The Vitamine Manual

by Walter Hollis Eddy

CHAPTER VII

HOW TO UTILIZE THE VITAMINE IN DIETS

In the preceding chapters it has been the aim to present the findings of the principal workers in the field. In attempting to summarize the work of so widely scattered a group as are now engaged in vitamine research it is impossible to cover completely the many investigations and it is inevitable that some work will have been overlooked, but the foregoing covers at least the principal data on the subject. What is the bearing of all this information on human behavior and what lessons can the layman draw from it that is of direct application to him? Let us first consider this question from the dietary viewpoint.

I. INFANT NUTRITION

The limited character of the infant's diet has made the consideration of vitamine content in his diet much more important than in the case of the adult with the latter's wide variety of choice. It is evident from the previous data that a growing infant must not only be provided with a sufficient supply of calories, nutrients and salts, but must also have a liberal supply of the three vitamines. Milk has in general been classed as adequate in all these features, but the vitamine researches have forced us to reconsider our views in regard to this staple.

The first point to be borne in mind is that the vitamine content of either cow or human milk is dependent primarily upon the food eaten by the producer of the milk. In other words milk is merely a mobilization of the vitamines eaten and if the diet is to yield vitamine-rich milk it must itself be rich in these factors. Many a cow produces milk low in vitamine content and the same is true of nursing mothers. There are many "old wives" prejudices in regard to what food a lactating mother may eat and unfortunately many of these prejudices are extremely injurious and false. One of them is the prejudice against green vegetables. Experience has shown that under ordinary conditions such vegetables are well tolerated by the mother and from their content of vitamine it is evident that they are suppliers of these factors. In the case of the cow the fact that cereals are poor in some of the vitamines and green grasses rich therein, teaches a lesson that bears directly upon winter feeding of cattle if the milk supply is to be used for infants. We need a series of diets and cattle foods for just this purpose of insuring the proper vitamine content in milk. The preceding tables will enable one to develop such diets fairly satisfactorily, but more data is urgently needed.

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 tremendous part in the reduction of infant mortality, especially during 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 pasteurization and meet the vitamine 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.

While the pasteurization does not appreciably affect the content of "A" or "B" vitamines, the variability in content of these vitamines in milk indicates that it may at times be necessary to supplement them in the diet. In this connection it must be borne in mind that cereals vary widely in content and cannot be, as they often are now, considered equivalent in growth stimulation power. This is a subject that needs special attention on the part of vitamine experts and dietitians and finally by the food manufacturers. A good vitamine-rich cereal combination would form an excellent adjuvant to infant dietaries after they reach the age of tolerance to such a diet. But even before that time the expressed juice of various vegetables as well as fruits is found to be well tolerated when mixed with the milk or given separately, and carrot and spinach juice are now being used in this connection with good results. These juices like orange juice contain the B type in abundance and there is no doubt that in their stimulation to the appetite they play an important part in making the desirable daily gain.

Fortunately for the layman he has in the scales a good indicator of the normal progress of his child and so long as growth is normal he can fairly assume that the diet is adequate but if the scales say otherwise it is time for him to seek advice and then he is wise who insures that his medical adviser knows the newer aspects of nutrition. The parent can do this only by proper selection, but with a little knowledge he can soon satisfy himself as to whether his pediatrist is the right sort and it is one of the purposes of this text to bring home to the layman his responsibility in this matter.

There has grown up in this country a great regard for prepared milk substitutes in infant feeding and a wide usage of condensed milks, reinforced milks, diluted milk formulae, etc. All such preparations must be examined anew in the light of the vitamine discoveries and unless the given preparation can show a clean bill of health in vitamine content, it should be either discarded or properly supplemented.