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Show SWHAT to EAT and WHY I C. Houston Goudiss Asks How Do You Get Your 1 Vitamin D? Relates Need for and. Sources Of This Necessary Vitamin 3 By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS TpHERE is scarcely a mother of a young baby today who J- has not at one time or another been told to give her child :od-liver oil. Perhaps she does not know this substance must "r given to the baby for the vitamin D that it contains. But ;he has heard that there is something in cod-liver oil which 'ls' nakes it valuable to the baby's health. v A generation ago, cod-liver IM il was given to children in the p-lanter time, "to build them p" after colds or various R: ther respiratory illnesses. It ig-M ras not until 1921, however, j?jjiat a long series of painstak-;T-Sig investigations, terminat-N terminat-N ig in the discovery of vita-QUAKEj vita-QUAKEj iin D, made it clear that ,$V:d-liver oil is valuable as a 'if t )urce vitamul an(i aso Yff i;hy this vitamin is essential -i. the diet of growing chil-.3Hren, chil-.3Hren, as well as adults. Discovery of Vitamin D iiT After years of patient work and -any thrilling and dramatic ex- tives. t "f jovermr' regarded J gins. C-, Afiti could L 7 1 1 ithoutco ' T I danger tf'; j s -white K V, periments, seven forms of vitamin D have been revealed by science. And scientists have also solved the mystery of how such widely separatedfactors as cod-liver oil; sunlight; sun-light; a diet that is rich in, and carefully care-fully balanced with calcium and phosphorus; phos-phorus; and ultra- tlet light, all can perform the .i.iwiie service for the body. J leaders of this column may Jive observed that the discovery ItmjTja number of the vitamins came " MJiut chiefly through the efforts of iestigators to discover a method tl'Jiffn treating or curing obscure nu-r nu-r Sional diseases. In most in- fnces, however, carefully con--iSlled laboratory experiments 5'yed their part in reaching the rlmate goal after some clue had -kn found as to what the myste-ji myste-ji ms substance might be that j'iJ jbed to control a baffling nutri-jj nutri-jj al disease. The discovery of 4imin D was no exception! - Vitamin D and Rickets s-'f itamin D is associated inti-.jltely inti-.jltely with the prevention and e of rickets, the most devastat- nutritional disease of children ...emperate climates. Indeed, it 5 he moderate, and in some cases small amount of sunshine in $ 5 temperate zone that accounts y :tially for the presence of 5 I kets. I listorians have given us reason - ' believe that this disease may e existed in England even be-e be-e the Roman conquest. Cer-nly Cer-nly it appeared in a serious - m, both in England and in other rth European countries, in the ? renteenth century. In fact, early 4 :rature refers to it as the Eng-J-t i disease, and the early at-Jj at-Jj ! npts to fathom its causes were ;8 j i ' itten in Latin by English and 4 j '. ') i tch doctors during the 1600's. fi,'. ij'.n rickets, the child's head iws large and out of proportion v the body, while the leg and X :y ft bones, and in severe cases VjV ;n the ribs, are bent and twisted , of their normal shape. YojiA' ed for Calcium and Phosphorus 'he two principal minerals reef's re-ef's :red for constructing the bones teeth are calcium, obtained li'l ' e"y from milk, cheese and ,en leafy vegetables, and phos- l - ' irus, found in generous amounts SJ). .jeRgs. whole grain cereals and ad legumes. But one of the s?j- igs that made it so difficult for 5eg?g sntists to determine the cause "ickets was the fact that appar-MfiI appar-MfiI 'y WG" ec children, who had rC nty of calcium and phosphorus, ..Jjflj fluently developed the disease. Mystery of Cod-Liver Oil l&p';jf -od-liver oil had been used for sp riffl ny years because of its sup-s sup-s S'l . cc"y "tonic" or "building" il perties, when it was observed ssgflJ icit regular doses of cod-liver f55g?; J'-, not only cured rickets in chil- Mik-A 'fn' a'so cured the corre- 1'iV i inding disease in adults, called 3P'a ';omalacia, in which the bones ome so as t'le calcium and fgg?.Z. sphorus already deposited in SS-'!"tA"n ale withdrawn and excreted. Fat and Vitamin D i.?',V".'ne of the strangest paradoxes ittTt-'lJthe scientists in their early )'i 'stigations was the fact that sS?'tjj 'e cod-liver oil appeared to cure h ets, another substance high in O 'I 5. fat butter fat, did not. More research re-search work was necessary before it was discovered that while butter but-ter was rich in vitamin A, cod-liver cod-liver oil contained two vitamins, one of which was later named vitamin D. Effect of Sunlight More work was necessary and it took years of patient effort before be-fore science unraveled the mystery mys-tery of how sunlight could have the same apparent effect in preventing pre-venting rickets as cod-liver oil. Once nutritionists understood how sunlight acting on a fatty substance sub-stance in the skin could produce vitamin D, however, it was not difficult to carry the process a step further and learn how to fortify forti-fy foods with a satisfactory content con-tent 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 not only with vitamin D, but with vitamin A so that this moderate-priced spread for bread has been made an effective vitamin vita-min carrier. Natural Food Sources of Vitamin D The richest natural sources of vitamin D are the fish-liver oils, including the liver-oil of the tuna. swordfish, rock fish, salmon, halibut, hali-but, 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 chil-dren and adults. It is not only a good source of protein and of energy en-ergy values, but it contains substantial sub-stantial amounts of the minerals, calcium, phosphorus and iodine, and has been found to be an unusually un-usually good food source of vitamin vita-min D. Egg yolk contains small amounts of vitamin D, and when eaten regularly, the quantity is enough to have a significant effect ef-fect in the diet of children. Vitamin D Requirements So important is vitamin D considered, con-sidered, that the United States Children's 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 de-termining 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 bless-ing bestowed on them by the scientists sci-entists who discovered vitamin D they must not overlook this important impor-tant substance. As guardians of the health of both children and adults, mothers should see to it that vitamin D is supplied regularly through the use of eggs and salmon; irradiated irradi-ated foods and those fortified with vitamin D; and if necessary, fish-liver fish-liver oils or concentrates. |