THE VITAMINS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 71, 21 September 1936, Page 10

THE VITAMINS

"STAMPING GROUND OF THE CRANK"

"Thete is no doubt that vitamins have caught the fancy of the lay public to an extent that is not usual with scientific problems—a fact reflected in the enormous weight laid on them in food advertising—and all sorts of ridiculous claims have been made for them," said Dr. J. Melville, of the Wheat Research Institute, in an address entitled "The Vitamins" at a meeting of the Canterbury branch of the New Zealand Institute of Chemistry (reports the "Press"). Mr. J. Packer presided. "This misuse of scientific knowledge is an excellent example of one of the great social problems facing scientific workers. Knowledge gained in laboratories throtjgh human intellect and human manipulative skill is prostituted by commercial interests, in that proprietary foods are being advertised as possessing ajj sorts of curative properties because, of their vitamin content. The field of vitamins has also for the last decade b>en the stamping ground of the dietetjc crank," he said. "Certain people seam, to imagine that a diet is well balanced provided only that it has a sufficiency of vitamins incorporated in it, but ijhis is true only in so far as the vitamins, are usually to be found in fresh vegetables and fresh fruit— materials sometimes lacking in New Zealand diets. ; But there are many other factors regarding proteins, fats, and carbohydraies which are just as important as the vitamins. When the men who arw actually working in the field are at' pains to stress their ignorance of the methods whereby the vitamins bring th|3se marvellous results, it is surely ridiculous to suppose that the layman can afford to be dogmatic about their properties."