Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  \ 
July,  1920.  J 
The  Truth  About  Vitamines. 
467 
THE  TRUTH  ABOUT  VITAMINES.* 
By  R.  Cecil  Owen,  B.Sc. 
Most  of  us  were  brought  up  in  the  belief  that  the  whole  truth 
about  food-stuffs  was  expressed  by  saying  that  the  necessary  and 
sufficient  food  factors  were:  proteins,  fats,  carbohydrates  and  in- 
organic salts;  to  which,  of  course,  had  to  be  added  water.  Till 
quite  recently  it  was  universally  believed  that  given  these  factors, 
life  could  be  sustained  and  growth  profnoted,  and  that  in  the  absence 
of  any  of  them  a  gradual  starvation  ensued.  Careful  and  prolonged 
experiment,  however,  appears  to  make  it  certain  that  while  the  food 
factors  referred  to  are  necessary,  they  are  not  sufficient;  that  if 
animals  are  fed  upon  a  mixture,  in  any  proportion,  of  proteins,  fats, 
carbohydrates,  inorganic  salts,  and  water,  all  in  an  absolutely  pure 
condition,  growth  is  first  of  all  checked,  then  starvation  supervenes 
and  finally  the  animal  dies.  The  seeming  certainty  of  these  things 
has  led  to  the  framing  of  the  vitamine  hypothesis.  The  results  of 
certain  experiments  are  explained  by  saying  that  the  foods  which 
are,  in  universal  experience,  found  to  be  capable  of  sustaining  healthy 
life,  contain,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  familiar  factors,  certain 
accessory  factors;  and  to  these  has  been  given  the  generic  name  of 
''Vitamines."  Let  us  illustrate  our  meaning  by  reference  to  some 
familiar  substance.  Chemically,  butter  and  margarine  may  be — 
so  far  as  one  can  say  in  the  light  of  the  chemistry  of  to-day — identical. 
It  is  therefore  natural  to  suppose — the  conclusion  indeed  seems  ir- 
resistable — that  in  food  value  the  two  substances  are  identical. 
Yet  what  do  we  find?  If  rats  are  fed  for  a  time  on  a  diet  containing 
butter  the  diet  being  sufficient  for  normal  life,  and  if  the  diet  be 
after  a  time  changed  so  far  as  to  substitute  certain  margarines, 
or  lard,  for  the  butter,  it  is  found  that  the  animals  experimented  upon 
cease  to  grow  (if  young  enough  to  grow),  and  decline  and  die.  Upon 
such  lines  a  large  number  of  experiments,  very  carefully  made,  have 
been  carried  out.  The  general  conclusion  arrived  at  is  this,  that 
the  substitution  of  artificially  prepared  {i.  e.,  absolutely  pure)  fat — or 
even  lard,  for  the  fat  contained  in  a  diet  sufficient  to  sustain  life, 
led  to  the  rapid  decline  and  early  death  of  the  animal ;  and  the  theory 
educed  by  way  of  explanation  is  that  certain  fats  contain  "vita- 
mines"  while  others  do  not. 
*  From  The  Presenter,  May,  1920. 
