Vitamin B is a complex of several vitamins. The name arises because it was once considered a single vitamin, much like Vitamin C or Vitamin D. Since later research has shown it is in fact a complex of chemically distinct vitamins that happen to often coexist in the same foods, the name has gradually declined in use, being replaced by the generic term "the B vitamins", the vitamin B complex , or by the specific names of each vitamin.
Vitamin B-w, another name for Vitamin B-7 (Biotin)
Vitamin B-x, also PABA (Para-Aminobenzoic acid)
In addition to coexisting in the same foods, the B vitamins often work together to bolster metabolism, maintain healthy skin and muscle tone, enhance immune and nervous system function, and promote cell growth and division — including that of the red blood cells that help prevent anemia.
The reason the alphabet soup of vitamins seems to skip from E to the rarely-mentioned K is that most of the "letters" were reclassified, as with fatty acids, discarded as false leads, or renamed because of their relationship to "vitamin B", which became a "complex" of vitamins.
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