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
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

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.

    47/106 (page 47)
    Sr hrlbr, gencraly fCePted (Paton> Findlay, and Sharpe iarlier nnhlt t' 'n ^ k ‘S ,collcerned I have discussed in an ‘X publication [1 d] the question of calcium deficiency in the diet and shown how a diet deficient in anti-rachitic vitamin is often deficient in calcium, so that, although a deficient intake of calcium one is not the cause of rickets, it is probable that the disease is otLZtZT if the added, deficiency- Interest in this aspect ot the subject has been revived on account of the large amount of the L°tnrPeirrKal«lCketS °arried°ut 0n rats in rocent years In the diet described by Sherman and Pappenheimer [16 a] for pro- ucing rachitic changes 111 rats there were several defects, one of which was a deficiency ot phosphorus. An extension of this work by various investigators including McCollum and his co-workers resulted in the conclusion that, in order to produce rickets in rats the diet must not only be deficient in the calcifying vitamin but these fw,eb(t deficle,nt, m PhosPhorus or calcium, or must contain t lese e ements in unbalanced amounts. Some investigators working ro4l?£ w? °nfhe ®f^e sul!Ject (Korenchevsky [23 a, b], Goldblatt thJX 1 !i X-nd P°flb!e to Produce in rats either rickets, or e related condition of defective calcification, osteoporosis, by diets eficient m the fat-soluble vitamin and without any particular abnormality m the calcium and phosphorus content of the diet There is, however, but little doubt that a dietetic deficiency of calcium or phosphorus added to a vitamin deficiency assists the nafe 36?enTt as1it does in puppies (vide supra, p 36). It may be added that the conditions of diet for the production of rickets m rats are generally so exacting as to be compatible with only, small growth. In this respect it differs widely from the conditions associated with rickets in human beings or in puppies. It seemed possible that this aspect of the subiect hX® y’ lnta,|® of. calcium and Phosphorus, might throw some tu r n ® v.aria'ble rickets-producing effect of the different cereals. I he following table shows the amounts of calcium and phosphorus in some or the commoner cereals (Sherman [19]). Table 19. Oatmeal . Rice White flour Whole meal flour . Barley . Rye flour Wheat germ . Per cent. Calcium. 0-069 0-009 0-020 0-031 0-020 0-018 0-071 Per cent. Phosphorus. 0-392 0-096 0-092 0-238 0-181 0-289 1-050 Ca. l l l l l l l p. 5-7 10-7 4-6 7-7 9-0 16-1 14-8 These figures indicate that the relative rickets-producing effect of the cereals cannot be explained on the basis of absolute deficiency ot calcium or of phosphorus or of both of these elements m the diet; for oatmeal, the most potent cereal in this respect, contains 0-069 per cent, calcium and 0-392 per cent, phosphorus as compared with white flour, the least potent cereal, which contains on y -020 per cent. Ca. and 0-092 per cent, phosphorus. Here is an instance of a cereal which contains much more calcium and