The (Bio)science of Vitamins (it's not what you think...)

I realize the extra work I’ll have to do to make this article exciting and engaging. Vitamin-talk can be a bit of a snoozer, and I don’t recommend it as a party opener, but vitamins as molecules—these tiny little combinations of elements, not what you see in my article picture—are some of the most powerful disease-prohibitors on the planet.

And we actually don’t need a lot of them in order for vitamins to work their magic!!

All our lives we’re told how we have to “take” our Vitamins, and I know I’m not the only one who has rolled my eyes at that. At the same time, one of the best ways to demystify biotech is to highlight how common it is to all of us, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t include our friendly little vitamins in the mix-- the molecule, that is—and where biotechnology fits in with them.

Vita-minz, Vita-meenz, Vitta-minz… What are they?

OK, the history of vitamins is not riveting, but we are surprisingly early in understanding them. Just a few years before the last pandemic, scientists were making enormous strides regarding germ theory, epidemiology, disease study, and, yes… the role of vitamins in all of that research. It was only 100 years ago that our biochemist brethren led us to understand vitamins, and just over 100 years ago that Casmir Funk gave us the term “vitamine” (Semba, 2012).

In Diane Wendt’s June 2012 article “Vitamins Come to Dinner” (Science History Institute), she takes us through a fascinating and somewhat entertaining history of vitamins and reminds us of several diseases and health-related issues that used to be more common in the United States and other geographies because of vitamin deficiency. But beyond the history, notable to me is the way in which our bodies—and other living organisms—respond to a vitamin molecule.

Remember: vitamins are not about supplements. They are about food sources: soil, crops, and the environment they grow in. Second to that is a body’s ability to absorb and utilize such vitamins, and third to that is the importance of ongoing research regarding the biological impact of vitamin molecules

(hah! see how I mixed biology with chemistry there?? Clever… it’s because I’m up on my vitamin B12 …).

The Bio of the Body with Vitamins

Let’s think deeper than the supplement and more about how our bodies actually absorb and use vitamins—and remember, most times your body only needs small amounts of vitamins to work well. Our bodies are amazing machines!!!

Quick reminder about science: one of the greatest things about science, and certainly one of the aspects I love so much, is you hardly ever arrive at “the answer.” Research means we are always unfolding, refolding, undoing, re-doing, learning, deconstructing, learning again. We are far along in terms of the biochemistry of most vitamins, but there is still so much to learn and explore!!

For example, at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Professor Wes Pike is looking at how vitamins—specifically vitamin D—regulate(s) the way a gene instructs how a protein should be assembled (known more formally as the “expression of genes”). Think of it this way: imagine if a certain vitamin makes the instructions for creating a protein clearer or more efficient or better? Remember from high school biology that proteins are the building blocks of life, so when the instructions are clearer or more efficient or better, than means everything becomes better, too… grossly simplified, but that’s me demystifying biotech!!!

And so, when you look at vitamins (molecules) at the level Professor Pike is, at the molecular level, the potential for vitamin molecules changes: maybe they can even work as therapeutics for vitamin-deficient diseases.

Now let’s take the same point and move it toward other ways the body might respond to vitamins at the molecular level, biochemical, and ultimate biotechnology level: nervous system functioning, blindness, kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, to just name a few (He, et. al, 2017). Looking through the lens of biochemistry and biotechnology—at the molecular level—we see how science, health, and nutrition come together to offer far more precise solutions to various diseases based on how the body functions. 

Hey!! Wake up!! When we take things down to the molecular level it means we can potentially manage or even cure various diseases like cancer or tumor cells—imagine a vitamin’s role in that—at the molecular level?

That’s biotechnology, baby!!!

If you liked this article then make sure to follow me for more content to help demystify biotech!

? 2021 Christa Dhimo

(and as always, let's give credit where credit is due!!):

Works Cited: See direct links within the article and below...

BIOCHEMISTRY College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. (2016, November 10). Highlights - Vitamin D 21st century. Retrieved April 12, 2021, from https://biochem.wisc.edu/highlights/2016/highlights-vitamin-d-21st-century

Brazier, Yvette; reviewed by Perez, Alexandra. (updated 2020, December 15). Medical News Today. What are vitamins and how do they work? Retrieved April 29, 2021 from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/195878

Glorfel, J. (2020, July 21). Casmir Funk introduced us to vitamins. Cosmos Magazine. Retrieved April 29, 202, from https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/nutrition/casimir-funk-introduced-us-to-vitamins/

He, H., Liu, M., Zhang, Y., & Zhang, W. (2017). Vitamin pharmacogenomics: New insight into individual differences in diseases and drug responses. Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics, 15(2), 94-100. doi:10.1016/j.gpb.2016.10.005

Mackey M. (2002). The application of biotechnology to nutrition: an overview. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 21(3 Suppl), 157S–160S. https://doi.org/10.1080/07315724.2002.10719259

Prasad, K. N., Edwards-Prasad, J., Kumar, S., & Meyers, A. (1993). Vitamins regulate gene expression and induce differentiation and growth inhibition in cancer cells: Their relevance in cancer prevention. Archives of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, 119(10), 1133-1140. doi:10.1001/archotol.1993.01880220087011

Semba RD. (2012). The discovery of the vitamins. Int J Vitam Nutr Res. 82(5):310-5. doi: 10.1024/0300-9831/a000124. PMID: 23798048.

Wendt, D. (2019, April 19). Vitamins come to dinner. Science History. Retrieved April 13, 2021, from https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/vitamins-come-to-dinner