Definition of "provitamin" [provitamin]

• A vitamin precursor that the body converts to its active form through normal metabolic processes. Carotene, for example, is a provitamin of vitamin A. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Breeding to increase β-carotene levels in cereal grains, termed provitamin A biofortification, is an economical approach to address dietary vitamin A deficiency in the developing world."
• "They therefore proposed that carotene is a provitamin, an immediate precursor to"
• "The stress of the bad hip fracture and recovery may have catalyzed cancer onset, because provitamin D is converted to its active form, D3, by a hormone called ACTH that is responsive to biological stress."