Diet and roughage in relation to the experimental scurvy of guinea pigs

Abstract

It has been repeatedly demonstrated that exclusive diets of cereals produce scurvy in the guinea pig. We have fed filter paper, sawdust and hay respectively, as supplements to an oat diet without averting the appearance of scurvy. Duration of the disease and decline were not appreciably different when these supplements were fed. The addition of 7, 10, or 18 per cent. of paper pulp to a special soy bean diet 1 failed to supply an antiscorbutic property.

Feeding raw milk in addition to oats induces marked constipation with impaction of feces in the cecum. Animals fed 40 c.c. milk daily showed definite symptoms of scurvy in about a month. As the daily allowance of milk was increased, the symptoms seemed to recede in severity. Yet even when 80 c.c. milk were consumed daily, the animals became very constipated and died; but there were scarcely any signs of scurvy. Autopsy of such a case revealed absence of the typical macroscopic hemorrhages or of fragility of the bones. These observations appear to confirm the findings of Chick, Hume and Skelton, 2 which indicate that a sufficient amount of milk fed to guinea pigs will prevent scurvy. Such observations render debatable the hypothesis that the experimental scurvy of guinea pigs is attributable to failure of normal intestinal movement.

Preliminary experiments on the nutritive qualities of descicated vegetables indicate that the drying of fresh cabbage does not entirely remove its antiscorbutic property. 1