XI. REQUIREMENTS AND FACTORS INFLUENCING THEM 687 



pantothenic acid, the animals showed the usual lymphopenia after swim- 

 ming or ACTH administration. Dumm and Ralli^" also stated that a 

 daily intake of at least 4 mg. of calcium pantothenate is necessary to obtain 

 prolonged survival in adrenalectomized rats. Ralli and coworkers^^ • *^ have 

 also observed a decreased excretion of ascorbic acid during pantothenic 

 acid deficiency or following adrenalectomy or hypophysectomy. 



Rats depleted in pantothenic acid are less able to withstand exposure to 

 cold than their pair-fed or normal controls, according to Ershoff.^-" 



B. OF MAN 



ELAINE P. RALLI 



The widespread occurrence of pantothenic acid in foods precludes the 

 possibility that a deficiency state due to the absence of this vitamin would 

 be readily produced. There have been no experiments on human subjects 

 maintained for long periods on diets deficient in pantothenic acid. There- 

 fore, the question of the nutritional rec[uirement of human beings for panto- 

 thenic acid will be approached on the basis of the approximate daily intake 

 of this vitamin provided in an average diet in this country, on the studies 

 of the excretion of pantothenic acid in human subjects, and, finally, by 

 estimating the human requirement on the basis of the known requirement 

 of animals of different species. 



1. Pantothenic Acid Content of Foods 



Numerous analyses have been made of the pantothenic acid content of 

 uncooked foods. ^^~^* From the data in Table XI (see p. 638) the average 

 American diet, which would include two glasses of milk, two helpings of 

 fruit, two helpings of vegetables, a generous helping of potatoes, 5 oz. of 

 meat, 4 oz. of beans, two eggs, and several slices of bread, would contain 

 about 9 mg. of pantothenic acid. Even if the diet consisted mainly of vege- 

 tables and two glasses of milk daily, the pantothenic acid intake would 



50 M. E. Dumm and E. P. Ralli, Endocrinology 43, 283 (1948) ; M. E. Dumm and E. P. 



Ralli, Metabolism 2, 153 (1953). 

 " M. E. Dumm and E. P. Ralli, Endociinologij 45, 188 (1949). 

 " M. E. Dumm, E. P. Ralli, and I. Graef , quoted by E. P. Ralli and M. E. Dumm, 



Endocrinology 51, 135 (1952). 

 52° B. H. Erslioff, J. Nutrition 49, 373 (1953). 



"M. L. Thompson, E. Cunningham, and E. E. Snell, J. Nutrition 28, 123 (1944). 

 " A. J. Ihde and H. A. Schuette, J. Nutrition 22, 527 (1941). 

 " L. J. Teply, F. M. Strong, and C. A. Elvehjem, /. Nutrition 24, 167 (1942). 

 ^« J. M. Lawrence, B. L. Herrington, and L. A. Maynard, J. Nutrition 32, 73 (1946). 

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

 68 T. H. Jukes, J. Nutrition 21, 193 (1941). 



