VITAMIN B (B,) 83 



Many observations in the literature indicate that for successful 

 lactation as well as reproduction much more vitamin B is needed even 

 than for rapid growth. 



In the opinion of Sure (1927a, b) even a fairly abundant intake of 

 vitamin B by the nursing mother does not always insure an adequate 

 supply for the young. He found that a smaller amount of vitamin B 

 concentrate sufficed to carry female rats through the lactation period if 

 a part of the concentrate were administered directly to the young 

 instead of the entire amount being given to the mother, and concluded 

 that it may be advisable in infant feeding to supply some source of 

 vitamin B as a routine measure, as orange juice is given for vitamin C 

 and Qgg yolk or cod-liver oil for vitamins A and D. Later Sure and 

 Schilling (1928) reported that 10 per cent wheat embryo furnished 

 sufficient vitamin B for good growth, but even 30 per cent was inade- 

 quate for successful lactation. In the young of mothers on the deficient 

 diets partial to complete loss of control of the rear limbs was observed. 

 The stomachs of the young were well distended with curd, thus indi- 

 cating that the failure of lactation was due to poor quality rather than 

 deficient quantity of milk. Hemorrhagic conditions were present in 

 osteogenetic tissues, and sometimes in internal organs. Sure, Kik and 

 Walker (1929) found that an insufficiency of antineuritic vitamin in 

 nursing young caused loss of weight, posterior paralysis, labored 

 respiration, cyanosis, and death. 



Daniels, Jordan and Hutton (1929) reported a failure in the nursing 

 young of mothers receiving high protein — low fat diets with insufficient 

 vitamin B. These young failed to gain or lost weight, showed muscular 

 incoordination, convulsions, and unusual outcries with subsequent 

 death, usually between the thirteenth and sixteenth days. Cerebral 

 hemorrhages particularly at the junction of the occipital and parietal 

 bones, were the most frequent pathological findings. 



It is believed that animals have little or no ability to synthesize 

 vitamin B, and that the requirement of the body must be met by the 

 vitamin preformed in the food. It is necessary then to conceive of all 

 material in the digestive tract as food not yet, technically speaking, 

 z» the body. An investigation at the Pennsylvania Experiment Station 

 of the "vitamin B" requirements of dairy calves suggested in the earlier 

 stage of the work (Bechdel, 1925) that unlike other species calves 

 seemed to have a very low requirement for vitamin B. The finding that 

 milk of certain cows which had never received more than small amounts 

 of vitamin B in their rations was not deficient in this vitamin led to 

 the hypothesis that cows and other ruminants are able to synthesize 



