748 



XI. VITAMINS E (tocopherols) 



Figure 2 indicates the relationship between the tocopherol requirement 

 and body weight in eleven species of animals, as adapted from values 

 based upon various standards of measurement. 



01 0.1 IjO O 100 



BODY WEIGHT 0.9) 



Fig. 2. The vitamin E requirement of different species, expressed in I.U. per day, 

 plotted against the average body weight in kg. (The hne joining the points has an in- 

 flection of 0.73. )«8 



(2) Normal Requirements of Man for Vitamin E 



There are no reliable figures for the vitamin E requirement of man. 

 When one calculates an intermediate value from comparative body weights 

 of the lower animals and of man, one arrives at a figure of 60 mg./day. 

 Harris*^^ considers this value inordinately large. (3n the other hand, when 

 the interpolation is made from the relation to the 0.7 power of the body 

 weight, the figure for a 70 kg. man Avould be 12 mg. daily. Karris'*^* 

 considers that the requirement of man probably falls in the range of 12 to 

 60 mg. per day, and a figure of 30 mg. is arbitrarily chosen. 



Dietary surveys in Holland'-- and in the United States'*^" have given the 



■iso L. E. Booher and I. T. Behan, ./. Nutrition, 39, 495-515 (1949). 



