From A to E… Most vitamins are accompanied by a letter of the alphabet. Each has its role and its benefits on the body, which it preserves good health. There are thirteen of them and they have very varied chemical properties. But why are they listed in alphabetical order? Why are there no letters between E and K?
It was the discovery, in 1912, of an American biochemist of Polish origin named Casimir Funk who launched this naming practice. The researcher was then interested in patients suffering from beriberi disease. He then decided to name it “vitamin”, based on the association of “vit” as vital and “amine” which is the name of an organic compound. This discovery earned him four nominations for the Nobel Prize (without ever winning it).
American nutritionist Elmer McCollum and other scientists then conducted further experiments with Funk’s rice bran-derived nutrient, which they named vitamin B in reference to beriberi. Ultimately, this substance was actually made up of eight water-soluble vitamins, each of which was given an individual name, such as thiamine (vitamin B1), and numbered in the order of their discovery. Vitamin A was then identified in 1913 but we had to wait until the 1930s to determine its chemical structure and understand its beneficial role on our eyesight, our skin and our immune system.
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