In 1911, Polish biochemist Casimir Funk coined the term “vital amines” or “vitamines”. After reading an article by Christiaan Eijkman that indicated people eating brown rice were less vulnerable to beri-beri than those who ate only the fully milled product, Funk tried to isolate the substance responsible.

Because that substance contained an amine group, he called it vitamine. It was later to be known as vitamin B1 (Thiamine). He put forward the hypothesis that other diseases, like rickets, pellagra, sprue and scurvy could also be cured by vitamins. The “e” at the end of vitamine was later removed when it was realised that vitamins need not be nitrogen containing amines.