Vitamer
Chemical compound acting as a vitamin / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Vitamer?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
Vitamins occur in a variety of related forms known as vitamers. A vitamer (/ˈvaɪtəmər/) of a particular vitamin is one of several related compounds that performs the functions of said vitamin and prevents the symptoms of deficiency of said vitamin.
![]() | This article needs more reliable medical references for verification or relies too heavily on primary sources. (July 2020) | ![]() |
Early research identified vitamins by their ability to cure vitamin-specific deficiency diseases. For example, vitamin B1 was first identified as a substance that prevented and treated beriberi. Subsequent nutrition research has revealed all vitamers exhibit biological activity against their specific vitamin deficiency, although different vitamers exhibit different potencies against those diseases.
A set of vitamers with related biological activity are grouped together by a general name, or generic descriptor, that refers to similar compounds with the same vitamin function. For example, vitamin A is the generic descriptor for the class of vitamin A vitamers which include retinol, retinal, retinoic acid, and provitamin carotenoids such as beta-carotene among others.[1][2]