A new work on the history of vitamins and the brilliant men and women who discovered the existence and nature of these small molecules so vital to our health.

Rats that don't grow and have sore eyes : vitamin A (retinol), the anti-night blindness vitamin -- Soldiers in pain and staggering chickens : vitamin B1 (thiamine), the anti-beriberi vitamin -- Dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia, death : vitamin B3 (niacin), the anti-pellagra vitamin -- Deadly anemia, sludge, and the Nobel prize for a woman : vitamins B9 (folate) and B12 (cobalamin), the two anti-anemia vitamins -- Sailors, scurvy, the guinea pig, and the Nobel prize : vitamin C (ascorbic acid), the anti-scurvy vitamin -- Soft bones, lack of light, and the "sunshine hormone" : vitamin D (calcitriol), the anti-rickets vitamin -- Can you have too much of a good thing? : toxicity from vitamins -- Conclusion : victories, but lingering concerns.