22 BULLETIN 342, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
Fat-soluble vitamin A, and vitamin G have been found to be quite 
resistant to heat, and pasteurization has little or no effect upon them. 
The antiscorbutic vitamin C, and vitamin B, are sensitive to heat. 
Although the destruction of these vitamins depends upon the temper- 
ature and length and condition of heating, as well as upon the reaction 
of the material in which they exist, there seems little doubt that 
pasteurization of milk at a temperature of 142° F. for 30 minutes 
destroys some of these vitamins. 
Hess and Fish (37), studying scurvy in children in 1914, found that 
some cases of scurvy developed when milk which had been pasteur- 
ized at 145° F. for 30 minutes was used. 
After further studies on this subject Hess (36) made the following 
statement : 
Although pasteurized milk is to be recommended on account of the security 
which it affords against infection, we should realize that it is an incomplete food. 
Unless antiscorbutics, such as orauge juice, the juice of an orange peel, or potato 
water is added, infants will develop scurvy on this diet. 
PASTEURIZED MILK FOR INFANTS 
A rational view of the use of pasteurized milk must be taken. 
Shall the protection against infection afforded by the pasteurization 
of general milk supplies be discarded because pasteurized milk is defi- 
cient in antiscorbutic and antineuritic properties, or shall the protec- 
tion be accepted and the deficiency in vitamins C and B be made up 
by feeding orange juice and other foods? 
As Eddy (20) says, there are two points to be kept in mind in 
infant nutrition. The first is that the vitamin content of cow or 
human milk depends primarily upon the vitamin content of the food 
eaten by the producer of the milk. He further states that cereals are 
poor in vitamins and green grasses are rich in them, and that this 
brings up the question of winter feeding, if the milk supply is used for 
infants. He suggests further that the variability of the vitamins A 
and B content in milk may at times make it necessary to supplement 
the diet. 
The second point brought out by Eddy expresses what appears to 
be the most reasonable attitude toward the use of pasteurized milk 
for infant feeding according to our present knowledge of vitamins, 
and it is therefore quoted : 
The second point in regard to milk lies in the effect of pasteurization. This 
measure is now well-nigh universal and in America at least has played a tremen- 
dous part in the reduction of infant mortality, especially in the summer months. 
At present, however, we know that this treatment, while removing dangerous 
germs, may also eliminate the antiscorbutic factor. The sensible attitude then 
is to recognize this fact and if a clean whole milk is not available, retain the pas- 
teurization and meet the vitamin deficiency by other agents. Such agents are 
orange juice and tomato juice, and experience has already shown that these juices 
can be well tolerated by infants much earlier than used to be thought possible. 
It seems, therefore, that the only serious effect of pasteurization on 
the vitamins is on the antiscorbutic "sutamin C and the antineuritic 
vitamin B, and it is evident that the feeding of orange and tomato 
juice, or other foods rich in these vitamins, readily makes up for the 
deficiency of these vitamins in pasteurized milk. 
