

NUTRITION AND GROWTH 623 



seldom scorbutic because of the large quantities that are usually con- 

 sumed. Canned vegetables and meats only contain traces of it because 

 it is destroyed in the heating process. Canned fruits, however, contain 

 more of it because it is preserved by the acid. 



The practical application of the results of these observations to the 

 nutrition of man, and particularly to the dietetic treatment of disease, 

 is undoubtedly very great. This is especially so in infants and growing 

 children, in whom the correction of some slight inadequacy in the diet 

 may have the most pronounced results, not only on growth and nourish- 

 ment, but also on the power of resistance against disease and infection. 

 The beneficial influence of cod-liver oil, for example, may depend on some 

 fat-soluble accessory food factors, while the miraculous benefit which 

 scorbutic children derive from the addition of the juice of limes, lemons, 

 etc., to the food is undoubtedly due to such influences. The accumu- 

 lating mass of evidence as to the faulty nutrition in animals fed on 

 certain kinds of food that fail to contain food factors emphasizes the 

 necessity in the dietetic treatment of such diseases as diabetes, nephritis, 

 etc., of seeing to it that the diet is sound, not only in calories, protein 

 content, and palatability, but also with regard to the presence of these 

 factors. 



In the accompanying table the relative amounts of the various vita- 

 mines in different foodstuffs is indicated by the use of plus signs. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE THREE ACCESSORY FACTORS IN THE COMMONER FOODSTUFFS 



WATER-SOLUBLE B 



CLASSES OF FOODSTUFFS FAT-SOLUBLE A OR OR ANTINEURITIC ANTISCORBUTIC 



ANTIRACHITIC (ANTIBERIBERl) FACTOR 



FACTOR FACTOR 



Fats and oils. 



Butter + + + 



Cream + + 



Cod-liver oil + + + 



Mutton or beef fat or suet + + 



P'ea-nut or arachis oil + 



Lard 



Olive or cottonseed oil 



Linseed oil 

 Fish oil, whale oil, herring 



oil, etc. + + 

 Hardened fats, animal or 



vegetable origin 

 Margarine from vegetable 



fats or lard 



Nut butters + 

 Meat, fish, etc. 



Lean meat (beef, mutton, 



etc.) + + + 



Liver ++ + + + 



Kidney and Heart + -f + 



Brain and sweetbreads + + + 



Fish, white very slight, if any 



