• Question: What is in Vitamins?

    Asked by thivya to Daniel, Jon, Louise, Sharon, Zoe on 22 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Sharon Sneddon

      Sharon Sneddon answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      A vitamin is an organic chemical compound. They are normally NOT able to be made in sufficient quantities by us, so we must obtain them from our diet. This can vary between animals, for example, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is a vitamin for humans, but not for most other animals.There are 13 vitamins known at present.

      Vitamins all have different functions. Some have hormone-like functions (Vitamin D) or are regulators of cell and tissue growth (Vitamin A) Others function as antioxidants (e.g. vitamin E and sometimes vitamin C). The largest number of vitamins, B complex vitamins function help enzymes in their work as catalysts in metabolism.

      The term vitamin was historically derived from “vitamine,” a combination word from vita and amine, meaning amine of life.

    • Photo: Jon Copley

      Jon Copley answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      There are lots of different vitamins, and they all have different molecular structures – but they are all “organic molecules” (that has nothing to do with organic food, by the way). That means they are made of chains of carbon atoms, but each vitamin has different fiddly bits hanging off that carbon chain. Those differences mean that some vitamins can dissolve in water (like vitamin C), but some can only dissolve in fat (like vitamin E). That’s one reason why we need a varied diet to get all the vitamins we need.

      btw, here’s a webpage with pictures of the structures of different vitamins:

      http://chemistry.about.com/od/imagesclipartstructures/ig/Vitamin-Chemical-Structures/

    • Photo: Louise Dash

      Louise Dash answered on 21 Jun 2010:

      Vitamins are chemical compounds that we need to keep healthy – they’re all different. For example, vitamin C is also called ascorbic acid and has the chemical formula C6H8O6. I hope one of the biologists can tell you (and me!) about why they’re so important for our bodies!

    • Photo: Zoe Duck

      Zoe Duck answered on 22 Jun 2010:

      vitamins are things that the body needs to stay healthy but that it can’t make itself. This is why we need to get all our vitamins from the food we eat. Lack of some vitamins can cause health problems such as scurvy from lack of vitamin C and ricketts from lack of vitamin D.

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