# Vitamin names **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2000, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784 "2000-01-04T03:10:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/977dab/32.png) [@Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/1 "2000-01-04T03:10:00Z")
How did the system of naming viamins with a letter come about? What’s the significance of the “A” in Vitamin A, “B12” in Vitamin B12, etc.? * * * “We need more monkeys!” ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/2 "2000-01-04T03:30:00Z")
You can thank Casimir Funk, the Polish biochemist, who thought that the chemical he was looking for that would prevent beriberi (which Vitamin A does) would be in the amines group. He called his substance a vitamine, meaning “an amine essential to life.” In English we dropped the final e, called them vitamins and called the first one Vitamin A, aka retinol. The ones with the subscripts stem from the fact that scientists orginially thought that there was just one Vitamin B. As it turned out, there were slight variations and so the names had to be readjusted. I suppose someone else knows why they skipped from E all the way to K. ---
**Author:** ![lvick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d07c76/32.png) [@lvick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lvick)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/3 "2000-01-04T04:56:00Z")
Actually, I believe it’s the B complex that prevent beri beri. IIRC it’s origin is in the Asian countries after they started whitening their rice. ---
**Author:** ![SoulFrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f07891/32.png) [@SoulFrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulFrost)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/4 "2000-01-04T05:09:00Z")
IIRC, some of the vitamins were named after the disease/condition they helped to prevent. Vitamin K, for instance was useful in preventing “konsumption”. That is, if I don’t have my facts all screwy. -David ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/5 "2000-01-04T06:24:00Z")
I’m not sure how well this answers your original question about the names, but here is a good general info site on vitamins: [http://www.cyber-north.com/vitamins/index.html](http://www.cyber-north.com/vitamins/index.html) I disagree, however with the statement the Vitamin K prevents konsumption. Consumption is an archaic term applied to fatal illnesses in which the patient rapidly lost weight towards the end stages. I have seen it in literary sources used for both TB and for cancers. If it were still in use today, AIDS might also be included. Vitamin K, on the other hand is needed for production of proteins that help your blood clot when needed. I suppose the K in Vitamin K could be from koagulopathie (German for coagulopathy, or clotting disorder), but do not know this as fact. * * * Sue from El Paso Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/6 "2000-01-04T06:58:00Z")
Ivick was correct, beriberi is caused by a thiamine deficiency. If you had a vitamin A deficiency, your most likely symptom would be night blindness. However, Funk was looking for the chemical that prevented beriberi. I suppose that vitamin A was identified first. Vitamin K assists in blood clotting. You don’t need much of it and very few people suffer from deficiencies of it. But does anyone ever get scurvy now? Are there places in the world where people don’t get enough Vitamin C? ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2000, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/7 "2000-01-04T07:08:00Z")
I followed up my own inquiry about scurvy and it’s fairly rare now in adults. It does occur in children who have poor diets, and adults under “great physiological stress”, which meant people with serious infections or cancer. Scurvy is diagnosed with a urine test. You have to save all your pee for 24 hours and then it is tested to see if you excreted the proper amount of Vitamin C. ---
**Author:** ![Louie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Louie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Louie)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2000, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/8 "2000-01-05T04:08:00Z")
> [@](#): > > But does anyone ever get scurvy now? Are there places in the world where people don’t get enough Vitamin C? I remember a news report a year ago where there were cases of scurvy in college dorms across the country. ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2000, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/9 "2000-01-05T06:59:00Z")
EB says: > [@](#): > > Letters originally were assigned to the vitamins, which were differentiated according to physiological function. As chemical structures of the vitamins became known, however, they were also given names and now are commonly known either by letter or by name Those punks at IUPAC are in charge of giving vitamins their “proper” names like ascorbic acid and riboflavin. By the way, the “K” in Vitamin K is for _koagulation_, which is Danish for… ok duh. * * * Some mornings it’s just not worth chewing through the leather straps. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2000, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/10 "2000-01-05T14:40:00Z")
Am I the only one who knows about the powers of goldenseal? 2 side effects(sex,and no drugs showing up in a pee test) ---
**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2000, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/11 "2000-01-05T15:23:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Am I the only one who knows about the powers of goldenseal? 2 side effects(sex,and no drugs showing up in a pee test) Yeah, and Microsoft will pay you money if you forward this e-mail to ten friends… Several websites warn against this “urban myth”. Frontier Goldenseal [http://www.frontiercoop.com/goldenseal/](http://www.frontiercoop.com/goldenseal/) and several others warn that overconsumption of this plant due to this myth is putting it on the endangered plant species list. And it’s not all that benign, either: > [@](#): > > Goldenseal is to be taken internally only as needed. When taken it should be in small amounts for a limited period,(about 10 days). Reports of damage to internal organs should stop humans from using this wonderful herb in large amounts. Rumors of its ability to have the user pass a urine test for employment are false to our knowledge and the consequences could be life threatening. And it’s certainly NOT a vitamin. * * * If a way to do a job wrong exists, someone someday will do it that way. - Capt. Edward Aloysius Murphy Jr. (yes, THAT Murphy) Developmental Engineer, Edwards AFB, 1941 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2000, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vitamin-names/5784/12 "2000-01-05T15:37:00Z")
I’m sorry,but my former husband did use it.And he did keep smoking up til his tests. It never showed up.