Highlighting the importance of vitamin B in the human body, medical experts at a symposium on Thursday said that its deficiency could greatly affect life and cause illness. In its different forms vitamin B could help people manage their weight and ensure proper functioning of immune and nervous systems, the experts said.
They said vitamins played key role in energy metabolism, building of strong bones and keeping muscles strong and healthy, the experts added. The symposium was arranged by a multinational pharmaceutical organisation celebrating 50th anniversary of the global marketing of its vitamin-B combination supplements. Prof Abu Noem Faruki, Prof Jamal Ara, Dr Zahid Miyan and Noman Haider were among the experts who spoke.
Prof Niaz Ahmed Shaikh of the Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences said that the history of vitamin deficiency went back to centuries when scurvy — probably the first illness to be recognised as a nutritional disorder — occurred in Portuguese sailors, who were finally asked to be dropped off on a nearby island.
It was an English biochemist, Sir Frederick Hopkins, a Nobel laureate, who discovered vitamins in the first quarter of the 20th century, he said. He said food that contained vitamin B1 (thiamin), which helped convert carbohydrates into energy, was necessary for a healthy brain, nerves cells and heart function.