ACCESSORY FOOD-FACTORS 



(Vitamines) 



In War-Time Diets 



Introductory. With the normal conditions of peace 

 the risk of disease from deficiency of the diet in vita- 

 mines (accessory food-factors) was one that was never 

 run by the ordinary individual in this country; but a 

 state of war has brought a new threat to the civilian 

 and a dire reality to the soldier in some theatres of war. 

 Public interest in vitamines has been aroused, the 

 glamour of the subject has caught the popular imagi- 

 nation, and more information is constantly being asked 

 for. 



In response to war-time needs appropriate researches 

 have been carried out under Dr. Harriette Chick at 

 the Lister Institute, and it is largely the results of 

 those researches which are embodied in this lecture. 

 The exigencies of the circumstances necessitated that 

 the work should be confined to strictly practical prob- 

 lems, and though little has emerged that is of striking 

 scientific interest, yet the importance of the results 

 is great both to food experts and to the man in the 

 street. 



The vitamines, or accessory food-factors, are sub- 

 stances which are present in certain food-stuffs in very 

 small quantities. They have never been isolated, and 

 their chemical nature is unknown; they are essential 



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