A, B, C, D and more… These were not always called as we know them.

Maybe the name couldn’t be found, maybe it was just to make it easy to remember. But how were these letters chosen and Why have vitamins been renamed over time?

Vitamins are organic compounds that are essential for our health and bodily functions.

The discovery and naming of these vitamins also points to a very interesting journey in the world of science. This discovery of moleculestook place during one of the most exciting eras of science, and their naming has evolved over time.

Discovery of vitaminsIt started with research to understand why animals get certain diseases. In the early 20th century, scientists studied diseases caused by nutrient deficiencies in animals and suggested that some “unknown factors” were needed to prevent them.

One of the first vitamin discoveries was by scientist Cornelius Adrianus Pekelharing.

Cornelius Adrianus Pekelharing

In 1905 he noted which substances in milk are necessary for growth. Then another scientist Casimir FunkAs a result of his research on rice in 1912, he defined vitamins as “an amine-like organic factor” and thus introduced us to the term vitamin.

The adventure of naming vitamins, It started when Funk isolated a molecule. This molecule was simply called “vitamin B” because it cured beriberi.

Other vitamins were soon discovered: First vitamin A, then C, D and E… Vitamin K got its name as an abbreviation for clotting because it plays a role in blood clotting. In other words, the vitamin was named with the initials of the disease it was good for.

Later, this naming system changed due to better learning about the properties of vitamins.

In 1920, Jack Cecil Drummond used methods to distinguish vitamins from amines. Removing the letter “E” from the vitamin and suggested removing the adjective ‘solvable’. With this suggestion, vitamins switched to a simpler naming system.

According to the new system, vitamins, as we know, It started to be called with names like “A, B, C”. Over time, as the differences between them became apparent, vitamins began to be renamed and grouped under the complex, such as vitamin B.

In this complex B1 (Thiamine), B2 (Riboflavin), B3 (Niacin), B5 (Pantothenic Acid), B6 ​​(Pyridoxine), B7 (Biotin), B9 (Folic Acid) and B12 (Cobalamin) took place.

Of course, the naming of these vitamins has become more sophisticated today.

With the reclassification of some vitamins, several leaps have also been made, such as from vitamin E to vitamin K. For example, while vitamin F now refers to essential fatty acids; Vitamin G was considered B2 and Vitamin H was called Biotin.

As you can see, at first naming system that starts with an alphabetical systemOver time it became simpler and more understandable and took the form we use today.

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