548 NIACIN 



average American diet provided about 1 1 mg. of nicotinic acid daily (no al- 

 lowance included for enriched bread). '^-' ^^ These data are in contrast to 

 the 4.25 to 10.49 mg. of nicotinic acid per day which Frazier and Friede- 

 mann,^^ using Goldberger's diet records, have calculated were consumed 

 by families in which pellagra was prevalent. These facts, plus the virtual dis- 

 appearance of pellagra, indicate that the average American diet is ade- 

 quate in pellagra-preventive factors. 



G. ANTIVITAMINS IN FOOD 



The existence of substances in food which have antinicotinic acid prop- 

 erties has not been proved. There are innumerable reports in the older 

 literature suggesting or citing evidence for the presence of pellagragenic 

 factors in corn, particularly spoiled corn. More recently, Woolley^^ ex- 

 tracted a substance from corn which caused a pellagra-like syndrome in 

 mice which could be prevented by nicotinamide. Borrow and associates^® 

 attempted to repeat WooUey's work but were in doubt as to whether the 

 toxicity they obtained was due to residual chloroform in the extract. The 

 latter group did, however, find evidence of a pellagragenic factor for mice 

 in corn bran. No further reports on this finding have appeared thus far. 

 Raska" reported producing "pellagra" in dogs by feeding large amounts of 

 adenine and phosphate. Apparently no attempt was made to prevent or 

 treat this condition with nicotinic acid. Hence, there is no assurance that 

 the condition was actually a nicotinic acid deficiency. Kodicek et al.^^ re- 

 ported that indole-3-acetic acid, which does occur in corn, was pellagragenic 

 in rats. However, this claim has been denied®^'^^ and was later retracted.^'^ 



Woolley et al?^ found that 3-acetylpyridine was toxic in nicotinic acid- 

 deficient dogs but, in the same dosage, harmless to normal dogs. Woolley 

 later reported^^- ^^ that 3-acetylpyridine caused a "pellagra-like" condition 



«2 R. L. Lane, E. Johnson, and R. R. Williams, /. Nutrition 23, 613 (1942). 

 " V. H. Cheldelin and R. R. Williams, J. Nutrition 26, 417 (1943). 

 ^* E. I. Frazier and T. E. Friedemann, Quart. Bull. Northwestern Univ. Med. School 

 20, 24 (1946). 



65 D. W. Woolley, J. Biol. Chem. 163, 773 (1946). 



66 A. Borrow, L. Fowden, M. M. Stedman, J. C. Waterlow, and R. A. Webb, Lancet 

 254, 752 (1948). 



6' S. B. Raska, J. Biol. Chem. 165, 743 (IMQ); Science 105, 126 (1947). 



68 E. Kodicek, K. J. Carpenter, and L. J. Harris, Lancet 251, 491 (1946). 



69 L. M. Henderson, T. Deodhar, W. A. Krehl, and C. A. Elvehjem, J. Biol. Chem. 

 170, 261 (1947). 



^0 F. Rosen and W. A. Perlzweig, Arch. Biochem. 15, 111 (1947). 



" Y. Raoul and C. Marnay, Compt. rend. 226, 1043 (1948). 



'2 E. Kodicek, K. J. Carpenter, and L. J. Harris, Lancet 253, 616 (1947). 



" D. W. Woolley, F. M. Strong, R. J. Madden, and C. A. Elvehjem, /. Biol. Chem. 



124, 715 (1938). 

 ^^ D. W. Woolley, /. Biol. Chem. 157, 455 (1945). 



