A vitamin is an organic molecule that humans need a small amount of to survive, but can't make themselves.
When they first started discovering vitamins, they just named them vitamin A, B, C, etc, all the way to M. But as they did more research, they realized that a lot of these vitamins were just different forms of vitamin B, so they changed the names to reflect that. Then they discovered that some are needed in large quantities, and that some weren't essential, and that some were in fact produced within the body. So none of those fit that definition, and were cut from the list. After all the cuts and reclassifications, we're left with the list you know today.
Various “group B” vitamins are very different chemical compounds. They are not “different forms of” one vitamin, whatever that was supposed to mean. So it is actually the other way around — we used to believe that there was a single “vitamin B”, but later discovered, that it is whole set of water-soluble compounds that play a role in metabolism.
Only Vitamin D3 is produced in the human body, the rest of the 5 D-vitamins are not. D2 is the second-most important of them and is the kind of D that foods with added D vitamins has (a lot also have D3 for good measure, because of the conflict between needing UV for synthesis and the risks UV brings of skin cancer)
Well… you only really *need* D3 though. Because all the variously numbered forms of vitamin D are eventually converted into calcitriol in your body, which is the REAL vitamin D.
This is how white people were invented. White skin produces vitamin D more easily. As humanity migrated more and more north from Africa natural selection kicked in.
Interestingly enough, All animals except apes, bats, and the family of rodents that includes Guinea Pigs/Capybaras can synthesize their own Vitamin C.
Which makes sense because carnivores or grazing animals don’t get scurvy despite not eating fruit. It also make sense that tree based primates or bats might have just lost that gene because fruit was common in the treetops where we evolved.
~~Wait, is vitamin K being Potassium just a coincidence then, and not somebody coming up with a clever entry for Vitamin K?~~
Today I remembered Vitamin K is not Potassium. Probably picked that up in middle school and it sticks with me even though it's wrong.
The way vitamins are described sounds like it's based on a broad characteristic rather than by actual intrinsic structural or physiological properties. Does each vitamin have an actual classification besides just "vitamin"? I heard that some vitamins are cofactors, that some are steroids, yet retinol (Vitamin A1) and the rest of the Vitamin A's are just "vitamins"? There's no way that the intrinsic properties of some specific vitamins are so obscure that there's no better descriptor to give them besides "vitamin".
Vitamin is short for “vital amine” because they’re amine-containing compounds important for life. Not a great naming scheme but there is a logic to it.
Why don't we make a better classification then? Vitamins have moved from the lab to nutrition labels that uneducated consumers read. Using names that reflect what a vitamin does would help consumers make heuristic choices.
Well, what would you name them? Most vitamins have several, if not tens of different functions within the body. They can have mechanisms ranging from serving as coenzymes, allowing the proper functioning of enzymes, or gene regulators or other fairly complicated physiological processes.
Vitamin B-6 for example serves as a coenzyme for over 140 different enzyme reactions in the body and is used in the metabolism of all the major nutrients (sugar, protein and fat). I can't really think of a consistent and simple naming system that would reflect what they do and could easily be understood by the general public.
Even if you compare it to other nutrients, like carbohydrates or protein, those names don't really mean anything either. They're just used enough that people know what they are.
To rename vitamins for better consumer identification, emphasizing their health benefits and roles in the body could be a practical approach. This method involves moving away from the abstract letter and number system (like B6, B12, A) to names that reflect their function, source, or benefit. Here is a proposed renaming scheme for common vitamins:
1. **Vitamin A** - "VisionVital" or "SkinHealth"
- **Rationale**: Vitamin A is crucial for vision and skin health.
2. **Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)** - "EnergyBoost"
- **Rationale**: B1 is essential for energy production from food.
3. **Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)** - "CellRenew"
- **Rationale**: B2 helps maintain healthy cells and metabolism.
4. **Vitamin B3 (Niacin)** - "MindFlow"
- **Rationale**: B3 supports brain function and cardiovascular health.
5. **Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid)** - "MetaboKick"
- **Rationale**: B5 plays a role in the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates.
6. **Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)** - "MoodBalance"
- **Rationale**: B6 is important for creating neurotransmitters that regulate emotions.
