Vitamins

CHAPTER IV

Although much uncertainty and obscurity still surround the subject of vitamins, the condition is
somewhat clearer than when the first edition of this volume was published. Much speculation and
nonsense still exist in the literature of the subject. It is still not possible to satisfactorily define them
and they are frequently referred to as "vital chemicals." It is still said: "we do not know exactly how
the vitamins act in the body," although it is now generally agreed, as I suggested in the first edition of
this work, that they are enzymes.
Although certain of the vitamins are of a protein nature, some of them being somewhat like the amino
acids, vitamins do not constitute a group of chemically related compounds, as do the proteins or
carbohydrates. Chemically, about the only thing they have in common is that they are organic
compounds. Functionally, rather than structurally, they are of a group. It is said to be merely accidental
that they are classed together as "vitamins" (Berg preferred the term "complettins" which, perhaps, more
correctly expresses their roles in nutrition.).
Vitamins are regulating substances. They are appropriately described as part of the chemical
regulators of the activities of living organisms. They share this work with the hormones of the internal
secretions and the various enzymes of the body. I have thought that they may be essential to the
formation of hormones and the various enzymes. They are very complex substances and are derived
from a wide variety of sources. Not all vitamins are known and of those now known only certain ones
are thought to be essential to human life. They are not foods in the regular sense of the term, but they
enable the body to utilize and assimilate the proteins, carbohydrates, fats and minerals. As enzymes they
lose much of their mysteriousness.
Some vitamins are found in almost every living cell indicating that their role in nutrition is a very
fundamental one. Indeed, it is probable that they constitute an integral part of the grand admixture of
many ingredients that we know as protoplasm. They are required in very small amounts; certain of
them being required in unbelievably small amounts, yet they are indispensable to the life and well-
being of the higher animals. Not all the known vitamins are required by all animals. Although about
twenty-two vitamins have been announced (only about twelve of these have been isolated in pure
form), only about seven or eight have been definitely shown to be needed by man. It is thought that
there may be many vitamins that have not yet been discovered. Perhaps not more than one to three of
the unknown vitamins will prove, when discovered, to be essential to human nutrition. I know of no
reason to doubt that the lower forms of animal life also require vitamins for their life and well-being.
Vitamins are one link in a chain of essential nutritive substances requisite for the harmonious
regulation of the chemical and organic processes of the body. Although the several vitamins are closely
related and inter-related, at least, functionally, it is believed that each one plays a specific role in
nutrition. Summarizing from McCarrison's Studies in Deficiency Diseases, vitamins are constant
constituents of living tissues, being present in small amounts and, although, they do not contribute to the
energy-supply of the body, they do make it possible for the body to utilize proteins, carbohydrates, fats
and salts and are essential to growth, regeneration and to maintenance of health. There exists a distinct
relation between the amount of vitamins required and the other food elements, so that efficiency of the
vitamins is dependent upon the composition of the food mixture. There is also a distinct relation
between the amount of vitamins required and the rate of metabolism.
The capacity of any given cell for work is impaired in proportion to the degree of vitamin
starvation. The result of vitamin deficiency is destruction-- the greater the deprivation, the more
rapid the development of deficiency states; the lesser the deprivation, the slower their development.
 NOMENCLATURE

In the first edition of this book I stated that both systems of naming vitamins (that of naming them A, B,
C, D, X, Y, Z, etc., and anti-scurvy, anti-rachitic, etc.) are wrong. I said: "they should be named according to
their positive qualities and not according to their negative virtues." This would mean designating them
physiologically or functionally and not "therapeutically" or "prophylactically." They play certain roles in the
production and maintenance of certain body structures and functions and are not mere "antis." Today, while
the tendency is to name each vitamin according to its chemical nature (at least, as rapidly as their chemical
natures are discovered), we retain the older designations. Vitamin A, for example, is called the
"antikeratinizing" vitamin; yet its true role is not that of preventing keratosis (keras, horn), but that of
promoting normal development of the epithelial tissues. The same thing may be said for vitamin B1 the
"antineuritic" vitamin, and D, the "antirachitic" vitamin. The true role of the first of these is not to prevent
neuritis, but to promote normal nervous structure, that of the latter not to prevent rickets but to promote
normal bone formation. Because they function physiologically, they should be designated physiologically.
The present perverted terminology results from permitting medical men to name things according to their
perverted views of life. Why not designate them epetheliogenic, neurogenic and osteogenic, etc. These or
some similar designations would be more in keeping with their true and positive roles.

