NEW VITAMIN DISCOVERED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 45, 3 December 1949, Page 5

NEW VITAMIN DISCOVERED

CLAIM BY U.S. SCIENTISTS

NEW YORK, Dec. 1

Two scientists from Florida reported to-day that they had isolated vitamin P in citrus waste that gave protection against atomic radiation. Dr. Boris Sokoloff and Dr. James Redd said that the vitamin could be produced cheaply from citrus waste, and that they had a large quantity on hand for clinical tests.

The two doctors have been conducting research on their project for three years. They said that vitamin P had been known as a factor in the correction of the function of small blood vessels. Radiation from atomic bomb blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki had apparently produced changes in the chemical structure of the wall of blood vessels, making them fragile, and leading to excessive bleeding—characteristic of radiation illness. • They sought, therefore,, to produce .vitamin P in large quantities to discover whether the vitamin, given in sizeable doses, would protect animals against a near-lethal dose of radiation. , The .scientists suggested that the vitamin might be used to good effect where injury to the capillary system, of the kidney was the main factor in cases of high blood pressure. .