History of vitamins

Vitamin supplementation may have originated as early as the 18th century when Scottish physician James Lind reportedly experimented with oranges and lemons as a cure for scurvy. The disease, which affected sailors on long journeys at sea, is caused by a deficiency in ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) found in abundance in citrus fruit. In the 1940s, the first multivitamins in tablet form appeared in the US and they have featured in medicine cabinets since.