The following rather condensed summary of the results of vitamin investigation is not guaranteed to
be up to date, for every few weeks a new vitamin is announced. Before this book comes from the press
several new vitamins may be discovered or hinted at.
VITAMIN A, or: ANTIKERATINIZING VITAMIN

This is a fat soluble vitamin and is found chiefly in the green leaves of plants, tomatoes, butter,
sweet potatoes, yellow corn, green peas, cream, egg yolk, palm oil, broccoli, kale, dandelion,
parsley, lettuce (there is thirty times as much vitamin A in the outer as in the inner leaves of lettuce),
spinach, apricots, yellow peaches, etc.
All yellow vegetables and fruits are sources of this vitamin, or rather carotene, which is pro-vitamin
A. Provitamin A is converted into active vitamin in the liver. Carotene is also found in green plants
where it is masked by the chlorophyll. "The solids of tomatoes," says Carque, "contain more of vitamin
A than butter fat." The cream and butter of the Jersey cow is especially rich in carotene when there is
an abundance of green pasturage. This is not so of the butter and cream of the Holstein. It is claimed
that the Holstein converts the carotene into vitamin A with greater efficiency than does the Jersey. This
may and may not be true.
White varieties of corn, potatoes, asparagus, celery, lettuce and turnips are deficient or devoid of
vitamin A. Bleached vegetables are lacking in this substance. Vitamin A may be stored in the liver, in
fat and in milk.
Lack of A checks growth, hence it was formerly called the growth-promoting vitamin (in keeping
with the rest of their nomenclature, it should have been called the anti-dwarf ing vitamin) but since it
is now realized that there are several dietary deficiencies that stunt growth, vitamin A has been
renamed the antikeratinizing vitamin.
Keratinization is the acquisition of a horn-like character by the epithelial tissue in many parts of the
body. This is to say, the epithelial tissue becomes like the outermost layer of the skin. It then loses
function. The epithelium atrophies. Such conditions as dry skin, night blindness, zerophthalmia,
defective enamel formation in the teeth, changes in the tissues and glands of the mouth, digestive tract,
respiratory organs, urinary and genital tract, and keratinization of other structures are attributed to
vitamin A avitaminosis.
Vitamin A deficiency is credited with the following abnormal developments:

1. Failure of the processes of growth.

2. A greatly reduced resistance to infectious agencies.

 3. Failure in the development of bone, cartilage, and teeth and in calcium metabolism.

4. Tendency to edema.

5. Failure of the nutrition of the cornea.

Deficiency of vitamin A is supposed to be concerned in the development of rickets,

keratomalacia, deficient calcification of the teeth, nutritional edema and phosphatic urinary
calculi (stones).

Vitamin A is destroyed by oxidation, so that when foods are chopped or ground this
vitamin is lost. Grated carrots have far less vitamin A than whole carrots. Long cooking in
an open kettle also results in loss. It is not affected by heat, but is injured by being exposed
to light and especially by being exposed to ultraviolet rays. Freezing does not affect it.
The estimated average daily requirement of this vitamin is 5,000 units. More is required
by infants and children and by pregnant and nursing mothers. Children and mothers need
an abundance of fruits and vegetables.
VITAMIN B COMPLEX

What was formerly thought to be a single vitamin and called Water Soluble B is now called
the "vitamin B complex." It is not one vitamin but many that occur together and are so
complementary in their physiological effects that they are classed together. The more the
substance is investigated the more complex it becomes. There are now at least thirteen B
vitamins with other possible ones to be discovered. The thirteen B vitamins at the last
authentic count do not include all of the suspected B factors. Biotin, inosital, P-aminobenzoic
acid, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothentic acid, pyroxine, choline, folic acid the "extrinsic
factor" and two other chemically unknown factors said to be needed by the chick for growth
and feather production and one or more factors of significance in guinea-pig nutrition
complete the tally of known B vitamins.
If this vitamin business becomes any more complex the minds of our researchers and
nutritionists are going to crack. It is lucky for them that the other vitamins --A, C, D, K,
etc.--are not as complex as the B vitamin. No human mind could ever hope to unravel such
complexity.
The vitamins of the B complex are fundamental to life, being found in all living things. It is
difficult to differentiate between the disturbances caused by a deficiency of the individual
members of the complex and it has more than once been the case that a deficiency attributed
to a lack of one of the group was later found to be due to multiple lack. Beriberi is the most
outstanding example of this; (A few years ago vitamin B was thought to be made up of only
two factors. One of these was called vitamin F and the other vitamin G.) Only three of the B
complex group have been shown to be of importance to man. We will here consider more
than these three.
 B1; or Thiamin; the antineuritic vitamin: This vitamin is said to prevent and cure beriberi.
It is an organic compound of two parts, one of which contains sulphur and the other
nitrogen. It is not destroyed by absorbing oxygen, but is destroyed by heating, especially
above the boiling point, if the heating is continued for some time, as in roasting, baking and
frying. Thiamine is not destroyed by cooking at 100° for an hour, but it is soluble in water
so that much of it is found in the water in which the food is cooked. Soda added to the food
in cooking adds to the destruction of B1.
As an enzyme it instigates the transformation of glucose into carbon-dioxide and water. If
there is a deficiency of this vitamin this change is incomplete and an accumulation of
pyruvic acid results. It promotes and is essential to growth, is essential to normal nerve
function, is essential to the utilization of carbohydrates, is said to "stimulate" the appetite
and normal intestinal functions and is essential to reproduction and lactation. It is said to
prevent and "cure" beriberi and certain other forms of neuritis and the "diseases" of the
heart and circulation associated with this.