Effect of Oxidation on Vitamine. 



143 



68 (1650) 



The destructive effect of oxidation on antiscorbutic vitamine. 



By ALFRED F. HESS and LESTER J. UNGER. 



[From the Department of Pathology, College of Physicians and 

 Surgeons, New York City.] 



As stated elsewhere, 1 the antiscorbutic vitamine is destroyed 

 by oxidation. Such was found to be the case when 4 c.c. of a 

 normal solution of hydrogen peroxide were added to a liter of 

 raw milk, which was then placed in the incubator overnight. 

 Bacteria did not develop in the incubator under these conditions. 

 When 80 c.c. per capita of this milk was fed to guinea-pigs, in 

 addition to oats, they all developed scurvy in about three to four 

 weeks, a result similar to feeding experiments with milk which 

 had been autoclaved for one hour at 120 0 C. The addition of 

 orange juice to the dietary served either to protect or to cure 

 animals on this dietary. 



Orange juice subjected to oxygen for a short period was like- 

 wise found to have lost some of its potency. Previously we had 

 found that milk or tomato juice which had been shaken had lost 

 some of this vitamine. Probably this deleterious action is partly 

 due to the effect of oxidation. The harmful effect of " aging" 

 may also be interpreted in this way. 



As foodstuffs undergo oxidative processes frequently in the 

 course of various manipulations, no doubt this factor plays an 

 important role. This action probably explains the differences in 

 the antiscorbutic potency of foodstuffs which have been treated 

 in apparently similar ways, for example, of milk which has been 

 heated in open pans or in hermetically sealed bottles. 



1 Hess, A. F., Brit. Med. Jour., 1920, ii, 147. 



