INTRODUCTION 



twenty-first day and other signs of " subjective distress " but no 

 objective signs of vitamin deficiency. 



These two papers seem to indicate that the earliest symptoms of a 

 vitamin B complex deficiency are due to a deficiency of aneurine, 

 which appears to be the most critical of the B vitamins in human 

 nutrition. The second paper suggests, in addition, that human 

 subjects can be maintained in apparently normal health by the addition 

 of aneurine, riboflavine and nicotinic acid to a diet deficient in the 

 vitamin B complex, and this conclusion is supported by the fact that 

 excellent results have been obtained in the treatment of vitamin B 

 complex deficiency with these three factors only. A. G. Clarke and 

 F. Prescott,^ for instance, successfully treated seventeen cases which 

 exhibited symptoms such as depression, psychoneurosis, anxiety, 

 polyneuritis, glossitis, angular stomatitis and cheilosis, with 3 to 9 mg. 

 of aneurine, 3 to 9 mg. of riboflavine and 100 to 500 mg. of nicotinic 

 acid daily. 



From the standpoint of human nutrition, therefore, it is doubtful 

 whether any other members of the vitamin B complex of funda- 

 mental importance remain to be discovered. There is also strong 

 evidence for believing that aneurine is the most important mem- 

 ber of the vitamin B complex in animal nutrition, for a deficiency 

 of this factor is the first of the B vitamin deficiencies to manifest 

 itself, and it gives rise to the most serious symptoms. Thus, E. C. 

 Miller and C. A. Baumann ^ found that rats died within three 

 weeks on a vitamin Bj-deficient diet containing all the other 

 members of the vitamin B complex, but suffered no ill-effects when 

 deprived of nicotinic acid or choline only. On a riboflavine-deficient 

 diet, they ceased to grow but apparently remained otherwise normal 

 for four months, when they developed deficiency symptoms and 

 died after seven to twelve months. On a pantothenic acid-free 

 diet, growth ceased within a month and about half the animals died 

 within five months. 



The impression gained from animal experiments and clinical 

 experience is that a vitamin B complex deficiency can be largely, 

 though not completely, remedied by administration of aneurine, 

 riboflavine and nicotinic acid ; some of the other B vitamins may of 

 course be supplied by intestinal synthesis. In any event, it appears 

 unsound in theory and possibly dangerous in practice to treat a 

 multiple deficiency with one B vitamin only, for A. F. Morgan ^ using 

 dogs and Supplee et al.^ using rats obtained evidence that this some- 

 times precipitated a deficiency of another factor, although K. Unna 

 and J. D. Clark ^ found that prolonged administration of large 

 amounts of individual vitamins to rats on a diet deficient in one or 

 more factors did not aggravate the deficiency state. 



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