My Vitamin Doctor - Food is the Best Doctor

Author: Editorial Committee of "Food Is the Best Doctor"
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Vitamins are an indispensable nutrient for the human body. If the body lacks vitamins, it may suffer from various diseases. Because vitamins participate in the body's metabolism along with enzymes, they effectively regulate the body's functions. How were vitamins discovered by humans? What price did humanity pay during this process? In 1519, navigator Ferdinand Magellan led his fleet on a journey from the eastern coast of South America to the Pacific Ocean. Three months later, a disaster suddenly struck, and many crew members developed a strange disease: they experienced widespread bleeding, and many died without treatment. People could only watch helplessly as their companions perished at sea, with no means to help. When the fleet reached its destination, only 35 out of over 200 crew members survived. The catastrophe faced by Magellan's fleet was later known as "scurvy." By the mid-18th century, scurvy had claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of European sailors.
In 1747, British military physician James Lind, through experiments, concluded that fruits could treat scurvy. He then recommended that British sailors carry as many citrus fruits, lemons, and lemon juice as possible during their sea voyages. From then on, scurvy no longer broke out among long-distance fleets. The ordinary lemon, like an elixir, helped people on transoceanic journeys escape the nightmare of scurvy.
In 1912, Polish scientist Casimir Funk, after countless experiments, finally extracted a white substance from rice bran that could treat beriberi. He called this substance "vital amines," which were later shortened to "vitamins." Over time, more and more types of vitamins were discovered and recognized, forming a large family. To facilitate memorization, people arranged them in order: vitamins were classified from A, B, C, D, all the way to L, P, U, and dozens of others. From a basic biochemical perspective, they are a class of organic compounds that are present in small amounts in the human body but have significant physiological effects. They cannot be synthesized in the body and must be supplied directly through food. If a particular vitamin is lacking in the diet, it invariably causes corresponding metabolic disorders and exhibits relatively specific clinical symptoms.
There are countless people who have benefited from vitamins. The story of sailors curing scurvy at sea is a prime example. In other words, the vitamins found in a simple fruit may be able to alleviate the diseases that cause you pain.
In this book, we use a personified approach, comparing vitamins to doctors, and detail the human health conditions they can treat as well as the pathological factors of those conditions for the readers. Additionally, after each condition, we list several dietary remedies corresponding to the condition and specify the types of vitamins they contain, which we believe will be helpful to your health.
Nature is a wonderful deity who has created a group of vitamin doctors with diverse abilities. We also need such a group, even if they are abstract. With their existence, even when we feel sorrow in winter, we can still see the joy of spring. In today's world, where health and wellness are highly emphasized, people often follow trends but forget about health. We want to tell all those who love life that vitamin doctors are for everyone, but the body is yours. How you protect it depends on your actions!