Abstract
It has been shown that the fat-soluble vitamine is an essential constituent of the dietary of rats. There have also been clinical reports attributing marked malnutrition in infants and children to a lack of this dietary factor (Japan, Denmark). As a result of these experiences it has been accepted that this vitamine is highly important for man, and that the lack of it leads to nutritional disorder in children. This has been emphasized all the more as this vitamine is not nearly as widely distributed in nature as is the water-soluble vitamine. In order to study this question five infants, varying in age from 5 to 12 months, were given a diet which was complete except for a very small amount of fat-soluble vitamine. It consisted of 180 g. daily of highly skimmed milk (Krystalak 0.2 per cent. fat), 30 g. of cane sugar, 15 to 30 g. of autolyzed yeast (to supply water-soluble vitamine), 15 c.c. of orange juice, 30 g. of cottonseed oil, and cereal for the older infants.
On this diet the children have done well for a period of eight to nine months. They have shown no anemia, no eye trouble, no bone changes, as seen by the X-ray, nor has their growth in length or in weight suffered. We believe, therefore, that either a very small amount of this vitamine suffices to supply the needs of human nutrition, or that this deficiency has to be maintained for a period of years in order to bring about any harmful result. Danger from a lack of this dietary factor need not be apprehended if the diet is otherwise complete.
The development of rickets has been attributed by Mellanby, as a result of experiments on dogs, to a lack of fat-soluble vitamine, and Hopkins and Chick have termed this vitamine the “antirachitic factor.”
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