vitamin

(vtmn; va-)
n
1. (Elements & Compounds) any of a group of substances that are essential, in small quantities, for the n
ormal functioning ofmetabolism in the body. They cannot usually be synthesized in the body but they occu
r naturally in certain foods: insufficient supply ofany particular vitamin results in a deficiency disease

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/vitamin

History of the Discovery of Vitamin B12

A Fatal Form of Anaemia:
In 1824 a fatal form of anaemia associated with degeneration of the stomach was described by J.S.
Combe in Edinburgh in his article entitled "History of a Case of Anaemia". Similar case reports were
later described in 1849 by Thomas Addison, a physician at Guys Hospital. In 1872 Biermer, working
in Switzerland, coined the concept of this as a "pernicious anaemia" based on the inevitably fatal
outcome of this disorder.
Raw Liver Diets:
This disease remained totally incurable until 1926 when two US physicians, Minot and Murphy,
described giving patients a diet made of raw liver that miraculously cured the symptoms of pernicious
anaemia. Their discovery was actually prompted by experiments made six years earlier by George
Whipple. Whipple had found that feeding raw liver to dogs, who had been made anaemic by bleeding,
regenerated hemoglobin.
Liver extracts were later found to be able to reverse the anaemia not only in dogs, but also in humans.
The discovery of this curious anti-pernicious or "extrinsic" factor is one of the most fascinating events
in the history of medicine; Minot, Murphy and Whipple went on to share the Nobel Prize in Physiology
and Medicine in 1934 for this work.
Vitamin B12 is finally identified:
We now know that liver contains a very high concentration of vitamin B In fact, for the next two
decades it served as the main source of this unknown curative "extrinsic factor." However, in 1948 two
teams working independently in the US and UK isolated the mysterious factor in crystalline form.
Folkers decided to call it vitamin B .
12.

12

In 1955 Dorothy Hodgkin, a British chemist, worked out the very complex chemical structure of this
large molecule, using a technique called X-Ray crystallography. Hodgkin was awarded the Nobel Prize

for Chemistry in 1964, partly for this monumental achievement, but also for determining the structure
of penicillin.
The production of vitamin B on an industrial scale in the early 1950s has enabled its worldwide
medical application to treat pernicious anaemia.
12

http://www.betrinac.com/blogs/b-vitamins-homocysteine-memory-loss-anddementia/6803062-history-of-the-discovery-of-vitamin-b12
Chemical Names:

Vitamin B12; Cyanocobalamin; Cobalamin

Molecular Formula:

C63H88CoN14O14P

Molecular Weight:

1355.365177 g/mol

http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/5311498#section=Top

Vitamin B12 can only be manufactured by bacteria and can only be found naturally in animal
products, however, synthetic forms are widely available and added to many foods likecereals.
Below are the top 10 foods highest in vitamin B12 by common serving sizes.
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/foods-high-in-vitamin-B12.php

http://www.veganhealth.org/b12/dig

Vitamin B12 can be consumed in large doses because excess is excreted by the body or stored
in the liver for use when supplies are scarce. Stores of B12 can last for up to a year.
http://www.mineravita.com/en/vitamin_b12_biological_role.html
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/mechanism-action-vitamin-b12-human-body7322.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_B12_deficiency
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14636871
http://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/vitamin-b12/dosing/hrb-20060243