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Vitamins were first discovered in the early 1900s when chemists first found that certain micro nutrients were essential to life. These nutrients are needed by the body in tiny amounts. They do not take the place of the macro nutrients your body needs for fuel on a daily basis, like protein, carbohydrates and fat. However, without adequate levels of vitamins, your body cannot function properly. They work as catalysts, or helpers, and aid your body's metabolic processes, converting the macro nutrients to body tissue and energy. Vitamins are essential for growth, vitality, proper aging and for immune system strength. They help all sorts of organs and body systems function properly.
Researchers Used to Think All Vitamins Could Be Supplied As Pure Components
In the beginning of the study of vitamins, some researchers thought that all vitamins could be supplied in synthetic forms produced in factories, but we now know that they do not exist in single, pure components, but as part of a complex. These complexes contain many "cofactors" such as enzymes & coenzymes and trace minerals that are essential to making the vitamin work properly. B vitamins, for example, are found in different proportions in different foods, but they all work together and when we take the individual synthetic B vitamins by themselves, such as B1 or B2, it seems to upset that balance in our body.
Nutritionists Now Recommend Whole Food Nutritional Supplements
This is why some nutritionists now recommend getting all of your vitamins from either nutrient dense whole foods or 100% whole food nutritional supplements. Ideally, we would get them all from foods that we eat, and none from supplements. However, in today's world, even those who try to eat well may not have access to nutrient dense foods. Furthermore, we have much higher requirements for some of the vitamins & minerals, especially antioxidants, because of the increase in stress in our lives and chemicals in our environment today. Lastly, the nutritional values of our food have declined over the last century, as "agribusiness" produces more and more of our food, with an eye to profit, not producing nutrient-dense foods. Hence the need for nutritional supplements for most of us today.
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