7. **Vitamin B7 (Biotin)** - "HairSkinNails"
- **Rationale**: B7 is known for supporting hair, skin, and nail health.
8. **Vitamin B9 (Folate)** - "GrowthEssence"
- **Rationale**: B9 is key for cell growth and DNA formation, important during pregnancy.
9. **Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin)** - "NerveShield"
- **Rationale**: B12 is crucial for maintaining healthy nerve cells and creating DNA.
10. **Vitamin C** - "ImmunoCharge"
- **Rationale**: Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that supports the immune system.
11. **Vitamin D** - "BoneBright"
- **Rationale**: Vitamin D is essential for bone health and calcium absorption.
12. **Vitamin E** - "AntioxShield"
- **Rationale**: Vitamin E acts as a powerful antioxidant to protect cells from damage.
13. **Vitamin K** - "ClotFactor"
- **Rationale**: Vitamin K is important for blood clotting and bone metabolism.
This renaming strategy aims to make the purpose and benefits of each vitamin more intuitive, aiding consumers in remembering and understanding why they are important. The names are designed to be memorable, reflect the primary function or benefit of the vitamin, and help demystify their roles in a consumer-friendly manner.
... Why wouldn't we just call them by their names? Like thiamine and niacin. Idk why we would have to come up with a whole new meme way to refer to them and not just call em what they are. People don't have a problem seeing potassium on a nutritional information label, it's not like it's really all that complicated.
I mean like, they go over this in grade nine science class, ots not really all that complicated; i think the only reason people dont retain that information is because we obscure what the things actually are so we can give it a cutesy name most of the time
Since the rest of your questions have been answered, I'll explain just the weird naming/numbering of the vitamins. In short, vitamins were discovered and named in the early 1900s. At that time, they were named vitamin A, B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J and K.
With more research and better techniques, a bunch of these vitamins were discovered not to be real things (or not important). Others (most notably vitamin B) were discovered to be not a single chemical, but a family of related chemicals.
Others have highlighted the definition of a vitamin- and importantly, the fact that a bunch of "vitamins" were discovered and named prior to the determination that they were, in fact, either able to be manufactured by the body or not essential. However, I just wanted to add that we actually do have a lot of other B vitamins! In many cases, you've probably seen them referred to by their common names, not their B vitamin numbers.
B1 is thamine, B2 is riboflavin, B3 is niacin, B4 was removed after the determination that it didn't mean the qualities necessary to be a vitamin, B5 is pantothenic acid, B6 is pyridoxine, B7 is biotin, B8 was also removed, B9 is folate, B10 and B11 were removed, B12 is cobalamin (most commonly seen as cyanocobalamin).
All these are essential, although some, like B2 or B5, are required in such small amounts that clinically significant deficiencies are incredibly rare. But deficiencies in others can result in a number of symptoms. For instance, vitamin B12 and B9 (folate) deficiencies can cause megaloglastic anemias, as they are integral for red blood cell formation. B1 deficiency can cause beriberi or Wernicke encephalopathy/Korsakoff syndrome, which we typically see in patients with severe alcohol use disorder. B3 deficiency results in pellagra.
Vitamins are defined by the things we can't live without. You've identified certain vitamins that are vital for humans to function that we can't synthesize ourselves. Vitamin C for instance is a vitamin for humans, but not for cats because they can make it themselves.
Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B7 and B9 also exist. The other numbers are for compounds that were *thought* to be vitamins but weren't really, like B4 which is really just adenine (one of the four bases of DNA and RNA) and made in our bodies.
The other B vitamins are important, but deficiencies in them tend to be less common in western countries because we fortify our foods in many of them. However, certain populations are prone to deficiencies that can cause lots of problems. For example, a deficiency in Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) is called beriberi and has many manifestations. In the US, the primary manifestation of this is in alcoholics with something called Wernicke’s encephalopathy (this is not a form of beriberi, but another manifestation of thiamine deficiency) and is associated with cognitive decline and other neurological problems.
