VITAMIN RIDDLE SOLVED.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 113, 16 May 1927, Page 9

VITAMIN RIDDLE SOLVED.

ANtT-RACHTTIO BTTBSTAHCE.

ENGLISH WORKERS , SUCCESS.

The mystery of the so-called vitamin which prevents rickets and the action of which is similar to that of ultraviolet light, is practically solved, The success in unravelling this problem, on which workers all over the world have during the past few years been concentrating their attention, falls to two Englishmen, O. Rosenheim and T. A. Webster, of the National Institute for Medical Research. It has been known for two years that when animals suffering'from rickets are given food which has been irradiated with ultra-violet light, the rickets can be cured. At the same time certain foodstuffs, such as cod liver oil, already contain a substance which has the same properties as irradiated food in curing or preventing rickets. It was found by careful research that the ingredient in food which had the curative property after irradiation was a wax-like substance called cholesterol. But it was then discovered that cholesterol, when treated in certain ways, though apparently chemically unaltered, would not cure rickets, even if it was irradiated for longer, or shorter periods. This conclusion led to a further problem, which, briefly, consisted in finding something else contained in ordinary cholesterol which became activated By irradiation. A series of compounds were finally found and one of these, ergosterol, Rosenheim found to have the properties of preventing rickets after irradiation. Half-ounce For a Lifetime of Health. A preparation of ergosterol which is over 1000 times more active in dealing with rickets than any preparation hitherto contained has now been made by Rosenheim. This is apparently the pure vitamin O, as it has hitherto been called. A rat needs about onethousandth of a milligram of this per day to keep in health. The amount a human being would require from birth to death would be something under onehalf an ounce!

The immediate applications of this discovery are two-fold. In the realm of pure biochemistry a big programme of research can now be undertaken in order to lay bare the chemical processes with which these substances are concerned. As far as practical application goes, the isolation of pure vitamin D will have far-reaching effects. A preparation that will act as an efficient substitute for cod liver oil will probably be available soon at a considerably lower price. It will also be interesting "to see if such a prepartion will suppress or supersede the ultra-violet light treatment which, in the past few years has been increasingly used in certain diseases, and which is not only expensive, but must be administered with the greatest caution by trained experts. Ergosterol can be prepared from the fat of various plants, including yeast. The Cause of Bexi-berL In addition to the solving of the mystery of Vitamin D, the attack on the vitamin which cures beri-beri or polyneuritis has led to the announcement by two Dutch workers that they have isolated this substance. Working at the Dutch colonial laboratories at Weltevreden, Batavia, Messrs. B. C. P. Jansen and W. F. Donath have apparently made considerable progress and have obtained it in a preparation a thousand - times more pure than any formerly known. The amounts needed for health appear to be similar in quantity to the necessary amounts of vitamin D as stated by Rosenheim. Whether the Dutch investigators have completely succeeded in the actual isolation is a matter which still leaves room for scientific discussion.