Abstract
For the past two years we have been observing the effect of various diets on the development of rickets in infants. The babies received orange juice to exclude the possibility of latent scurvy. All have been on the diet for at least six months, and were followed clinically as well as controlled by means of the X-ray. It was found that many diets supposed to be eminently conducive to rickets resulted in normal nutrition. Condensed milk, for example, only exceptionally induced rickets. The one food which almost regularly led to marked rickets was a “protein milk” prepared by precipitating buttermilk with heat (not with rennin).
This preparation contained about 3.3 per cent. protein; 2.5 per cent. fat; and 6.6 per cent. carbohydrate. Its ash was about 0.44 per cent., of which the calcium and phosphorus stood about midway between that of human milk and cow's milk; its sodium content was even higher than that of the latter. Its fat-soluble vitamine content was high, its water-soluble vitamine low. Judged from the clinical standpoint, this must be regarded as a diet markedly productive of rickets.
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