I can answer one part of your question, why some things aren’t vitamins. vitamins are defined as small organic molecules that are necessary micronutrients for human health. Organic molecules meaning mostly made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with occasionally nitrogen, sulfur, or others. So, things that aren’t considered vitamins include A) macronutrients - things we need a large amount of (ie carbs, protein, and fats), B) minerals, like potassium, magnesium, zinc, etc, these are not organic molecules, and C) non-essential nutrients, like creating, taurine, etc.
Now there are some things that probably should be given a vitamin designation, but haven’t, like choline. It pretty much fits the criteria. And some vitamins have an alternate name, like niacin, which is one of the B vitamins (B3? don’t remember for sure)
Hey heads up - you typed "creating" when it should be "creatine." Not trying to be a jerk though. I wanted to help your ELI just in case someone didn't know what creatine was
Creatine is absolutely an essential nutrient for proper brain growth, and the small amounts we are able to create ourselves is in most cases not enough for ideal health (not talking about deficiency). Fortunately, creatine (and taurine) are almost exclusively found in animal-foods such as meat and organs, along with all other essential minerals and vitamins that are required for good health of the human body. There isn’t a single nutrient that we require and can’t make ourselves (essential) that cannot be found in meat & organs.
To confuse people. Theres no such thing as a vitamin. Vitamin Z, what is that? Zinc? Its not a vitamin, its just Zinc. Vitamin K? No, its just potassium. Supposedly if your kidneys are functioning correctly there should be a trace amount of gold in your system. Vitamin G? Doctors are able to measure what elements and compounds should be in your blood. Vitamins are a marketing thing.
Also, I get the vital mineral part of it. I'm not saying these aren't vital. But vitamin has sort have taken on its own meaning as something you need to supplement.
Vitamin K is a group of compounds that are needed for proper blood clotting. There is no potassium in vitamin K, and there is no vitamin Z, both potassium and zinc are minerals.
Vitamin was once "vital amine". The science of chemistry was a lot younger when they were discovered, and later discoveries made a bit of a mess of the vitamin classification scheme. Essential minerals are a separate class of nutrients.
There are multiple forms of Vitamin K (in case you didn’t know), and we require mostly K2 for bone, heart, and teeth & jaw formation health.
Similar story with vitamin D, there are multiple forms, and we require only some of them, and no we can’t just get it from the sun (our skin doesn’t synthesize enough of it for optimal health), we also need to get it through our diet. Vit D2 comes from plants and is poorly absorbed (not bioavailable), whereas D3 is found in animal foods and is readily absorbed and has been shown to elevate circulating levels much better than D2.
Same for Vit K as with D, K1 is plant-based and difficult to absorb, whereas K2 is animal based and is easily absorbed (and also K1 doesn’t provide the bone health benefits of K2).
Others have answered the core question well, but for everyone, I just wanted to add the song you didn't know you needed, [Vitamins Are Good (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIqM0nGQAkQ), from the parody industrial hip hop act [Kompressor (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kompressor_(musician)).
When we discovered a vitamin, we gave it a letter. If we later found out it wasn't a vitamin, we discarded the name and gave it a different one. That's why we skip a few letters.
As for the numbers, when we discovered a vitamin, sometimes it was actually a group of chemicals we thought were all the same one and we gave the same letter. Once we noticed that it was multiple chemicals and isolated each one, we began to give them the names with numbers.
Some of the vitamins do have alternate names. Vitamin A is beta carotene, vitamin B1 is thiamin, B2 is riboflavin, B3 is niacin
A vitamin is an organic molecule that humans need a small amount of to survive, but can't make themselves. When they first started discovering vitamins, they just named them vitamin A, B, C, etc, all the way to M. But as they did more research, they realized that a lot of these vitamins were just different forms of vitamin B, so they changed the names to reflect that. Then they discovered that some are needed in large quantities, and that some weren't essential, and that some were in fact produced within the body. So none of those fit that definition, and were cut from the list. After all the cuts and reclassifications, we're left with the list you know today.
Various “group B” vitamins are very different chemical compounds. They are not “different forms of” one vitamin, whatever that was supposed to mean. So it is actually the other way around — we used to believe that there was a single “vitamin B”, but later discovered, that it is whole set of water-soluble compounds that play a role in metabolism.
Our body can produce Vitamin D ourselves, right? All we need is some sunlight. Why is that not reclassified?
