VITAMINS: PAST AND PRESENT

Lecture by Dr. Isidro Vitoria Miñana, Paediatrician and researcher at the Nutrition and Metabolic Disorders Unit of La Fe University Hospital in Valencia.

What do we really know about vitamins?
Behind these essential micronutrients lies a fascinating story filled with surprising discoveries, fatal mistakes, and a dozen Nobel Prizes.

In this lecture, Dr. Isidro Vitoria Miñana invites us to explore how vitamins were identified and isolated, and why they remain so important today.

For decades, it was believed that all diseases were caused by microbes—thanks to the influential theories of Pasteur and Koch. It was hard to imagine that many illnesses could actually stem from what we didn’t eat. But it was the curiosity and ingenuity of visionary scientists that revealed the role of nutritional deficiencies in many health problems.

Some technological errors unintentionally helped highlight the crucial role of vitamins: the industrial processing of rice led to beriberi; the widespread adoption of corn in Europe without proper nutritional supplementation caused pellagra; and sailors crossing oceans without fresh fruit suffered from scurvy. Over time, vitamins also became the focus of myths, trends, and controversies: from the rise of the famous yeast extract Marmite and cod liver oil to the recommendation of high doses of vitamin C by none other than Linus Pauling, double Nobel Prize winner—though without solid scientific backing.

Today, in the 21st century, cases of rickets and scurvy are once again being detected, even in developed countries, often due to unbalanced diets or dietary restrictions. At the same time, new concerns are emerging, such as vitamin toxicity caused by excessive supplement intake. That’s why understanding how vitamins work, what our real needs are, and how to meet them through a balanced diet is more important than ever.

We invite you to join this lecture—an inspiring journey through the past and present of vitamins, with timely implications for our health and well-being.

Programme

18.30 – Doors open
19.00 – Lecture begins (Auditorio Santiago Grisolía)
20.00 – Q&A session
20.30 – End of activity

Venue access: via the west entrance of the Museu, at Calle Menor (next to the Hemisfèric)

The lecture will be recorded and may be broadcast through the audiovisual channels and/or spaces of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències and the Research Institute of the La Fe University Hospital.