract, are made in such small amounts that dietary sources are still necessary for optimal amounts.

The word “vitamine” was first used in the early 20th century by Casimir Funk who isolated an amine substance from rice polishings that worked as an antiberiberi agent. Soon, other “accessory growth factors” were discovered like fat soluble A which became known as Vitamine A to distinguish it from Funk’s substance which became known as Vitamine B. Each Subsequent Vitamine discovered was given a letter designation and eventually, due to only a few of the substances being amines, the “e” was dropped and we were left with Vitamin A, B, C, D, E, and K.

Each vitamin is then categorized into water soluble or fat soluble varieties. B and C vitamins are water soluble, so daily intake of them is important as they are not stored within the body (with minor exceptions). Deficiencies in the fat soluble vitamins: A & Carotenoids, D, E and K are much less common since they are found and stored in many tissues throughout the body.

Each vitamin was originally thought to provide one specific activity. However, it is now known that they are active in many bodily functions. Niacin (B3) alone is used by over 200 enzymes throughout the body. New evidence also shows that Vitamin D, originally thought to be involved mainly in bone growth and strength, is important in many other aspects including inhibition of cancer cell proliferation. I will cover many of these functions in future posts specific to each individual vitamin, but for now, that is the short of it.