Medicine: Vitamins

Like the old woman who lived in a shoe, the medical scientists who housekeep for vitamins have an unmanageable lot of charges. At present, for example, chemists believe that there are eight varieties of vitamin B, at least ten of D. One member of the vitamin B family is also known as vitamin G, another newcomer as factor Y. Two relatives of the C tribe are known as J and P. Most practical name-calling, so far as scientific convenience is concerned, would be to recognize each vitamin by its chemical name. Thus vitamin E would be known as alpha tocopherol, C as ascorbic acid, B² as riboflavin. But since the word vitamin is as popular with laymen as “calory” once was, chemists will probably continue in their alphabetical way until they bump into Z.

Even more confusing than the names of vitamins are their functions, for they have a vital effect on practically every organ in the body, are related to a score of diseases and deformities, ranging from diabetes to bow legs. As a guide to vitamin genealogy, the American Medical Association last week published a detailed handbook* compiled by top-notch U. S. vitamin chasers, giving the last word on vitamin chemistry, deficiency diseases, treatment. Interesting facts:

> Most versatile of the brood, Vitamin A is the only one which is synthesized by animals from their plant food. It is found in the livers and yellow body fat of most animals, can be stored up by man for many months. For adequate production and storage of vitamin A, a diet should be abundant in “thin green leaves,” bright yellow fruits, vegetables such as carrots, corn, sweet potatoes. Vitamin A prevents night blindness, a failing as common in the U. S. today as in ancient Egypt, where diet-wise physicians cured thousands of cases with liver. Few persons realize that vitamin A is the most important of all vitamins for proper tooth formation in growing children, and for resistance to infection. It is also vital for healthy tissue development of sex organs.

> Richest source of anti-scurvy Vitamin C is oranges and lemons. But in times of war or famine, suggested Biochemist Otto Arthur Bessey of Harvard, almost any kind of seed, kept in water until it sprouts, and then eaten raw, is an excellent substitute. The vitamin has some strange relationship to metabolism, for manual laborers and athletes need large quantities of C-rich foods. Another little-known fact: the vitamin mysteriously disappears from the bodies of tuberculosis patients. Victims of diabetes, when given large amounts of vitamin C, usually require smaller doses of insulin to regulate their carbohydrate metabolism.

> Essential for the prevention of rickets in children, Vitamin D regulates the amount of calcium and phosphorus which the body uses for building bones and teeth. Only vitamin which does not originate in plant tissue, vitamin D occurs most abundantly in oily fish livers, is generated in the body by ultraviolet rays of the sun. Normal U. S. adults get all the vitamin D they need when they bask on beaches, and, if they drink plenty of milk, need not worry about calcium regulation. But to make best use of the calcium in their diet, pregnant women and children need extra amounts, must take daily doses of cod-liver or halibut-liver oil. Of the numerous commercial foods fortified with vitamin D, “only milk needs to receive serious consideration.” Best type of fortified milk is “metabolized milk,” drawn from cows which are fed irradiated yeast.

> Very little is known about the function of Vitamin E, found in wheat germ oil, lettuce and tomato oils. Certain it is that lack of this vitamin, as well as vitamin A, damages male reproductive tissues, produces abortion in the female. Although large doses of wheat germ oil have proved effective in stopping habitual abortion in pregnant women, Chemist Henry Albright Mattill, University of Iowa, cautiously concludes that, until more evidence is available, “attempts to produce a market for wheat germ oil among prospective parents generally are to be deprecated.”

*THE VITAMINS—American Medical AssociationChicago ($1.50).

-THE VITAMINS—American Medical Association, Chicago ($1.50).