Abstract
A survey of the literature reveals comparatively little on the hydrogenation of cod liver oil. Drummond, 1 working with whale oil, hydrogenated at 250° C. for 4 to 6 hours, found that the hardened oil was entirely deficient in “fat-soluble A,” which at that time was generally also regarded as the “antirachitic vitamine”. Since then the bulk of evidence has tended to show that “fat-soluble A”—the antiophthalmic, growth-promoting vitamine—is not identical with the antirachitic vitamine.
Paal and Roth, 2 studying the catalytic action of colloidal metals of the platinum group, hydrogenated cod liver oil and butter. The process used by these investigators is a very mild one. As modified to suit our needs, it is carried out at about 55° C. for a period of about 36 hours. This is in sharp contrast to the drastic hydrogenation reported by Drummond.
Employing both the curative and preventive type of experiment the various fractions obtained by us, and about to be described, were tested on more than 150 rats. The diets used included a synthetic diet practically free from antirachitic vitamine, the McCollum diet No. 3143 and the Pappenheimer-Zucker diet D.
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