ABSTRACT
Vitamins are among the essential components of foods for many animals, including human beings, and are produced mainly by plants. Thus any genetic and environmental factors that affect the concentration in the plants could conceivably have nutritional consequences for the consuming organisms. Use of various agrochemicals such as pesticides and herbicides may alter the concentration of vitamins in plants, in many cases by increasing them. It is reasonable to assume that the natural or man-made variations in plant vitamins may have a special nutritional relevance in those situations were food diversity is low or nonexistent and the food consumed is primarily locally produced. From a practical point of view, the variations in plant vitamins may be roughly classified as: those brought about by natural factors over which one has little or no control and those caused by man-made factors over which one might exert some kind of control if it is desired to do so.
