Show WN chatto AT to LAT EAT and WHY C houston goudiss goudi ss asks how do you get your vitamin D relates need for and sources of this necessary vitamin by C HOUSTON GOUDISS phere HERE is scarcely a mother of a young baby today who JL 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 tle the babas health A generation ago cod liver oil was given to children in the winter time to build them up after colds or various 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 assent essential ial in the diet of growing ca children as well as adults discovery of vitamin D after years of patient work and many thrilling and dramatic experiments peri ments seven forms of vitamin D have been revealed by science and scientists have also solved the mystery of how bow such widely separated factors as cod liver oil sunlight a diet that is rich in and carefully balanced with calcium and p phosphorus hos 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 been found as to what the my mysterious ste 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 fure 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 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 in tact fact early literature refers to it as the english di disease and the early attempts to fathom its causes were written in latin by english and dutch doctors during the in rickets the childs lead head grows large and out of proportion to the body while the leg and arm bones and in severe cases even the ribs are bent and twisted out of their normal shape need fo for calcium and phosphorus the two principal minerals required for constructing the bones and teeth are calcium obtained d 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 app apparently ar 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 m alacia in which the 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 fat butter fat did not more research work was necessary before it was discovered that while butter was rich in vitamin A 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 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 D however it was not biffl difficult to carry the process a step further and learn how to fortify foods with a satisfactory content 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 bee been n enriched not only with vitamin D but with vitamin A so that this thi I 1 s moderate priced aspre spread ad 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 ol 01 oils 1 s including the liver 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 D and when then eaten regularly the quantity is enough to have a significant effect in the diet of children vitamin D requirements so important is vitamin D considered si 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 bless ing bestowed on them by the scientists who discovered vitamin D they must not overlook this important substance As guardians of the health oi of both children and adults mothers should see to it that vitamin D is supplied regularly through the use of eggs and salmon ir radi I abed flodsand foods food sand and those fortified with vitamin D and if necessary fish liver oils or concentrates 0 C houston goudiss 1938 42 |