Vitamins – the basics : Vitamins
Article by Mark Kimathi
Vitamins are micro-nutrients. They were discovered by Eijkman (1897) in Indonesia, Java, while studying a disease called beriberi common among natives whose main diet was rice. He noticed that fowl fed on polished rice, developed beri beri, but not when fed on crudely milled rice.
In 1911 Funk obtained an alcoholic extract of the outer husk of rice which cured beri beri. This was thought to be a vital amine introducing the name vitamine. The “e”… Continue reading