﻿2 IULLETIX 1138, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



values of the important foodstuffs in terms of vitamins A, B, and 

 C. The data are far from sufficient, however, for the purpose of 

 assigning other than tentative values to many of our staple food 

 products. Meat, for example, one of our most important food- 

 stuffs, has been assigned a rather low value as a source of the three 

 vitamins; but a careful review of the literature indicates that only 

 a limited number of investigations have been carried on to determine 

 the vitamin content of this food, and that practically all the work 

 has been done with beef and horse meat. The validity of the work 

 which has been done is not questioned, but it is too limited in amount 

 to justify the statement that meat in general is poor in vitamins. 

 Certain animal organs, on the other hand, particularly the heart, 

 liver, and kidney, have been found to be relatively rich in the three 

 vitamins. 



Additional information regarding the vitamin content of meat, 

 which should include not only beef, but veal, mutton and lamb, 

 and pork as well, is much to be desired, as well as data concerning 

 the vitamin content of the edible organs and other tissues of the 

 meat food animals. It is the purpose of this bulletin to report 

 the results of investigations that have been carried on to determine 

 the vitamin-B content of the voluntary muscle and the edible 

 organs of the ox, sheep, and hog. 



I. VITAMIN B IN THE VOLUNTARY MUSCLE OF THE OX, SHEEP, 



AND HOG. 



IMPORTANCE OF MEAT AS A FOOD. 



Meat long has been and still is one of the most important articles 

 of food in the dietary of the American people. In pounds, its per 

 capita consumption for the year 1922 (1) x was as follows: Beef, 

 57.7; veal, 8.3; mutton and lamb, 6.1; and pork, excluding lard, 

 72.8; a total of 144.9 pounds per year, or 0.4 pound per day. Ac- 

 cording to Langworthy and Hunt, (2) (1910) meat forms, together 

 with poultry, 16 per cent of the aggregate American dietary as 

 compared with 18 per cent for dairy products, 25 per cent for fruits 

 and vegetables, and 31 per cent for cereals and their products. 

 Meat also furnishes 30 per cent of the protein and 59 per cent of the 

 fat in the dietary. Even more striking is the relatively large ex- 

 penditure for meat as compared with other classes of foods. Sherman 

 (3) (1918) states that as a result of a dietary study of 2,567 working- 

 men's families, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics found 

 that the average expenditure for meat, poultry, and fish amounted 

 to 33.8 per cent of the total sum expended for foods. 



PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS WITH MEAT. 



Eykman (4) (1906) reports that he cured polyneuritic fowls with 

 law ii i cat, but the kind and quantity fed are not stated. 



Watson and Hunter id) (1906) carried on feeding tests with rats 

 to ascertain the effect of exclusive horseflesh and ox-flesh diets, re- 

 spectively, upon very young and mature animals. When horse- 

 flesh was fed to very young rats the result was invariably fatal. 

 Young rats 2 to 3 months old did somewhat better on the diet, but 



1 Italic figures in parentheses refer to Literature cited, p. 46. 



