Show WHAT to EAT and WHY C houston goudiss asks how do you got get your Yf vitamin farnin D relates need for and sources of this necessary vitamin by C alj HOUSTON GOUDISS thas THERE HERE is scarcely a mother of a young baby today who has not at one time or another been told to give her child cod liver oil perhaps she does not know this substance must be given to the baby for the vitamin D that it contains but she has heard that there is something in cod liver oil which makes it valuable to the health A generation ago cod liver ever oil was given to children in the winter time to build them up after colds or v various arious I 1 other respiratory illnesses it was not until 1921 however that a long series of painstaking investigations terminating in the discovery of vitamin D made it clear that cod liver oil is valuable as a source of vitamin D and also why this vitamin is essential in the diet of growing children as well as adults Disco discovery of vitamin D after years of patient work and many thrilling and dramatic ex peri ments seven forms of vitamin D have been revealed by science and scientists have also solved the mystery of bow such widely separated factors as cod liver oil sunlight a diet that is rich in and carefully balanced with calcium and phosphorus and ultraviolet light all can perform the same service for the body readers of this column may have observed that the discovery of a number of the vitamins came about chiefly through the efforts of investigators to discover a method of treating or curing obscure nutritional diseases in most instances however carefully controlled laboratory experiments played their part in reaching the ultimate goal after some clue had been found as to what the mysterious substance might be that helped to control a baffling nutritional disease the discovery of vitamin D was no exception vitamin D and rickets vitamin D is associated intimately with the prevention and cure of rickets the most devastating nutritional disease of children in temperate climates indeed it is the moderate and in some cases the small amount of sunshine in the temperate zone that accounts partially for the presence of rickets ricke ts historians have given us reason to believe that this disease may have existed in england even before the roman conquest certainly it appeared in a serious form both in england and in other north european countries in the seventeenth century rn in fact early literature refers to it as the english disease and the early attempts to fathom its causes were written in latin by english and dutch doctors during the in rickets the childs head bead grows large and out of proportion to the body while the leg lee and arm bones and in severe cases even the ribs are bent and twisted out of their normal shape need for calcium and phosphorus the two principal minerals required for constructing the bones and teeth are calcium obtained chiefly from milk cheese and green leafy vegetables and phosphorus found in generous amounts in eggs whole grain cereals and dried legumes but one of the things that made it so difficult for scientists to determine the cause of rickets was the fact that apparently well fed children who had plenty of calcium and phosphorus frequently developed the disease mystery of cod liver oil cod liver oil had been used for many years because of its supposedly tonic or building properties when it was observed that regular doses of cod liver oil not only cured rickets in children but also cured the corresponding sp disease in adults called in which th the e bones become soft as the calcium and phosphorus already deposited in them are withdrawn and excreted fat and vitamin D one of the strangest paradoxes to the scientists in their early investigations was the fact that while cod liver oil appeared to cure rickets another substance high in 0 f fat b butter u t t e r fat a did I 1 d i not n 0 M more 0 re research sat if toa d to a r c h work w 0 r was w necessary n e c e s a r y before b e fo r e it w was as dis discovered c 0 ve r ed that while butter er w was aa rich i c h i in n vitamin A cod liver ever of oil contained two va vitamins mins one of 0 which was I 1 later ater named vitamin D effect of sunlight more work was necessary an and d it took years of patient effort before science unraveled the mystery of how sunlight could have the same apparent effect in preventing rickets as cod liver oil once nutritionists understood how sunlight acting on a fatty substance in the skin could produce vitamin do D however it was not difficult to carry the th e process a step further and learn how to J fortify foods with a satisfactory co content n of vitamin D today we have at our disposal irradiated milk or milk to which a vitamin D concentrate has been added margarine too has been enriched riot not only with vitamin do D but with vitamin A so that this moderate priced spread for bread has been made an effective vitamin carrier natural food sources of vitamin D the richest natural sources of vitamin D are the fish liver oil oils so including the liver oll oil of the tuna swordfish rock fish salmon halibut mackerel cod and haddock the body oils of many fish also furnish substantial amounts that accounts for the fact that canned salmon has been regarded as such a splendid food in the diet of children and adults it is not only a good source of protein and of energy values but it contains substantial amounts of the minerals calcium phosphorus and iodine and has been found to be an unusually good food source of vitamin D egg yolk contains small amounts of vitamin do D and when eaten regularly the quantity is enough to have a significant effect in the diet of children vitamin D so important is vitamin D considered si sf that the united states childrens bureau advises that cod liver oil or some other form of this vitamin be supplied to all babies beginning at the age of two or three weeks mothers should be guided by the advice of their physician in determining ter when to start the use of a vitamin D preparation and what quantities to give but if they want to give their babies the blessing bestowed on them by the kcf scientists enlists who discovered vitamin do D they must no not t overlook this important sub substance st ance As guardians of the health of both children and adults mothers S should hould see to it that vitamin D is is supplied regularly through the tha use of eggs and salmon irrael abed foods and those fortified with vitamin D and if necessary fish liver oils or concentrates |