Development of Nutritional Biochemistry
Nutrition, in general, and particularly nutritional biochemistry, has traveled a long way since 1926, when nutrition was first recognized as an independent field of study with the appointment of Mary Swartz Rose as Professor of Nutrition at Columbia University. This was actually the culmination of a developmental period stemming from Antoine Lavoisier 's experiments about 200 years back that formed the basis for the studies on respiratory exchange and calorimetry, the beginning of a new science - Nutrition. About 100 years elapsed before carbohydrates, fats and proteins were identified as the source of energy fdr animal body. By the end of the nineteenth century, the necessity for certain minekals in the diet was established. But it was not until the decade between 1930 and 1940 that the majority of the vitamins were identified, isolated from different foods, synthesized in the laboratory and received serious attention in order to understand their involvement in various biochemical reactions.