History of the discovery of vitamin D and its active metabolites
Open accessAbstract
Before the twentieth century, it was not possible to describe the essentials of a diet that could support life, growth and reproduction of higher animals. The discovery of vitamin A by McCollum and Davis in 1913 ushered in the era of accessory food substances culminating in the achievement of that goal. It included the discovery of vitamin D and its production in skin caused by ultraviolet light. This was followed by a description of its actions at the physiological level that resulted in a healthy skeleton and beyond. To carry out these functions, vitamin D is converted to a hormone that acts through a nuclear receptor. The findings leading to this concept and their importance to biology and medicine are presented.
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Vitamin D can be made by the body through exposure to sunlight.
“Vitamin D is unique because it can be made by the body through exposure to sunlight [59].”
From Novel Insights on Intake of Fish and Prevention of Sarcopenia: All Reasons for an Adequate Consumption (2020) · cites this paper as [59]
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References 109 · Cited by 249
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- Authors
- DeLuca, H. F.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Corresponding author
- DeLuca, Hector F
- ORCID
- DeLuca, Hector F
- Venue
- BoneKEy Reports
- Publisher
- Portico
- Published
- 2014-01-08
- Volume
- 3
- Pages
- 479-479
- ISSN
- 2047-6396 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3899558
- OpenAlex
- W2055480626
- Cited by
- 249
- References
- 109
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 23 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 31 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 5
- FWCI
- 2.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- BoneKEy Reports (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Vitamin D Research Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History and Philosophy of Science › History of Science and Medicine
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Medical History and Innovations
- Keywords
- vitamin D, history of vitamin discovery, vitamin D metabolites, vitamin A, skin, nuclear receptors, bone health, essential nutrients
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