# What happened to vitamins F, G, H, I, and J? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [January 23, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811 "2015-01-23T14:48:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/1 "2015-01-23T14:48:59Z")
> **[What happened to vitamins F, G, H, I, and J?](https://www.straightdope.com/21344299/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j)** I’m reminded of a passage from _ **Charlie and the Chocolate Factory** _, when Willie Wonka proposes a plan for un-shrinking Mike Teavee: > [@](#): > > All we’ll have to do is give him a triple overdose of my wonderful Supervitamin Candy. Supervitamin Candy contains huge amounts of vitamin A and vitamin B. It also contains vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin F, vitamin C, vitamin I, vitamin J, vitamin K, vitamin L, vitamin M, vitamin N, vitamin O, vitamin P, vitamin Q, vitamin R, vitamin T, vitamin U, vitamin V, vitamin W, vitamin X, vitamin Y, and, believe it or not, vitamin Z! The only two vitamins it doesn’t have in it are vitamin S, because it makes you sick, and vitamin H, because it makes you grow homs out of the top of your head, like a bull. But it does have in it a very small amount of the rarest and most magical vitamin of them all- > vitamin Wonka.” > > “And what will that do to him?” asked Mr. Teavee anxiously. > > “It’ll make his toes grow out until they’re as long as his fingers. ---
**Author:** ![waddlingeagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4da419/32.png) [@waddlingeagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waddlingeagle)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/2 "2015-01-23T15:12:06Z")
Vitamins are not always a first world solution to a third world problem. Some medications, such as blood thinners, are difficult to stabilize unless the patient eats about the same amount of vitamins every day. The easiest way to do this is to take a multi-vitamin while avoiding foods like spinach. ---
**Author:** ![bertzpoet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c68b51/32.png) [@bertzpoet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bertzpoet)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/3 "2015-01-23T19:21:49Z")
There’s the old joke of the doctor who ran out of vitamin B12, so he gave the patient two doses of vitamin B6. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/4 "2015-01-25T01:28:03Z")
> **[What happened to vitamins F, G, H, I, and J?](https://www.straightdope.com/21344299/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j)** Interesting column - I learned a lot. As there are female priests or ministers in quite a few Protestant denominations (including my own, Episcopalianism), perhaps the word “Catholic” might be added to the end of the paragraph, “The second half of the alphabet gets even messier: the bulk of the later would-be vitamins proved not to figure significantly in human growth and consequently were stripped of their status faster than a female priest.” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/5 "2015-01-25T02:01:06Z")
Wouldn’t that be a priestess? What we have here is further evidence that Cecil, or at least Ed, grew up Roman Catholic. Back then we tended to handwave away other Christian sects as “some sort of Protestants,” giving them as much attention or respect as gnats. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/6 "2015-01-25T03:31:06Z")
“Vitamin O goes all but unmentioned in the literature (meaning the name is available should Oprah pursue a career as a DJ).” Funny quote! Not up there with ignorance/Corn Flakes/General Mills, nor with “carnal union with a mango,” but funny. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/7 "2015-01-25T04:56:28Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Wouldn’t that be a priestess? What we have here is further evidence that Cecil, or at least Ed, grew up Roman Catholic. Back then we tended to handwave away other Christian sects as “some sort of Protestants,” giving them as much attention or respect as gnats. 😃 Understood, but no, they’re still called priests: [Ordination of women in the Anglican Communion - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordination_of_women_in_the_Anglican_Communion#Ordination_of_priests) ---
**Author:** ![jezzaOZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jezzaOZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jezzaOZ)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/8 "2015-01-26T05:47:33Z")
Out of curiousity would a male Catholic Priest who underwent a sex-change operation be defrocked ? ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/9 "2015-01-26T10:30:18Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > As there are female priests or ministers in quite a few Protestant denominations (including my own, Episcopalianism), perhaps the word “Catholic” might be added to the end of the paragraph, “The second half of the alphabet gets even messier: the bulk of the later would-be vitamins proved not to figure significantly in human growth and consequently were stripped of their status faster than a female priest.” But he didn’t say “or ministers”, so the statement doesn’t apply to the “quite a few” Protestant denominations which believe in the “priesthood of all believers”. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/10 "2015-01-27T02:16:44Z")
> [@jezzaOZ](#): > > Out of curiousity would a male Catholic Priest who underwent a sex-change operation be defrocked ? In a manner of speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/11 "2015-01-27T03:47:51Z")
> [@jezzaOZ](#): > > Out of curiousity would a male Catholic Priest who underwent a sex-change operation be defrocked ? Wouldn’t this fall under the prohibition on eunuch priests? ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2015, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/12 "2015-01-27T03:57:19Z")
During the debate in the 70s over the ordination of women as priests in the Episcopal Church in the USA, the word “priestess” was used enough as an insult to guarantee that it would not be picked up when it actually happened, especially since feminists at the time were campaigning broadly against “-ess” and “-trix” words generally. ---
**Author:** ![jezzaOZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9a28c/32.png) [@jezzaOZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jezzaOZ)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/13 "2015-01-29T10:23:53Z")
Answering my own question, the answer is yes, a surgically female Catholic Priest can still continue as a priest. [http://www.tgcrossroads.org/news/archive.asp?aid=599](http://www.tgcrossroads.org/news/archive.asp?aid=599) VATICAN-TRANSSEXUALS Jan-14-2003 (710 words) xxxi Vatican says ‘sex-change’ operation does not change person’s gender By John Norton Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) – After years of study, the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation has sent church leaders a confidential document concluding that “sex-change” procedures do not change a person’s gender in the eyes of the church. … ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/14 "2015-01-29T14:02:17Z")
Depends on what you mean by “continue as a priest”. Ordination is one of those sacraments that’s said to leave an indelible mark on the soul: Once a priest, always a priest. But just because you’re a priest doesn’t mean you’re a priest in good standing: You can still be defrocked, which means the Church is officially saying that you’re no longer allowed to conduct Masses (you _can_, as a priest, but you’re not allowed to), and you won’t be given any parish. I imagine that a priest who got a sex-change operation would be defrocked, just like a priest who gets married. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/15 "2015-02-02T17:27:04Z")
> [@Cecil](#): > > many of the post-E vitamins were later re-identified as vitamins in the B complex, bearing designations between B2 and B12 (please don’t ask what happened to 4, 8, 10, and 11) I’m asking anyway. Etiquette falls before the fight against ignorance. Also, what makes a vitamin part of the b-complex vitamin group? ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/16 "2015-02-02T17:43:14Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I’m asking anyway. Etiquette falls before the fight against ignorance. [B vitamins](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_vitamins). ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-vitamins-f-g-h-i-and-j/710811/17 "2015-02-09T04:04:20Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Also, what makes a vitamin part of the b-complex vitamin group? When [vitamins](http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/themes/medicine/carpenter/) were first being discovered as dietary shortcomings, the first dietary shortcoming discovered was by a Dutch man, Christiaan Eijkmann, who discovered that rats fed white rice developed beriberi, but rats fed brown rice did not. White rice is brown rice that has had the branny skin rubbed off. When sick chickens who were fed a diet of white rice had the polishings from brown rice added back to their diet, they got well. Another scientist, Adolphe Vorderman, confirmed that a white rice diet in humans made them ill but a brown rice diet did not. When Gowland Hopkins discovered a component of milk that prevented rickets, he labeled it “vitamin A” and brown rice polishings as “vitamin B”. His vitamin A was later renamed vitamin D. Vitamin B is just the elements from brown rice polishings. Later they were subsequently separated further into individual chemicals, and given various names, and assigned numbers as part of the vitamin B group.