Jewish Invention Myth: Vitamins

A related myth to the idea that jews discovered vitamin C which I have debunked in detail elsewhere (1) is the idea that jews systemised the concept of the vitamin.

‘MNews’ claim on this score is representative when they write that:

‘Kazimierz Funk – Vitamins

Those who take vitamins owe thanks to Kazimierz Funk — a Polish Jew who first systematized the idea of essential dietary elements and coined the now-famous term “vitamin.”’ (2)

The problem with this – of course – is that it is complete and utter nonsense because the concept of the vitamin has known about since ancient Egypt and was widely recognized as early as the 1750s with Britain’s Royal Navy when Scottish naval surgeon James Lind realised that an unknown compound in citrus fruit – Vitamin C as it turned out – prevented the widespread disease scurvy on board ship especially on long voyages leading to the now famous love affair between the Royal Navy and lemons and oranges. (3)

However, the concept of the vitamin itself was actually discovered by the Russian doctor Nikolai Lunin in what is now Tartu in Estonia in 1880/1881 although his supervisor the German nutritionist Gustav von Bunge incorrectly rejected his assistant’s conclusions. (4)

Now when was the concept of the vitamin systemized; most people would tend to think it was the Polish jew Casimir Funk in 1911 – as ‘MNews’ claims - but it was in fact both the English biochemist in Frederick Hopkins in 1906 as Gratzer explains:

‘He was the first (though challenged by the pugnacious Casimir Funk for the privilege) to articulate the ‘accessory food factor’ or vitamin principle of nutrition, and in a much-cited lecture, published in 1906, he stated it like this: ‘No animal can live on a mixture of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, and even when the necessary inorganic material is carefully supplied, the animal still cannot flourish.’ (5)

As well as the Dutch nutritionist Cornelius Pekelharing in 1905 (6) based in part on the work of his colleague Christiaan Eijkman (7) while the Dutch doctor Adolphe Vorderman – great-grandfather of the famous British television presenter Carol Vorderman – coined the term ‘vital amine’ for these substances in 1901 (8) which Casimir Funk shortened to ‘vitamin’ in 1911/1912 and then tried to claim as his own. (9)

So thus, we can see that jews did not discover the concept of the vitamin nor did they come up with the name per se.

Therefore, vitamins are not a jewish invention!

References

(1) See my article: https://karlradl14.substack.com/p/jewish-invention-myths-vitamin-c

(2) https://mnews.world/en/news/the-great-jews-and-their-inventions

(3) https://web.archive.org/web/20051130103653/http://www.thenutritionreporter.com/history_of_vitamins.html

(4) Walter Gratzer, 2005, ‘Terrors of the Table: The Curious History of Nutrition’, 1st Edition, Oxford University Press: New York, p. 163

(5) Ibid., pp. 169-170

(6) Ibid., p. 164

(7) Ibid., pp. 138-140

(8) Ibid., p. 140

(9) See for example Casimir Funk, 1914, ‘Die Vitamine: ihre Bedeutung fur die Physiologie und Pathologie’, 1st Edition, Verlag von J. F. Bergmann: Wiesbaden