FATS AS ESSENTIAL DIETARY COAfPOXENTS 881 



tliat high dietary fat levels actually accentuated the riboflavin deficiency 

 produced by the administration of galactoflavin. Protein utilization is 

 probably better in riboflavin deficiency when no fat is present. Ac(*ording 

 to the best available e^'idence, it Avould appear that high-fat diets require 

 supplementation with increased doses of riboflavin in order to maintain a 

 constant amount of the \itamin in the tissues, since the synthesis of ribo- 

 flavin in the intestine is reduced by the high-fat regimen. Reiser and 

 Pearson'^^ reported that chicks fed moderately high levels of refined 

 cottonseed oil together with diets low in riboflavin ceased growing earlier 

 than did those on a low -fat diet. This cessation of growth was corrected 

 by the addition of riboflavin. Lard did not retard growth, nor did a com- 

 mercial hydrogenated vegetable fat. Since there is no reason to believe 

 that unsaturated fatty acids such as those present in cottonseed oil require 

 more riboflavin for their metabolism than do saturated fatty acids, it 

 seems probable that the unsaturated acids interfere primarily with the 

 intestinal s>Tithesis of riboflavin. 



c. Pantothenic Acid and Fat. A similar type of dermatitis appears to 

 be produced by a deficienc}^ in pantothenic acid, pyridoxine, or linoleic 

 acid. Salmon^^^ is of the opinion that these essential components have 

 similar functions, and that all three are required simultaneously to cure 

 the acrodjTiia of rats caused by a pantothenic acid deficiency. According 

 to Stotz,^^^ pantothenic acid serves as a component of coenzyme A, and 

 is therefore involved in the man}" biologic processes which are mediated 

 through this important coenzyme. Thus it takes part in the synthesis 

 and the degradation of the fatty acid molecule. The requirement for 

 this vitamin appears to depend upon the amount and type of fat present 

 in the diet. 



d. Pyridoxine (Vitamin Be) and Fat. Some j^ears ago Birch and Gyorgy^^^ 

 and Hogan and Richardson^^^ pointed out the close relationship between 

 the requirement for fat and that for pyridoxine. It has already been 

 mentioned that the skin symptoms which develop when the essential 

 fatty acids are absent from the diet are similar to those which have been 

 noted in pyridoxine deficiency. Thus Birch and Gyorgy^^^ showed that 

 the dermatitis which occurs on a diet low in pyridoxine but containing 

 10% of fat can be cured when small amounts of lard are added. In fact, 



1" R. Reiser and P. B. Pearson, /. Nutrition, 88, 247-256 (1949). 



1" W. D. Salmon, /. Biol. Chem., I40, cix-cx (1941). 



"s E. Stotz, /. Am. Oil Chemists' Soc, 26, 341-345 (1949). 



"6 T. W. Birch and P. Gyovgy, Biochem. J., 30, 304-315 (1936). 



'" A. G. Hogan and L. R. Richardson, Nature, 136, 186 (1935). 



