SOME FRUITS OF HAWAII 



127 



Papayas: Of 12 guinea pigs fed 2 grams of papaya only 1 was not 

 protected from gross scurvy. Not all of the 8 animals fed 3 grams of 

 papaya daily had the teeth completely protected from histological 

 changes. These variations may be due to the quality of the papaya as 

 well as individual differences in the guinea pigs. 



Passion-fruit juice: The passion-fruit used for the feeding expe- 

 riments was grown in the Kona district of the island of Hawaii and a 

 fresh lot was shipped each week to the nutrition laboratory. Each week 

 the passion-fruit juice was prepared as was that for analysis. The juice 

 was then frozen and the quantity needed for daily feeding was removed 

 from the freezing chamber and brought to room temperature. 



As the product was consistently the same, the lack of uniformity in 

 the results must be due to variations in the guinea pigs. 



Pineapple juice: Pineapple juice was prepared as for analysis ex- 

 cept that it was squeezed in 2 thicknesses of cheesecloth. When fed at 

 a level of 3 cc. pineapple juice usually failed to protect guinea pigs 

 from gross scurvy. Even 6 cc. protected only 6 out of 10 guinea pigs 

 from gross scurvy and in no case protected the teeth completely from 

 histological changes. 



Pohas: Two of the 3 guinea pigs fed 3 grams of pohas near the 

 end of the fruiting season were not protected from gross scurvy but 

 those fed 4 grams both at the beginning and end of the season were 

 protected not only from gross scurvy but from histological changes in 

 tooth structure. The teeth of 2 animals fed 2 grams of pohas at the 

 beginning of the fruiting season were not protected but no gross symp- 

 toms of scurvy were observed at autopsy. 



Soursop juice: The juice was prepared by squeezing pieces of pulp 

 freed from seeds in 2 thicknesses of cheesecloth and freezing. The 

 quantity needed daily was brought to room temperature before feeding. 



The records of 9 guinea pigs fed 5 cc. of soursop juice, in addition 

 to those shown in Table 14 are not recorded, for it was first thought 

 that the quality of the fruit may have been responsible for lack of pro- 

 tection from scurvy but the results for 8 animals shown in Table 14 

 are practically identical. Even 10 cc. of soursop juice did not con- 

 sistently protect from gross scurvy. 



Tamarinds: At the beginning of the experiment the tamarind pulp 

 was prepared by adding a little sugar and mixing with distilled water 

 so that it could be fed by means of a hypodermic syringe as the animals 

 would not take the material voluntarily. As the guinea pigs failed to 

 survive, the natural acidity of the tamarind was partially neutralized 

 by thoroughly mixing 2 cc. of 0.5 normal and later 0.75 normal sodium 

 hydroxide with 1 gram of tamarind pulp just before feeding. 



Animals numbered 354, 356 and 377 received the tamarind without 

 addition of alkali and died 7 to 14 days after tamarind feeding began 

 showing little or no evidence of scurvy. Animals numbered 379 and 

 360 received the untreated tamarind pulp mixed with water for 6 days 



