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Dr. Casmir Funk discovered vitamins in the early 20th century, realizing that many diseases were caused by a lack of important nutrients. Vitamin naming began by assigning the next available letter of the English alphabet, with vitamin K being an exception due to its relation to German word koagulation. Some vitamins are identified by chemical names, and new vitamins are usually identified by their scientific name. Ongoing research continues to identify vitamins for human health.
The discovery and subsequent naming of vitamins originated at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The first identification of what became known as vitamins came about due to the research of Dr. Casmir Funk. Dr. Funk was trying to find a means to treat beriberi disease through nutritional means. His research led to the realization that many diseases were caused by a lack of important nutrients, which he called vitamins. As more was understood about the nature of these vitamins, the need to develop a consistent means of assigning vitamin names became apparent.
Vitamin naming began by simply assigning the next available letter of the English alphabet as the new vitamin was identified. Many vitamins, such as vitamin A and vitamin C, were simply assigned a letter in this way. One notable exception is vitamin K, which was first identified as part of research to treat problems related to human blood clotting. Discovered by German researchers, the designation of vitamin K took place for two reasons. First, the K designation was available at the time. Second, the designation became related to the German word koagulation, making the use of K as a designation a common sense approach.
It is important to note that the common names of many vitamins may or may not be used. This is due to the fact that the discovery of a vitamin sometimes occurred long before the scientific classification of the compound. In some cases, the chemical or scientific name of the vitamin is used. Therefore, the B vitamin family is often identified by chemical names, and less frequently by the successive designations of B1, B2, etc. In some cases, vitamins were originally assigned a letter as part of the designation, but were later moved to be included in another vitamin family. This is true of riboflavin, which was originally identified as vitamin G, but later reclassified to B2, due to its similarities to other B vitamins.
Today, it seems that there is no new identification of vitamins with a name that contains a single letter. More often, the discovery and scientific classification take place in a short period of time and the vitamin is usually identified by the scientific name. While there is not much prospect of adding more vitamins to the families for vitamin D and vitamin E, ongoing research continues to identify vitamins that aid in the healthy development and maintenance of the human body.
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