The fundamental basis of nutrition / by Graham Lusk.

  • Lusk, Graham, 1866-1932.
Date:
1923
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The fundamental basis of nutrition / by Graham Lusk. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    53/76 (page 37)
    McCollum has termed the unknown accessory substance which brings about these remarkable re- sults “Fat-soluble A.” It is popularly known as “Vitamin A.” It is found in cod-liver oil, in liver, milk and eggs, and also in green leaves, lettuce, cabbage and beet tops. The cow in the pasture gains it through green fodder, and an Italian par- takes of beet tops, rich in vitamin A, together with olive oil, which is free from it. During the war the Danes exported butter fat in great quantity to Germany and instead gave to their children vegetable margarine, which is usually made from the cocoanut. The children developed mal- nutrition, were stunted weaklings without appetite and developed xerophthalmia. A third of an ounce of cod-liver oil, given twice daily, cured the eye disease in eight days unless its course had run too far. The Danish authorities becoming aware of the American work with regard to vitamin A, began to ration butter among the children of the poor, and the trouble disappeared. The scientist is thus truly a philanthropist. One might quote Lavoisier : “The naturalist may also perform patriotic functions in his laboratory and at his desk; . . . and should he by some new methods which he has opened up prolong the aver- age life of men by years or even by days he can also aspire to the glorious title of benefactor of human- ity.”