Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-02-05
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of seiene: Progress
In Laboratory, Field
And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.

BY Thomas r. Henry.
Discovery of an hitherto unknown and
tantalizing meat tenderizer has been
announced by Department Of Agriculture
chemists.
It long has been known that beef rows
tender with age. This d due to the action
of . MISUNDERSTANDING chemical known
a. an engine, which can be isolated In
small amounts from connective tissue.
It works slowly.
Some years ago 1t was found that
similar engines could be extracted from
the pineapple and from the papaya. They
worked rapidly and now are widely used
by restaurants.
But none Of these substances, the De-
partment Of Agriculture chemists say,
has been capable Of making beef muscle
tender. They worked only on connective
tissue. 1t fact, they say, the engines
obtained from plants only start their
action at cooking temperatures. They
have practically no effect even on beef
stored at room temperatures and none
ut all on that kept in an icebox.
A few months ago they isolated another
engine from beef muscle itself. Its
apparent job is that Of q muscle tender
izer and II 1t could be put to work with
stored meat the problem Of truly tender
steaks at all times might be solved.
But, the chemists report, nature seems
determined to bafne the bon vivant. The
new engine does not work under icebox
conditions and starts to work at room
temperatures only after the meat starts
Iberating ammonia. This Is only In the
last stages Of decomposition when the
beef no longer Is fit to eat.
They are working on the problem, how
ever. and are confident that in this d.
rection lie truly tender steaks. The
essential hurdle Il that Of making meat
more alkaline without letting it spoil.
From papain, the meat-tenderizinx
substance obtained from the papaya,
the chemists report they have isolated
still another new engine which may have
considerable value In medicine.
1t has been named "chymopapain" and
works as . digestive substance. 1t Is,
however, only about half as active In this
field rs papain itself. The chemists
found, on the other hand, that 1t is ex-
tremely resistant to acids and could be
made to pass through the stomach with
out being injured.
Thus, they believe. 1t can be used to
help digest food IN the upper small
intestine after 1t has left the stomach
undisested. Experiments with rats have
shown that about 5 or 10 per cent Of this
engine given with the food actually
reaches the intestine in An active state.
But, they say, this should be enough to
do more good than any other known
protein digesting engine.
-
An hitherto unknown and perhaps es-
sential building stone Of animal life has
been isolated from wool. human hair.
feathers and milk by Department of
Agriculture chemists.
1t Is an amino acid, one Of the long
list OF nitrogen containing substances
into which the body building elements of
food are transformed in the stomach by
the digestive processes. They are the
bricks Of the body.
One Of the most essential Of them Is
cystine. It 10 one Of the chief carriers
Of sulfur and finds its way largely into
the hair and hnsernails. Deficiencies IN
1t have been postulated as . major cause
OF cancer, although this never has been
proved.
The new acid, lanthionine, is quite sim.
liar to cystine, but has one less sulfur
atom in its naolecule. The fact that, like
cystine, 1t is found in human hair Is
strong evidence that it is necessary,
since the body tends to discard what it
does not need.
The material has a colorful history,
dating back for about Is years. Closely
allied to sulfur is the element selenium-
the moon metal"-whose peculiar re-
action to light was the basis Of all the
early photo-electric cells, now an essential
Of American industry. There were ex-
tensive areas Of selenium- containing
soils through the Northern great plains.
1t was found that cattle and sheep which
grazed on those areas developed .
peculiar disease in which the hoofs grew
into great, curved claws . foot or more
long. The animals quickly succumbed.
Obviously the selium In the soil Was
forming some toxic compounds In the
grass and there was some fear that
human beings might suffer from eating
flour milled from wheat originating In
the same regions.
tenstve search to ind out what happened
to the selenium taken up by the vese-
tation. Last year they succeeded in
isolating from . species Of vetch which
grows rankly on selenium- containin
soils two new vegetable amino acids.
Both were similar to cystine. One, how
ever, contained selenium and was prob
ably the poisonous substance sought. The
other contained sulfur.
Now comes the new amino acid from
wool and hair-very similar to but not
identical with the sulfur- containing sub
stance found in the vetch which had fed
on selenium. No subject in physiological
chemistry has been more debated than
that Of the forms In which sulfur Is
taken up by the body. without 1t animal
life would be impossible.
Extensive animal feeding experiments
now are in progress to determine the
actual role Of the new acid in nutrition.
Even II 1t proves not to be necessary,
the experiments are bound to throw