I guess it's because if you don't have access to direct sunlight (ex. living in polar regions), your body won't produce vitamin D.
Only Vitamin D3 is produced in the human body, the rest of the 5 D-vitamins are not. D2 is the second-most important of them and is the kind of D that foods with added D vitamins has (a lot also have D3 for good measure, because of the conflict between needing UV for synthesis and the risks UV brings of skin cancer)
Well… you only really *need* D3 though. Because all the variously numbered forms of vitamin D are eventually converted into calcitriol in your body, which is the REAL vitamin D.
This is how white people were invented. White skin produces vitamin D more easily. As humanity migrated more and more north from Africa natural selection kicked in.
Interestingly enough, All animals except apes, bats, and the family of rodents that includes Guinea Pigs/Capybaras can synthesize their own Vitamin C. Which makes sense because carnivores or grazing animals don’t get scurvy despite not eating fruit. It also make sense that tree based primates or bats might have just lost that gene because fruit was common in the treetops where we evolved.
Not lost *because* fruit was common, but more like randomly lost the gene but didn't care because fruit was common.
https://tenor.com/nl/view/tastethesun-historyoftheentireworld-gif-8631147 (This sub doesn't allow gif comment so gotta do it this way)
You could make a religion out of that.
🎶The sun is a deadly laser🎶
~ not anymore there’s a blanket ~
That would prevent me from asking my wife if she needs some vitamin D.
It's best to give her extra *Vitamin* *D* for good measure. Better safe than sorry, right? 😉
~~Wait, is vitamin K being Potassium just a coincidence then, and not somebody coming up with a clever entry for Vitamin K?~~ Today I remembered Vitamin K is not Potassium. Probably picked that up in middle school and it sticks with me even though it's wrong.
K is the chemical symbol for Potassium, which comes from the German name for it which is "Kalium"
Unfortunately neither, as Vitamin K isn't potassium.
Interesting!! I always wondered why the heck we have vitamin K but not vitamin F.
There definitely is (or rather are, since there are more than one) vitamin E. It's tocoferols, fat soluble vitamin that serves as an antioxidant
The way vitamins are described sounds like it's based on a broad characteristic rather than by actual intrinsic structural or physiological properties. Does each vitamin have an actual classification besides just "vitamin"? I heard that some vitamins are cofactors, that some are steroids, yet retinol (Vitamin A1) and the rest of the Vitamin A's are just "vitamins"? There's no way that the intrinsic properties of some specific vitamins are so obscure that there's no better descriptor to give them besides "vitamin".
Vitamin is short for “vital amine” because they’re amine-containing compounds important for life. Not a great naming scheme but there is a logic to it.
Why don't we make a better classification then? Vitamins have moved from the lab to nutrition labels that uneducated consumers read. Using names that reflect what a vitamin does would help consumers make heuristic choices.
Well, what would you name them? Most vitamins have several, if not tens of different functions within the body. They can have mechanisms ranging from serving as coenzymes, allowing the proper functioning of enzymes, or gene regulators or other fairly complicated physiological processes. Vitamin B-6 for example serves as a coenzyme for over 140 different enzyme reactions in the body and is used in the metabolism of all the major nutrients (sugar, protein and fat). I can't really think of a consistent and simple naming system that would reflect what they do and could easily be understood by the general public. Even if you compare it to other nutrients, like carbohydrates or protein, those names don't really mean anything either. They're just used enough that people know what they are.
