SCIENTIFIC PROCEEDINGS 



Abstracts of Communications. 

 Ninety-third meeting. 



Cornell University Medical College, October 16, 1918. 

 President Gies in the chair. 

 1 (1376) 



Canned tomatoes as an antiscorbutic. 



By Alfred F. Hess and Lester J. Unger. 



[From the Bureau of Laboratories , Department of Health.] 



In view of the fact that canned tomatoes are included in our 

 army ration, in which they may be substituted for potatoes to 

 the extent of 20 per cent., it seemed worth while to ascertain 

 whether they possessed antiscorbutic properties. This appeared 

 particularly desirable in view of our previous experiments 1 which 

 had demonstrated that the dehydrated vegetables commonly em- 

 ployed cannot be relied upon for furnishing this important dietary 

 factor. From a theoretical standpoint a study of this question 

 was of further interest, as the tomatoes have been subjected to 

 a temperature above the boiling-point in the course of the canning 

 process. 



Series of guinea pigs, five in each group, were put on a diet of 

 hay, oats and water ad libitum and fed various amounts of strained 

 tomatoes which had been canned almost one year previously. It 

 was found that the addition of 5 c.c. of these tomatoes was suffici- 

 ent to protect the animals from scurvy, and that larger amounts 

 stimulated growth to a remarkable degree. 



In view of this favorable experience on animals, for the past 

 three or four months we have fed canned tomatoes to infants who 



1 Hess, Alfred F., and Unger, Lester J., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol, and Med., 1918, 

 XV, p. 141. 



