The retail sales of dietary supplements more than doubled from $17 billion to over $36 billion between 2000 and 2017. Over 65% of people in the UK and 52% of Americans say they now take a type of dietary supplement. Only protein, carbs, and fat were recognized as the only three necessary components in meals at the start of the 20th century. People sterilized food to remove microorganisms before consuming it since poor hygiene meant that diseases were on the rise. When the rice was polished with grains, the essential B vitamins were lost, causing vitamin B deficiency, which led to blisters and frayed nerves. Scurvy also became a prevalent issue as a result of milk sterilization, but this was just the beginning.
Scientists started attempting to find answers in 1912 and found that food contains more than three nutrients. These were initially referred to as “accessory compounds,” which in scientific papers eventually changed to the name “vitamin,” which again changed to the word we all know today, the vitamin. Vitamin discoverer Casimir Funk argued that if these nutrients were available in meals, several ailments may be treated.
Following the initial discovery of vitamins, numerous products began to appear on the market. When these products with names like Vitamine, Double Strength Yeast, and Super Vitamins first appeared on the market, they typically contained yeast-derived vitamin B as well as a variety of additional substances. Mastin’s Yeast Vitamin Tablets, a popular item in 1916, was similar to today’s multivitamin in that they contained iron, calcium, vitamins A, B, and C, as well as Nux vomica, a homeopathic treatment for heartburn. The preparation’s label stated that it included vitamins and other ingredients that “should prove of value in helping to improve the appetite, aid digestion, correct constipation, clear the skin, increase energy, and, as a tonic, to assist in putting on weight in weakened, rundown conditions due to malnutrition.”
Sales of vitamins A and C skyrocketed in the 1920s as people started to think that if a supplement contained vitamins, it also contained other amazing chemical substances. This caused vitamin B2 levels to soar in the 1930s. In 1922, advertisements for multivitamin-like products promised relief from acne, blackheads, boils, constipation, malnutrition, nervous deficiency, physical breakdown, brain fog, general sluggishness, run-down conditions, “loosen up the slime and accumulated bile and clean the system,” improved energy and digestion, and helped underweight, weak people put on weight.
Innovations of the Multivitamin
Probably the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “innovation” is technology. After all, in the past 30 years—not to mention the 2 million years of human evolution—technology has advanced significantly.
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