The discovery and study of vitamins began just in the 20th century. As long ago as 1720, it was discovered that citrus fruit juices aided in the treatment of scurvy, now known to be a vitamin C deficiency disease. In 1906, an English scientist made the discovery that milk, in addition to being an excellent food, also contains other substances necessary to good health. These substances later became known as vitamins.
Then, in 1911, Casimir Funk, a Polish biochemist, found a substance in rice and bran which he used to cure polyneuritis in pigeons. He gave it the name of vitamine (Latin: vita, life plus amine, hydrocarbon). It was soon found that the substance he had discovered was the vitamin B group, also called B complex.
