STATUS OF PASTEURIZATION OF MILK. 23 



min depends upon the temperature, length, and condition of heat- 

 ing, as well as the reaction of the material in which it exists, there 

 seems to be little doubt that pasteurization of milk, under usual com- 

 mercial conditions, at 145 F. for 30 minutes, weakens the antiscor- 

 butic property of the milk. 



Hess and Fish (20), in 1914, in studying scurvy in children found 

 that some cases of scurvy developed when milk was used which had 

 been pasteurized at 145 for 30 minutes. 



After further studies on this subject Hess (22) made the following 

 statement : 



Although pasteurized milk is to be recommended on account of the security 

 which it affords against infection, we should realize that it is an incomplete 

 food. Unless antiscorbutics, such as orange juice, the juice of an orange peel, 

 or potato water is added, infants will develop scurvy on this diet. This form 

 of scurvy takes some months to develop and may be termed subacute. It must 

 be considered not only the most common form of this disorder, but one which 

 passes most often unrecognized. In order to guard against it, infants fed ex- 

 clusively on a diet of pasteurized milk should be given antiscorbutics far earlier 

 than is at present the custom, even as early as the first month in life. 



In the course of the development of infantile scurvy, growth both in weight 

 and in length is markedly affected. Under these conditions weight ceases to 

 increase, and a stationary plane is maintained for weeks or for months. There 

 is quick response, however, on the administration of orange juice or its equiva- 

 lent ; indeed sapergrowth is thereupon frequently manifested. 



PASTEURIZED MILK FOR INFANTS. 



A rational view must be taken of the use of pasteurized milk. 

 Shall the protection against infection, which is made available by 

 the proper pasteurization of milk, be discarded because of its defi- 

 cient antiscorbutic property, or shall its protection be accepted and 

 the deficiency in vitamin C be made up by feeding orange juice or 

 other antiscorbutics ? 



Perhaps the feeding of infants calls for even further thought than 

 is generally given. As Eddy (14) in his recent book points out, there 

 are two points to be kept in mind in infant nutrition. The first is 

 that the vitamin content of cow's or human milk is dependent pri- 

 marily on the food eaten by the producer of the milk. In other 

 words, milk is merely a mobilization of vitamins eaten, and if the 

 diet is to yield a milk rich in vitamins the food eaten must also be 

 rich. He further points out the fact that cereals are poor in vitamins 

 and green grasses rich in them, and that this brings up the question 

 of winter feeding if the milk supply is used for infants, and he sug- 

 gests that the variability in vitamins A and B in milk may at times 

 make it necessary to supplement the diet. 



The second point brought out by Eddy expresses what appears to 

 be the most reasonable attitude toward the use of pasteurized milk 



