Vitamins are essential for the body’s proper functioning, helping to synthesize and transport nutrients and maintain balance. Insufficient intake can lead to diseases such as rickets, beriberi, scurvy, and pernicious anemia. A balanced diet with fruits and vegetables is important for adequate vitamin intake.
Vitamins are one of the most important nutrients for the proper functioning of the human body. While vitamins don’t provide energy like carbohydrates or act as building blocks for tissue growth like proteins, they help synthesize and transport nutrients throughout the body, as well as keep systems in balance. Insufficient intake of vitamins can lead to disease; The connection between vitamins and deficiency diseases is well known in conditions such as rickets, beriberi, scurvy and pernicious anemia. For example, ingesting too little vitamin C can lead to scurvy. A balanced diet with fruits and vegetables helps ensure adequate vitamin intake.
Rickets is a disease caused primarily by a lack of adequate vitamin D, and its symptoms include weak bones, stunted skeletal development, and frequent muscle cramps. The relationship between vitamins and deficiency diseases can be seen when the body doesn’t get enough vitamin D from sunlight, calcium, or phosphates. These substances also act as electrolytes or compounds that transmit electrical impulses through the nervous system. When the body doesn’t get calcium from food, it draws from the skeletal system. The calcium and phosphorus that provide vitamin D are found in milk and leafy greens, or you can take vitamin supplements.
Beriberi also demonstrates the connection between vitamins and deficiency diseases. Thiamine, or vitamin B1, is a key substance in the breakdown of glucose and other energy molecules. It also functions as a conductor for neural impulses by making neural receptors more active. Without adequate B1 intake, symptoms such as lethargy, slurred speech, rapid heart rate, and lack of muscle coordination can occur. Dry beriberi affects the nervous system, while wet beriberi affects the cardiovascular system.
During the Age of Exploration in the early 15th and 17th centuries, scurvy was a common disease in sailors due to lack of vitamin C in their diet. Scurvy is the result of the body not absorbing iron, not making enough collagen to maintain tissue elasticity, and therefore not maintaining the immune system. Initial symptoms are poor appetite, diarrhea, and weight loss; As the disease progresses, bleeding of the gums and other mucous membranes, tooth decay, skin disorders, and infection of the cartilage and connective tissue occur. Historically, scurvy was often fatal when sailors lacked access to citrus fruits as these provided the greatest amount of vitamin C.
The connection between vitamins and deficiency diseases also includes pernicious anemia, which occurs when the body’s red blood cell count decreases. This happens when there isn’t enough combalamine, or vitamin B12, in the body. Vitamin B12 normally combines with a protein called intrinsic factor, which is secreted in the stomach. When the combined B12 and intrinsic factor reach the small intestine, the substance is absorbed and converted into red blood cells.
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