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The concept of “vital amines” as essential nutrients was introduced over a century ago by Dr Casimir Funk. It was suggested that there is a family of organic substances that are required in minute amounts and essential for life. The increase in incorporation of vitamins and supplementation in routine dietary practices is expected to increase. In fact, it has been estimated that 60% of worldwide consumers are taking vitamin supplements on a daily basis, a trend that will most likely rise across the world.This book brings together international experts in the field of vitamins for human health and disease, to update and integrate current understanding on the effects of different lipophilic vitamins on cellular, metabolic and molecular biochemical reactions with respect to different pathophysiological conditions including cardiovascular disease, cancer, metabolic defects, inflammatory and immune diseases. This book is uniquely positioned as it focuses on the biochemistry and molecular biology of lipophilic vitamins in diverse cell systems in relation to human health and disease.The book will certainly stimulate and motivate biomedical researchers and scientists to further explore the relationship between lipophilic vitamins and biological processes, as well as serve as a highly useful resource for nutritional investigators, health professionals, medical students, fellows, residents and graduate students. We hope that the reader will gain knowledge and further understanding of the importance of lipophilic vitamins. The novel insights provided by the contributing authors will assist in advancing preventive medicine worldwide as well as bring forward knowledge that may help in the use of lipophilic vitamins as adjuvant to therapeutic strategies for human disease.

The first demonstration of the existence of a vitamin and the full recognition of this fact are often attributed to the work of McCollum, who found that a sub­ stance in butterfat and cod-liver oil was necessary for growth and health of ani­ mals fed purified diets. It became obvious that an organic substance present in microconcentrations was vital to growth and reproduction of animals. Following the coining of the word vitamine by Funk, McCollum named this fat-soluble sub­ stance vitamin A. We can, therefore, state that vitamin A was certainly one of the first known vitamins, yet its function and the function of the other fat-soluble vitamins had remained largely unknown until recent years. However, there has been an explosion of investigation and new information in this field, which had remained quiescent for at least two or three decades. It is now obvious that the fat-soluble vitamins function quite differently from their water-soluble counter­ parts. We have learned that vitamin D functions by virtue of its being converted in the kidney to a hormone that functions to regulate calcium and phosphorus metabolism. This new endocrine system is in the process of being elucidated in detail, and in addition, the medical use of these hormonal forms of vitamin D in the treatment of a variety of metabolic bone diseases has excited the medical com­ munity.