1. In 1911, the Polish biochemist Casimir Funk first introduced the term “vitamin” – from Latin. vita – “life” and English amine – “amine”, a nitrogen-containing compound. That’s what he called a crystal drug, a small amount of which cured beriberi’s disease.
2. The importance of certain types of food to prevent certain diseases has been known since ancient times. So, the ancient Egyptians knew that the liver helps with chicken blindness (it is now known that chicken blindness can be caused by a lack of vitamin A). In 1330, in Beijing, Hu Sihui published a three-volume work “Important Principles of Food and Beverages”, which systematized knowledge about the therapeutic role of nutrition and argued the need to diversify the diet to maintain health. But it was only in the 20th century that science discovered the role of certain substances in maintaining the body in a normal state.
3. Today it is known about the existence of 13 vitamins.
4. The last currently known vitamin B12 was discovered in 1948.
5. The liver of a polar bear contains so much vitamin A that its use can lead to death. For this reason, it is customary for Eskimos to bury it so that the liver is not eaten by dogs.
6. If you hold bananas in the sun, their vitamin D content will increase.
7. Vitamin A deficiency is estimated to affect about a third of children under the age of five worldwide.
8. Vegetables and fruits are a source of only three vitamins: C, beta-carotene and folic acid. Most of the vitamins necessary for our body are contained in cereals, legumes and animal products – meat, milk, fish, offal.
9. In the manufacture of wheat flour of the highest grades, up to 80-90% of the vitamins contained in the original grain are lost. But rye bread and wheat bread made from coarse flour with bran are very rich in vitamins.
10. Vitamins in vegetables and fruits plucked from the beds, at room temperature, are rapidly destroyed under the influence of light and oxygen. For example, spinach and parsley, rich in vitamin C, lose it up to 80% in two days. If the greens are stored in the refrigerator, the losses will be only 8%. So the greens that have been on the market for a couple of days most likely contain almost no vitamins.