[Fat-soluble vitamins in clinical practice].

The identification of fat-soluble vitamins at the beginning of this century had a major impact on human health. The classical deficiency symptoms could be treated with effective means. After a period of rather low interest in fat-soluble vitamins, we are now in the midst of a new wave of research on these vitamins, with a large number of reports in influential international journals. It has been demonstrated that the fat-soluble vitamins have many more functions than previously known, and suboptimal status has been linked to several diseases. In this review, we describe these new aspects of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.