vitamin

vitamin

any of a group of substances that are essential, in small quantities, for the normal functioning of metabolism in the body. They cannot usually be synthesized in the body but they occur naturally in certain foods: insufficient supply of any particular vitamin results in a deficiency disease

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Vitamin

An organic compound required in very small amounts for the normal functioning of the body and obtained mainly from foods. Vitamins are present in food in minute quantities compared to the other utilizable components of the diet, namely, proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and minerals.

Synthetic and natural vitamins usually have the same biological value. Different vitamins, which are often not related to each other chemically or functionally, are conventionally divided into a fat-soluble group (vitamins A, D, E, and K) and a water-soluble group [vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and the various B vitamins: thiamine, vitamin B, riboflavin, vitamin B₂, vitamin B₆, niacin, folic acid, vitamin B₁₂, biotin, and pantothenic acid]. The vitamins, particularly the water-soluble ones, occur almost universally throughout the animal and plant kingdoms individual articles on each vitamin.

The B vitamins function as coenzymes that catalyze many of the anabolic and catabolic reactions of living organisms necessary for the production of energy; the synthesis of tissue components, hormones, and chemical regulators; and the detoxification and degradation of waste products and toxins. On the other hand, vitamin C and the fat-soluble vitamins do not function as coenzymes. Vitamins C and E and β-carotene (a precursor of vitamin A) act as antioxidants, helping to prevent tissue injury from free-radical reactions. In addition, vitamin C functions as a cofactor in hydroxylation reactions. Vitamin D has hormonelike activity in calcium metabolism; vitamin A plays a critical role in night vision, growth, and maintaining normal differentiation of epithelial tissue; and vitamin K has a unique posttranscriptional role in the formation of active blood-clotting factors. See Antioxidant, Carotenoid, Coenzyme

McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Bioscience. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

What does it mean when you dream about vitamins?

If we take vitamins on a daily basis, then a dream about vitamins could simply be a reflection of our daily activity. Or, it could represent a concern about health. Vitamins can symbolize that we need to feed our minds with ideas that are “good for us.”

The Dream Encyclopedia, Second Edition © 2009 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.

vitamin

[′vīd·ə·mən]

(biochemistry)

An organic compound present in variable, minute quantities in natural foodstuffs and essential for the normal processes of growth and maintenance of the body; vitamins do not furnish energy, but are essential for energy transformation and regulation of metabolism.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.