Evening star., 1941-12-14
Bv Howard w. Blakeslee.


Take mouthful Of cotton batting and
chew it like gum if you want some
vitamins.
You will get Bl, and two other B vita
MINIS. riotin and pyridoxine, known also
as B6. Lack of the latter causes ex-
treme nervousness, insomnia, irritability,
weakness, even difficulty in walking. Bio
tin is the most potent physiological stuff
known. but its use for man is unknown.
Familiar B1 is good for nerves, diges-
ton, morale and, if you believe all you
hear, might rescue civilization.
How many wads of cotton batting must
be chewed to do any good is like much
of the whole vitamin situation-nobody
exactly knows.
The cotton is a good example Of the
side of vitamins which the public is sell
dom told-all the puzzles, doubts, pos
sible worries.
Vitamins are dubbed "the gold rush
of 1941" by the journal of the American
Medical Association. This is not slam
at vitamins but way OF saying there
are two sides.
The journal sums up by declaring
vitamins are like oil in a crankcase.
certain amount is necessary, but there Is
no use in adding unlimited quantities.
The public would like to know two
things; one, when to take Vltamlns'
two whether large quantities may be
harmful. On point two, medical evidence
is lacking except there are some advices
Of caution.
For point one. the new American
Army is good start.
At a great medical meeting in Boston
late this year, the surgeons general OF
the Army and the Navy, Gen. James c.
Magee and Admiral Ross T. Mc1ntire.
sat together at the head OF a long table,
answering questions. An orolnaruy
well informed layman, who had heard
that the British Army was taking to
vitamins and that maybe the Germans
take a victory vitamin, asked:
What vitamins are added to the Army
and Navy diets?"
mot any," said Magee.
mot any," said Mcintyre.
American military forces get a diet
considered adequate in all vitamlns. A
few groups of the men are serving IN
tests to learn whether added vitamins,
out of the bottle, may be desirable. No
reason for adding any had been found.
Vitamin concentrates are added in
emergency rations, but that is for an
unusual situation.
Yes. civilians, too, get into unusual
situations, into many of them, IN fact,
all the way from drinking too much
liquor to periods of illness when they
need as much or more vitamins than
the soldiers.
Any housewife will tell you that SOL
diers eat more than most other folks.
ANY nutritionist will add that the large
number of calories which goes into a
big-eating soldier insures rich vitamin
intake.
The rest of us are not soldiers. That's
not all. Look what gasoline has done
to us-we don't walk anywhere near as
much as the world used to up to about
30 years ago.
Therefore 1t is q scientific fact that
we are likely to eat less, get less calories
and less food vitamins.
That is where the rats have 1t all over
us. A rat can tell-scientists are not
sure Just how-whether essentials, in
cluding vitamins, are lacking in his diet.
He shows this by choosing the proper
food, provided 1t is available; by eating
his own wastes If they contain vitamin
in which he is deficient.
Man lacks this vitamin meter, and
scientists likewise have failed complete
ly to create q mechanical meter.
Therefore none of us can be blamed
for reading the vitamin ads, the vitamin
signs in the stores, counting our money,
and wishing the prices were lower.
January l. 1912, is to give us one ace