L'épopée de la découverte des vitamines

Vitamin is a name that originally comes from the root term “vital amine”. After a long period during which vitamins were regarded as “accessory food products”, these nutrients are currently defined as essential nutritional factors that are vital in very small amounts. Vitamin deficiencies are responsible for major diseases that were initially attributed to toxic or infectious agents. The stepwise identification and synthesis of vitamins is a long story marked by peaks and troughs and is a landmark example of a subtle association of methods that have combined experimental and biochemical procedures with discoveries arising from hazard and intuition.