What is "vitamer"

n. Any of a combination of substances that, together, function as a vitamin.

A vitamer of a particular vitamin is any of a number of chemical compounds, generally having a similar molecular structure, each of which shows vitamin-activity in a vitamin-deficient biological system.

For instance, vitamin A has at least six vitamer chemicals that all qualify as "vitamin A", each with slightly different properties. In such a system, "vitamin A" is termed the "generic descriptor" of the vitamin, which is defined by its biological properties in a vitamin-deficient organism, not by its chemical structure. In the "vitamin A" system, four of those found naturally in plant origin foods are chemically carotenoids (three carotenes and one is a xanthophyll). However, the retinol and retinal forms, which occur in animal-based foods, are several times as effective in humans, per microgram, than are the plant-based forms. In some cases these differences are extreme: for example the carotenoid forms of vitamin A cannot be absorbed by cats or ferrets at all, and therefore do not have vitamin A activity in these species. The retinoids are pharmaceutical forms of vitamin A.

Typically, the vitamin activity of multiple vitamers is due to the body's limited ability to convert one vitamer to another, or many vitamers to the same enzymatic cofactor(s), which is active in the body as a form of the vitamin.

As part of the definition of vitamin, the body cannot completely synthesize an optimal amount of vitamins from simple foodstuffs, without some minimal amount of a vitamer molecule as a foundation.

Typically not all vitamers possess exactly the same vitamin potency, per mass. This is due to differences in absorption and interconversion of the various vitamers of a vitamin. Often for the same reason, the toxicity of vitamers varies by molecule, as is the case with vitamin E.

A set of chemicals may be (but is not always) grouped under an alphabetized vitamin "generic descriptor" title, such as "vitamin A". Other examples of vitamers include cyanocobalamin, hydroxocobalamin, methylcobalamin, and 5-deoxyadenosylcobalamin ( adenosylcobalamin—AdoB-12), which are all vitamers of B, and thus all possess "B activity". Another example is that both niacinamide and nicotinic acid (niacin) have vitamin B activity.