Vitamin E discovery

Vitamin E was discovered by Dr Herbert Evans and Katherine Bishop of Berkeley University in California after appearance of an unrecognized substance necessary for reproduction in female rats. It was published in a paper that appear in 1922 in Science.

Evans and Bishop were feeding rats a semi-purified diet when they noticed that the female rats were unable to produce offspring because the pups died in the womb.

They then fed the female rats lettuce and wheat germ, and observed that healthy offspring were produced.

Vitamin E was isolated as α-tocopherol. The name tocopherol is derived from the Greek tokos meaning childbirth or offspring, the Greek pherein meaning to bring forth and ol to designated an alcohol.

The compound with vitamin E activity was first purified from wheat germ oil in 1936 and given the name α tocopherol.

However Agnes Fay Morgan and her colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley are credited with the 1937 discovery of vitamin E’s special role in the body.

In 1940s, a team of Canadian physicians discovered that vitamin E could protect from coronary heart disease.

Research in 2001, discovered that vitamin E from food and supplements may help slow mental decline and reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. In one study, those with the highest intake of vitamin E had nearly a 40 percent reduction in the rate of mental decline.

Vitamin E discovery

History of Vitamin E

Vitamin E was discovered in 1922 by Evans and Bishop as an unidentified factor in vegetable oils required for reproduction in female rats.

The observation was published in 1922. First named ‘factor X’ and the ‘antisterility factor’, Evans suggested adopting the letter E to designate the factor following the then recognized vitamin D.

A vitamin E active compound was isolated from wheat germ oil in 1936.

Because this compound permitted an animal to have offspring, research group named the compound alpha-tocopherol from Greek word ‘tocos’ (meaning childbirth) and ‘ferein’ (to bring forth), relating to its essentiality for rats to bear young. To indicate the presence of an OH group in the molecule, ‘ol’ was added to the ending.

Its correct structure was given in 1938 and the substance was first synthesized by P. Karrer, also in 1938.

In 1940s, a team of Canadian physicians discovered that vitamin E could protect people from coronary heart disease.

Demand for vitamin E has rapidly increased. Along with market demand, the number of product types available to the pharmaceutical food, feed, and cosmetic industries has increased.

In 1968 the Food and Nutrition Boards of the National Academy of Sciences officially recognized vitamin E as an essential nutrient.
History of Vitamin E