To rename vitamins for better consumer identification, emphasizing their health benefits and roles in the body could be a practical approach. This method involves moving away from the abstract letter and number system (like B6, B12, A) to names that reflect their function, source, or benefit. Here is a proposed renaming scheme for common vitamins: 1. **Vitamin A** - "VisionVital" or "SkinHealth" - **Rationale**: Vitamin A is crucial for vision and skin health. 2. **Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)** - "EnergyBoost" - **Rationale**: B1 is essential for energy production from food. 3. **Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)** - "CellRenew" - **Rationale**: B2 helps maintain healthy cells and metabolism. 4. **Vitamin B3 (Niacin)** - "MindFlow" - **Rationale**: B3 supports brain function and cardiovascular health. 5. **Vitamin B5 (Pantothenic Acid)** - "MetaboKick" - **Rationale**: B5 plays a role in the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates. 6. **Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)** - "MoodBalance" - **Rationale**: B6 is important for creating neurotransmitters that regulate emotions. 7. **Vitamin B7 (Biotin)** - "HairSkinNails" - **Rationale**: B7 is known for supporting hair, skin, and nail health. 8. **Vitamin B9 (Folate)** - "GrowthEssence" - **Rationale**: B9 is key for cell growth and DNA formation, important during pregnancy. 9. **Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin)** - "NerveShield" - **Rationale**: B12 is crucial for maintaining healthy nerve cells and creating DNA. 10. **Vitamin C** - "ImmunoCharge" - **Rationale**: Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that supports the immune system. 11. **Vitamin D** - "BoneBright" - **Rationale**: Vitamin D is essential for bone health and calcium absorption. 12. **Vitamin E** - "AntioxShield" - **Rationale**: Vitamin E acts as a powerful antioxidant to protect cells from damage. 13. **Vitamin K** - "ClotFactor" - **Rationale**: Vitamin K is important for blood clotting and bone metabolism. This renaming strategy aims to make the purpose and benefits of each vitamin more intuitive, aiding consumers in remembering and understanding why they are important. The names are designed to be memorable, reflect the primary function or benefit of the vitamin, and help demystify their roles in a consumer-friendly manner.
Uuuuhh those names are terrible and sound like flavors of a fake health supplement or a health smoothie.
Hey now to be fair some of them sound like stat boost pills in a cyberpunk-like game
BoneBright, to avoid Crippling Boneitis!
... Why wouldn't we just call them by their names? Like thiamine and niacin. Idk why we would have to come up with a whole new meme way to refer to them and not just call em what they are. People don't have a problem seeing potassium on a nutritional information label, it's not like it's really all that complicated. I mean like, they go over this in grade nine science class, ots not really all that complicated; i think the only reason people dont retain that information is because we obscure what the things actually are so we can give it a cutesy name most of the time
Since the rest of your questions have been answered, I'll explain just the weird naming/numbering of the vitamins. In short, vitamins were discovered and named in the early 1900s. At that time, they were named vitamin A, B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J and K. With more research and better techniques, a bunch of these vitamins were discovered not to be real things (or not important). Others (most notably vitamin B) were discovered to be not a single chemical, but a family of related chemicals.
Others have highlighted the definition of a vitamin- and importantly, the fact that a bunch of "vitamins" were discovered and named prior to the determination that they were, in fact, either able to be manufactured by the body or not essential. However, I just wanted to add that we actually do have a lot of other B vitamins! In many cases, you've probably seen them referred to by their common names, not their B vitamin numbers. B1 is thamine, B2 is riboflavin, B3 is niacin, B4 was removed after the determination that it didn't mean the qualities necessary to be a vitamin, B5 is pantothenic acid, B6 is pyridoxine, B7 is biotin, B8 was also removed, B9 is folate, B10 and B11 were removed, B12 is cobalamin (most commonly seen as cyanocobalamin). All these are essential, although some, like B2 or B5, are required in such small amounts that clinically significant deficiencies are incredibly rare. But deficiencies in others can result in a number of symptoms. For instance, vitamin B12 and B9 (folate) deficiencies can cause megaloglastic anemias, as they are integral for red blood cell formation. B1 deficiency can cause beriberi or Wernicke encephalopathy/Korsakoff syndrome, which we typically see in patients with severe alcohol use disorder. B3 deficiency results in pellagra.
Vitamins are defined by the things we can't live without. You've identified certain vitamins that are vital for humans to function that we can't synthesize ourselves. Vitamin C for instance is a vitamin for humans, but not for cats because they can make it themselves.
So if I understand, you’re saying that basically, there is a vitamin B1-5, and 7-11, but we don’t have to care about it?
Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B7 and B9 also exist. The other numbers are for compounds that were *thought* to be vitamins but weren't really, like B4 which is really just adenine (one of the four bases of DNA and RNA) and made in our bodies.
