Vitamine

This precious crystalline substance,which contained nitrogen, Funk called vitamine from "vita" meaning life and from "amine," a nitrogenous chemical compound closely related to the proteins.

A Battery

Much has yet to be learned in regard to this wonderful life giving substance and whether or not it is really an "amine" is still a debated question, but experiments by Funk and by other investigators as well have given evidence quite sufficient to help us materially in planning a diet that will completely supply the body needs. In addition to a sufficient diet as regards the caloric value of our food, it is quite as important that daily we obtain in some way an adequate amount of this wonderful vitamine; the battery, as it were, which keeps in operation the vital body processes and makes possible a utilization by the body of food materials.

Vitamine As Related To Protein

Just what may be the relation of vitamines to the proteins is as yet not fully determined, but it has been demonstrated that on a diet composed largely of carbohydrate more vitamine is needed by the body than when a larger amount of protein is taken. In other words that there is a direct relation between the quantity of carbohydrate to be metabolized and the amount of vitamine needed, carbohydrate metabolism seemingly influenced to a great extent by the presence of this vital element. At any rate, though all need an ample supply of vitamine foods, yet the vegetarian and the one living on the low protein ration need even more an abundant supply of these ferments of life. Perhaps the protein with its nitrogen content can to an extent take the place of the vitamine when this is for any reason deficient.

Rickets

Again we are reminded of the importance of supplying to the body a sufficient amount of nitrogenous food. Babies fed largely on sugar as found in many proprietary foods with their deficiency of protein may get fat and seem to do well for a time, but often manifest symptoms of rickets which are relieved when the child is put upon a diet containing less carbohydrate, more protein and a goodly supply of vitamines.

A Vitamine That Induces Growth In Green Vegetables

Reference has been made in a previous chapter to the conclusion drawn from laboratory experiments that young animals will not thrive and develop on a monotonous cereal diet because the proteins are incomplete. It has been shown that the supplying of the missing protein links is not sufficient for normal development unless with these are furnished these vital elements called vitamines. That vital element which has to do with proper growth is said by some investigators to be a fat soluble chemical substance and supplied in foods containing fats as fat meat, egg yolks, and milk. (See Chap. VII, footnote, page 66.) It is not present in refined oils as olive and cotton seed oil, it is not present in lard, but is found in butter fats and cod liver oil. It is also found in the germ of grain and in green and leaf vegetables, as even these contain enough fat to hold in solution the minute quantities of this important substance. The germ of grain may be at times difficult to obtain, but green and leaf vegetables are always on hand, and these not only supplement incomplete proteins, but also furnish vitamines and the fat soluble substance necessary for the proper growth.* (See page 120.) Might not the disadvantage of a cereal diet lie largely in the fact that much of the cereal is taken in its devitalized form having been robbed of its aleuron layer containing the germ of the grain?

Foods That Are Alive

Funk's scurvy and beri-beri vitamine is water (water-soluble B) and rather more widely distributed than the fat-soluble A.† For practical purposes we may class them all as vitamines and by acquainting ourselves with vitamine foods avoid any of the results of a devitalized diet.

What foods then contain vitamines? This is the practical question. All raw foods contain them as raw fruit, raw vegetables, raw milk, raw meat; all fresh vegetables properly prepared and not over-cooked; all whole cereals raw or cooked at not too high a temperature, as in a double boiler or, better still, in a fireless cooker.

♦The following is quoted from Dr. Graham Lusk as given in an address at the Auditorium, National Museum, Washington, D. C, August 30, 1917: "Two Italian scientists describe how this class of people (Italian peasants) live mainly on corn meal, olive oil and green stuffs and have done so for generations. There is no milk, cheese or eggs in their dietary. Meat in the form of fat pork is taken three or four times a year. . . . Little wonder that such people have migrated to America, but it may strike some as astonishing that a race so nourished should have become the man power in the construction of our railways, our subways and our great buildings.

"Dr. McCollum will tell you that the secret of it all lies in the green leaves. The quality of the protein in corn is poor but the protein in the leaves supplements that of corn, so that good result is obtained. Olive oil when taken alone is a poor fat in a nutritive sense, but when taken with green leaves these furnish one of the peculiar accessory substances, commonly known as vitamines, which is present most abundantly in butter fat, and gives to butter fat and to the fat in the whole milk its dominant nutritive value. The green leaves also furnish another accessory substance which is soluble in water and which is necessary for normal life. Furthermore, the green leaves contain mineral matter in considerable quantity and in about the same proportions as they exist in milk".

Recent investigation has also shown that carrots contain a considerable amount of both the water soluble and the fat soluble vitamine.

The two vitamines (so-called) that have been definitely isolated have been designated as fat-soluble A and water-soluble B. Fat-soluble A is necessary for growth; water-soluble B for normal body maintenance.