ANNUAL REPORT. 1040 75 



The test included 194 lots, representing 46 genera, packeted by 32 

 wholesale establishments, and obtained from 53 retail outlets. Records 

 on germination showed 146 lots, good; 30 lots, fair; 16 lots, poor; 2 lots, 

 none. Records on performance showed 155 lots, satisfactory; 6 lots, fair; 

 33 lots, not satisfactory'. Detailed results are reported in Control Series 

 Bulletin 107. 



DEPARTMENT OF HOME ECONOMICS NUTRITION 

 Helen S. Mitchell in Charge 



Vitamin Requirements of Older People. (H. S. Mitchell and A. W. 

 Wertz.) Scientific knowledge regarding the chemical nature and physi- 

 ologic function of vitamins has progressed by leaps and bounds in recent 

 years, but knowledge regarding the human requirements for the different 

 vitamins has not kept pace with other phases of vitamin research. The 

 vitamin requirements of young adults, college students, and children have 

 been studied to a limited extent and more with regard to vitamins A and C 

 than any others. Little, if anything, is known regarding the vitamin 

 requirements of older people or the vitamins most significant in the main- 

 tenance of optimum health with advancing years. Thiamin seems to be 

 the one most apt to be deficient. 



Reports from various parts of the country, mostly in the medical jour- 

 nals, indicate that thiamin (vitamin Bi) administered in liberal dosage 

 has brought about considerable improvement and in some cases complete 

 relief from various chronic complaints and discomforts commonly asso- 

 ciated with and accepted as inevitable accompaniments of old age. A 

 question as to wh}' increased need for thiamin should become evident in 

 middle age has never been answered. Minor changes in food habits may 

 decrease the amount of vitamin consumed; metabolic changes may in- 

 crease the need; or chronic infection may destroy or use extra vitamin, 

 thus depriving the body of its normal supply. Thus it is proposed to ask 

 the cooperation of a limited number of people living in Amherst to help 

 us in the study of the thiamin requirements of reasonably normal people 

 in the seventh and eighth decades of life. Such an experiment is possible 

 only where intelligent and scientifically minded people are willing to give 

 their interest and support to the project. 



A few years ago it would have been impossible to propose a study of 

 this kind because so little was known concerning the function of thiamin 

 in the body. Today we know that the body cannot store thiamin to any 

 extent and that the excess beyond what we need is excreted in the urine 

 unchanged. A small excess of the vitamin can do no harm. If the body 

 has received less than its normal requirement for some time, it will tempo- 

 rarily store thiamin in the tissues, when given a chance, until its quota 

 is filled. If there has been no deficiency, the excess vitamin ingested will 

 be excreted promptly. Thus the need of the body can be studied by 

 measuring the excess excreted in the urine after the need of the body has 

 been satisfied. 



Another reason why a stud}' of this kind can be undertaken today better 

 than earlier is the improvement in methods for estimating thiamin quan- 

 titatively. Until recently we were dependent upon animal feeding tests 

 which were tedious and expensive. Today there are two or three chemical 