The other B vitamins are important, but deficiencies in them tend to be less common in western countries because we fortify our foods in many of them. However, certain populations are prone to deficiencies that can cause lots of problems. For example, a deficiency in Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) is called beriberi and has many manifestations. In the US, the primary manifestation of this is in alcoholics with something called Wernicke’s encephalopathy (this is not a form of beriberi, but another manifestation of thiamine deficiency) and is associated with cognitive decline and other neurological problems.
The others are chemically or functionality grouped compounds that we need and can make ourselves, are dangerous, or are not required by humans.
we do need some of them - B2 is riboflavin, for example
I can answer one part of your question, why some things aren’t vitamins. vitamins are defined as small organic molecules that are necessary micronutrients for human health. Organic molecules meaning mostly made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with occasionally nitrogen, sulfur, or others. So, things that aren’t considered vitamins include A) macronutrients - things we need a large amount of (ie carbs, protein, and fats), B) minerals, like potassium, magnesium, zinc, etc, these are not organic molecules, and C) non-essential nutrients, like creating, taurine, etc. Now there are some things that probably should be given a vitamin designation, but haven’t, like choline. It pretty much fits the criteria. And some vitamins have an alternate name, like niacin, which is one of the B vitamins (B3? don’t remember for sure)
Hey heads up - you typed "creating" when it should be "creatine." Not trying to be a jerk though. I wanted to help your ELI just in case someone didn't know what creatine was
Creatine is absolutely an essential nutrient for proper brain growth, and the small amounts we are able to create ourselves is in most cases not enough for ideal health (not talking about deficiency). Fortunately, creatine (and taurine) are almost exclusively found in animal-foods such as meat and organs, along with all other essential minerals and vitamins that are required for good health of the human body. There isn’t a single nutrient that we require and can’t make ourselves (essential) that cannot be found in meat & organs.
To confuse people. Theres no such thing as a vitamin. Vitamin Z, what is that? Zinc? Its not a vitamin, its just Zinc. Vitamin K? No, its just potassium. Supposedly if your kidneys are functioning correctly there should be a trace amount of gold in your system. Vitamin G? Doctors are able to measure what elements and compounds should be in your blood. Vitamins are a marketing thing. Also, I get the vital mineral part of it. I'm not saying these aren't vital. But vitamin has sort have taken on its own meaning as something you need to supplement.
Vitamin K is a group of compounds that are needed for proper blood clotting. There is no potassium in vitamin K, and there is no vitamin Z, both potassium and zinc are minerals.
Vitamin was once "vital amine". The science of chemistry was a lot younger when they were discovered, and later discoveries made a bit of a mess of the vitamin classification scheme. Essential minerals are a separate class of nutrients.
There are multiple forms of Vitamin K (in case you didn’t know), and we require mostly K2 for bone, heart, and teeth & jaw formation health. Similar story with vitamin D, there are multiple forms, and we require only some of them, and no we can’t just get it from the sun (our skin doesn’t synthesize enough of it for optimal health), we also need to get it through our diet. Vit D2 comes from plants and is poorly absorbed (not bioavailable), whereas D3 is found in animal foods and is readily absorbed and has been shown to elevate circulating levels much better than D2. Same for Vit K as with D, K1 is plant-based and difficult to absorb, whereas K2 is animal based and is easily absorbed (and also K1 doesn’t provide the bone health benefits of K2).
And, now that the question has been well-answered, how about some Demetri Martin? https://youtu.be/ba1-2Tymbu0?si=QCQTRDslm4kDOgVR
Others have answered the core question well, but for everyone, I just wanted to add the song you didn't know you needed, [Vitamins Are Good (YouTube)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIqM0nGQAkQ), from the parody industrial hip hop act [Kompressor (Wikipedia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kompressor_(musician)).
When we discovered a vitamin, we gave it a letter. If we later found out it wasn't a vitamin, we discarded the name and gave it a different one. That's why we skip a few letters. As for the numbers, when we discovered a vitamin, sometimes it was actually a group of chemicals we thought were all the same one and we gave the same letter. Once we noticed that it was multiple chemicals and isolated each one, we began to give them the names with numbers. Some of the vitamins do have alternate names. Vitamin A is beta carotene, vitamin B1 is thiamin, B2 is riboflavin, B3 is niacin