Experimental rickets : the effect of cereals and their interaction with other factors of diet and environment in producing rickets / by Edward Mellanby.

Edward Mellanby

Date:: 1925

Credit: Experimental rickets : the effect of cereals and their interaction with other factors of diet and environment in producing rickets / by Edward Mellanby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

17/106 (page 17)

$17 HphL • b! th? ??lolum oxlde 111 the femur shafts of the t \ o animals that the calcification of the bones in 8.25 (wheat germ) was more defective than in 824 (white flour). V dims the substitution of wheat germ for white flour to the extent of 40 per cent, made the rachitic condition worse. «Ktf ]T eX;l“!F’!?iS showin8 the effect of wheat germ when sub¬ stituted for white flour can be seen m Exps. 806 and 807 (Table 21 see also Figs. 89 and 90). ^ Comparative Effect of Ground Oats, Groats, Oatmeal, Bye and White Flour. In the experiments so far described one constant factor has stood out prominently, namely, that the rachitic changes produced by oatmeal have been, under the experimental conditions, more intense than those found in the case of animals eating other cereals which lave been tested. It seemed possible that some of this action might e tiue to the tact that it was a manufactured product and that the natural oats might not have the same effect. The following experi¬ ments were therefore carried out to see whether there was any dif¬ ference between corresponding quantities of oatmeal, home-ground oats, and groats m their rickets-producing* effect. Age at beginning of experiment: 7 weeks. The general daily diet eaten by all animals in the series consisted of separated milk powder 20 gms., meat 10-20 gms., olive oil o-lO c.cms. (except 742), yeast 5 gms., orange juice 3 c.cms., sodium cmoride 1—6 gms. In addition 743 received 40-120 gms. white flour groats 744 745 746 ;5 rye oatmeal » i47 received 50-145 gms. whole ground oats. i42 another puppy of this series, referred to elsewhere (see p. -1) received the same diet as 746 (oatmeal), except that 3 of the 10 c.cms. oi olive oil eaten by 746 were replaced by cod-liver oil. Ihe oats eaten by 747 were finely ground in the laboratory bince the husk and all parts of the grain were included, that is to say much indigestible matter, more oats were allowed this animal than cereals to the other puppies. From the rate of increase in weight it appeared that 72 gms. ground whole oats were approxi¬ mately equivalent to 60 gms. oatmeal and other cereals, so that /4/ was allowed one-fifth more cereal than the other animals of the series. Gloats which consist of oats without the husk were also ground up hnely before cooking and were given in the same amount as the other cereals. As m previously described experiments, all the cereals were equally cooked m separate receptacles of the same apparatus. It will be seen, from the radiographs (Figs. 28,29, 30, 31, and 32) taken after 9 weeks of the diets, that the intensity of the rachitic condition was closely similar in 746 (oatmeal), Fig. 31 ; 747 (whole oats), Fig. 32: and 744 (groats), Fig. 29; also that these animals-$