The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1333 
The Story of the Vitamines 
A Thorough Discussion of the Vital 
Principles of Food. 
Part iv. 
Sources of Vitamine. —Since the 
water-soluble vitamine is such an essen¬ 
tial constituent of the diet it is important 
to know something about its relative 
abundance in the products which con¬ 
tain none, namely, all fats and oils that 
have been purified, such as olive and 
other salad oils, lard and other animal 
fats, and lard substitutes. Butter sub¬ 
stitutes are free from the water-soluble 
vitamine unless a little milk is incor¬ 
porated in them. Butter contains a very 
little water-soluble vitamine, because it 
contains a little buttermilk. None of 
these products, however, contain ap¬ 
preciable quantities of this food factor. 
Sugar contains none, and the better 
grades of flour contain very little. As 
these manufactured food products form a 
large part of the human dietary it is 
evident that some adequate source of the 
water-soluble vitamine should be pro¬ 
vided in addition. Meats myiply some, 
but the amount thus furnished is rela¬ 
tively unimportant. Potatoes and flour 
made from the entire wheat or other 
grains contain more. Experiments made 
by McCollum, as well as those made in 
our laboratory, show when whole wheat 
flour is the sole source of the vitamine 
it must form at least one-fifth of the 
food if young rats are to grow normally. 
We have also found the same to be true 
of old potatoes. Whether young potatoes 
contain more is now under investigation. 
According to experiments now in progress 
in our laboratory it seems safe to say 
that carrots and turnips are decidedly 
richer in the water-soluble vitamine than 
are old potatoes. Beet roots seem to con¬ 
tain less, but the experiments with these 
*ve not yet completed. Green leaves con¬ 
tain relatively large amounts, if con¬ 
clusions are justified from experiments 
which we now have in progress with 
spinach or beet leaves, young grass, clover 
or Alfalfa plants. These experiments also 
include some with cabbage or tomato, both 
of which are apparently rich in the water- 
soluble vitamine. Among animal prod¬ 
ucts which have been tested, milk, eggs, 
and the liver, heart and kidneys of pigs 
have been found by Osborne and Mendel 
to supply much larger amounts of the 
water-soluble vitamine than do compar¬ 
able quantities of the lean round of beef. 
It. is evident that eggs, milk and vege¬ 
tables are the chief source of water- 
soluble vitamine in the dietary of the 
average citizen of this country, and their 
liberal use is unquestionably desirable. 
Spring Medicine. —In former times a 
large part of the people, especially those 
in the country, during the Winter lived 
on a much more restricted diet than at 
present. In those days large numbers 
complained of being run down in the 
Spring, and were in the habit of taking 
“Spring medicines.” herbs and tonics to 
restore them to health. W hether the 
improved condition which followed was 
due to the medicines taken, or to a diet 
richer in vitamines which the advancing 
season afforded, cannot now be deter¬ 
mined. At any rate, with the addition 
of fruits and vegetables to the Winter 
diet one hears much less about “Spring 
fever” than formerly, and also less about 
Spring medicines, sarsaparilla, etc. It 
does not seem improbable that a cli't de¬ 
ficient in water-soluble vitamine w..s re¬ 
sponsible for much of this troubl for 
merly so pro 'alent but now, liaj pi 1 y 
iargelv a thin of the past. In vie v o 
the u ldoubted importance of the w iter 
soluble vitamin • in the daily diet, one 
should be sure that the treatment to 
which foods an subjected in preparing 
them for the table should not impair 
their value as sources of this essential 
accessory. 
Drying. —There is little direct evidence 
to show whether or not the potency of the 
water-soluble vitamine is diminished by 
drying, as almost all the experiments 
with this vitamine have been made with 
dried products. Osborne and Mendel 
compared fresh milk with dried protein- 
free milk and a commercial milk powder, 
and found that equal quantities of the 
dry matter of each were required t<> en¬ 
able young rats to grow normally. Apart 
from this experiment I know of none cov¬ 
ering this question. It seems almost cer¬ 
tain that the water-soluble vitamine in 
food products is not affected by drying. 
Osborne and Mendel have found that 
dried protein-free milk and dried yeast 
are as capable of restoring young rats 
to health and vigor after keeping for over 
a year as they were when first dried. 
Cooking. — Fortunately the water- 
soluble vitamine is a very stable sub¬ 
stance. Its activity is not diminished by 
boiling in water, nor even by heating with 
relatively strong acids. We have boiled 
yeast with six per cent hydrochloric acid 
for six hours without noticeably affecting 
its activity. On the other hand. Mc¬ 
Collum Inis shown that by heating in 
weakly alkaline solutions it is soon de¬ 
stroyed. It seems safe to conclude that 
unless too much soda is used, cooking 
will not injure the potency of the water- 
soluble vitamine in any of our food prod¬ 
ucts. As the water-soluble vitamine is 
easily extracted from vegetables by boil¬ 
ing water, it is probable that the water in 
which vegetables are cooked will contain 
some, hence it is good practice either to 
steam the vegetables or else to boil them 
in as little water as possible, and save 
this water for use in soups and gravies, or 
in other ways. 
