The production of antirachitic properties in human milk resulting from irradiation of the mother.

Abstract

Since it has been established that exposure to sunlight or to ultra-violet rays from artificial sources is able to protect animals or infants from rickets, the question arises whether this protective quality can be transmitted through the milk by the mother to the young. As the result of some experiments on cows, Luce 1 concluded that “the anti-rachitic value depends on the diet of the cow and possibly also on the degree of illumination to which she is exposed.” More recently Steenbock, Hart and their associates 2 showed that the irradiation of a goat led to a decided increase in the antirachitic potency of their milk.

This is a question of importance in relation to the etiology of infantile rickets, for although this disorder occurs less frequently among nursing than among bottle-fed infants, nevertheless it has been found in from 1/3 to 1/2.of the breast-fed infants in the temperate zone. In the following experiments, undertaken to elucidate this question, rickets was primarily induced in a series of rats by means of the Sherman-Pappenheimer low phosphorus diet. After radiographs had shown that rickets was present, a ration of 25 cc. of human milk was substituted for the rickets-productive dietary. When the milk had been fed in this amounlt for a period of 9 days the animals were again radiographed, their blood analyzed for inorganic phosphorus, and the bones examined microscopically. It was thus found that this quota of milk failed to induce healing as evidenced by the radiologic as well as the microscopic picture. The inorganic phosphorus in the blood was very low-1.98 mg. per cent.

The woman was then irradiated every other day by means of a mercury-vapor lamp.