Abstract
The Chinese hazel or litchi nut (Litchi Chinensis) has long been cultivated for medicinal and edible purposes in the Orient, and has attained a certain vogue in this country. A study of the therapeutic and food values of this fruit was made by Read, who describes the nut as “nearly globose with a dull brick-red pericarp which, when ruptured, exposes a sweet, brown, fleshy arillus surrounding a glossy chestnut-brown obicular seed ….” 1 If this fleshy edible part corresponds in nutritive value to most of the fruits used in the American dietary, it should constitute a source of certain of the accessory food factors. The present study deals with the assay for vitamins A and B in the litchi nut.
Young rats 25 to 30 days old, weighing 40 to 50 grams, were given the following diets:
The growth of rats on the first ration was rather prolonged, lasting from 40 to 50 days before cessation. The diet was then irradiated with light from a quartz mercury vapor lamp, with the result that growth was immediately resumed for 10 to 14 days more. At that time definite ophthalmia had developed in all the animals, and the edible part of the litchi nut was given in doses of 1 and 2 grams daily (0.87 to 1.74 grams dry matter).∗ The material was not always eaten completely, and the food consumption was irregular during this period. In no case was the ophthalmia cured, nor did the body weight increase. When 6 to 10 drops of cod liver oil were given with 2 grams of litchi nut, growth was secured, and the ophthalmia disappeared in 5 to 8 days.
In the test for vitamin B, the rats, after consuming the basal ration for approxiniately 2 weeks, ceased growing, and litchi nut was given in doses of 1 and 2 grams daily.
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