Canning. —Several investigators have 
found that products containing the water- 
soluble vitamine can be heated under 
pressure to the temperatures used in can¬ 
ning without injury to this vitamine. 
Osborne and Mendel confirmed this when 
they found that yeast heated with water 
for three-quarters of an hour at 257 deg. 
Fahr. was almost as potent a source of 
the water-soluble vitamine as it was be¬ 
fore this treatment. There is no reason 
to believe that the value of any food 
product as a source of the water-soluble 
vitamine is reduced by canning. The 
water in which the product is canned 
doubtless contains a considerable part of 
this vitamine. and should therefore be 
used in cooking when possible. 
Fat-Soluble Vitamine. —The part 
which this vitamine plays in nutrition 
deserves the most thorough investigation, 
for at present our actual knowledge of 
the subject is very scanty. On diets free 
from the fat-soluble vitamine young rats 
fail to grow, and die unless some source 
of the fat-soluble vitamine is added to 
their food. If this is done before their 
condition has become too serious, they 
promptly recover, and then continue in 
health as long as the fat-soluble vitamine 
is present in their food. If the food 
contains less fat-soluble vitamine than is 
needed for normal nutrition the rats grow 
well for a time, and give no evidence of 
a deficiency in their diet. Sooner or 
later, however, they suddenly cease to 
gain weight, and frequently die very sud¬ 
denly. Shortly before death a large pro¬ 
portion become afflicted with a serious 
eye disease, which often results in ulcers 
on the cornea. Calculi are also not in¬ 
frequently found in the bladders and kid¬ 
neys of rats thus fed. That these con¬ 
ditions are due to lack of the fat-soluble 
vitamine is shown by the marvelous re¬ 
coveries made when a little butter-fat or 
some other source of this vitamine is 
added to the diet. Within a day or two 
after this addition has been made the 
animal is well on the way to recovery, 
and usually within a week the eyes are 
cured and a large part of the lost weight 
is regained. The length of time the rat 
survives a deficiency of this food factor 
depends on the amount it receives, thus 
showing the need of a definite proportion 
iu the diet for normal nutrition. 
Requirements of Young Animals.— 
The older the rat the longer it survives 
a deficiency of the fat-soluble vitamine. 
Drummond states that a rat which is 
nearly full-grown can complete its de¬ 
velopment on an allowance which would 
not permit a very young animal to grow 
at ail. Adult rats suffering from the ef¬ 
fects of a deficiency of the fat-soluble 
vitamine in their diet are extremely sus¬ 
ceptible to infections, so that most ex¬ 
periments of this nature are terminated 
in from four to six months by the death 
of the animal from some infectious dis¬ 
ease. Our experience fully confirms 
Drummond’s. We have found that on 
diets so far free from the fat-soluble 
vitamine that young rats two to three 
months old fail after 60 to SO days, rats 
a year old may live for another year 
without apparent detriment other than a 
very slow decline in weight We can 
also confirm Drummond’s observations on 
the susceptibility to infection shown by 
adult rats thus fed. 
Direct experiments are lacki lg to show 
that other species of animals than rats 
require the fat-soluble vitamine. How¬ 
ever. as pointed out in my earlier paper 
in The Rural New-Yorker, there is every 
reason to believe that human beings also 
must have this vitamine. Certainly it 
would be extremely unwise to assume 
that they do not require it. and the pru¬ 
dent person will heed the danger signals 
which the experiments with rats have dis¬ 
played. THOMAS B. OSBORNE. 
(Continued next week.) 
Shooting Down a Tornado 
I have been thinking of a plan for pre¬ 
venting damage from tornadoes. Why 
would it not be possible to shoot these 
tornadoes as they approach? Would not 
a gas shell exploded in them break up 
their force and prevent damage? 
A. s. K. 
There is every reason to believe that 
shooting a tornado would have no appre¬ 
ciable. effect on either its intensity or 
direction of travel, to say nothing of the 
danger such shooting would entail in a 
populous region. 
In the first place, the chance of hitting 
a tornado at a distance would be small: 
secondly, if one should hit it, only an 
infinitesimal part of the air involved 
would be touched ; and finally, even if all 
the energy of the projectile were expended 
against the tornado (which certainly would 
not be the case) it could have but little 
effect, because this energy is small in com¬ 
parison to that of the tornado. Shooting 
clouds, either to make them vain or to 
make them stop raining, doe« no good: 
shooting hailstorms is useless; and it i.s 
quite certain that shooting tornadoes 
would be equally futile, c. f. marvin, 
Chief of U. S. Weather Bureau. 
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