﻿UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



DEPARTMENT BULLETIN No. 1138 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



February 10, 1923 



VITAMIN B IN THE EDIBLE TISSUES OF THE OX, SHEEP, AND HOG. 



I. VITAMIN B IN THE VOLUNTARY MUSCLE. 

 II. VITAMIN B IN THE EDIBLE VISCERA. 



By Ralph Hoagland, Senior Biochemist, Biochemic Division, Bureau of 

 Animal Industry. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Vitamin B in the diet 1 



I. Vitamin B in the voluntary muscle 2 



Importance of meat as a food 2 



Previous investigations with meat 2 



Experimental work 4 



Discussion of results 19 



Summary of Part 1 20 



Page. 



II. Vitamin B in the edible viscera 21 



Importance of edible viscera as food 21 



Previous investigations with edible 



viscera 23 



Experimental work 23 



Summary of Part II 4-1 



Conclusions 46 



References to literature 46 



VITAMIN B IN THE DIET. 



Vitamin B, also known as the antineuritic vitamin, is one of 

 those chemically unidentified substances which are absolutely neces- 

 sary for the growth and maintenance of man and animals. The 

 disease known as beriberi, formerly rather common among the 

 rice-eating people of the East, is due to the consumption of a diet 

 made up very largely of polished rice, which is very deficient in this 

 vitamin. On the other hand, natives who subsist largely on the 

 unpolished cereal do not contract beriberi, and the disease may 

 be cured simply by substituting unpolished for polished rice in the 

 diet. A less-marked deficiency of vitamin B in the diet results 

 in retarded growth and other disorders. Birds fed a diet very 

 deficient in vitamin B lose weight rapidly and develop polyneutritis, 

 while young rats make but slight, n any, growth on such a diet. 

 Since the chemical identity of vitamin B or of any of the other 

 vitamins is not known, the only reliable method for the estimation 

 of the vitamin content of a foodstuff is by animal experimentation. 

 This method has its limitations, but when feeding tests are carried 

 on with the greatest care and the results are interpreted with caution, 

 fairly accurate, relative vitamin values may be assigned to the 

 foods tested. 



Considering the fact that practically all our knowledge con- 

 cerning vitamins has been acquired only during the last decade, 

 we have a very considerable amount of information regarding the 



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