One of the most frequently asked question by my patients is “Are vitamins important?”  Every day patients ask questions about nutrition and vitamins.  Let me take this opportunity to address a few of these questions and concerns.  Why do we need to take vitamins? Vitamins were discovered in the middle of the nineteenth century.  Sailors found that a lack of certain foods would result in disease.  It was understood that small amounts of particular organic molecules were essential for good health.  The list began to grow as they learned to purify these molecules from foods.  The term “Vitamine” was coined in 1911 when thiamine was isolat...