The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-08-11

perfectly luscious advertising
sales appeal, there are no concen-
trated tablets Of biotin offered to
the great American vitamin suck
ers. And the possibilities Of the
commercial continuity in its IA
vor are so stupendous! can just
hear the silky voices oozing out on
the evening air:
"Friends, have you had enough
biotin today? Biotin, spelled b-i-o-
tim. Biotin is absolutely neces-
sary for human life. No living or
ganism can continue to live with
out biotin. 1t keeps the life proc
esses going. 1t is the skin vita
min. For perfect touchable low
able skin you need daily biotin.
Folks, are you feeling nervy, out
of sorts, is your skin scruffy-
perhaps you need biotin, in the
large hard to swallow, easy to gag
on, tablet form. Get some today at
your nearest vitamin bar"
Only trouble with this lovely
dream is that, with some slight
exceptions to be mentioned below,
we can hardly eat anything that
hasn't got biotin in it, and prob
ably we form a good deal Of it in
our own bodies for self utilization
and supply.
Discovery Of Biotin
Biotin was originally called a
Misunderstanding B six, or the rat
anti-dermatitis factor. 1t was also
put out, I believe, as Vitamin F.
the skin vitamin. The way its ex-
istence was discovered was one of
the by-products Of animal expert
mentation.
Among the numberless expert
ments performed in the new field
of food research in the last three
decades, one set aimed to observe
the effect Of furnishing rats all
their protein requirement in the
form Of egg white. What hap
pened was that the rats developed
a dermatitis--a skin disease that
really was q skin disease. They
were sorry looking rats. have
seen some Of them and mean they
were the worst samples Of rats I
ever laid my eyes on. Their hair
came out in patches and ths-s
were scruffs and scales on the
skin that showed through and
their eyes were red and watery
and. their claws and tails looked
sore.
Then II was found that II yeast,
potato, arrowroot, or casein were
added to the diet, this dermatitis
did not occur. The rats you see
were living on nothing but egg
white which produced substance
called avadin, which apparently
absorbs all the biotin which is
spontaneously produced in the
body, The dermatitis is I'M
doubtedly due to deficiency Of .
needed food element II was first
called Vitamin B six, or pyridox-
inc, but now considered to be real
ly the chemical which has been
isolated in crystalline form and
named biotin. ~. ~.
Exceptions to Statement
That exception to the statement
that we all get enough biotin in
our food occurs only under ex-
perimental conditions. The other
exception is that perhaps biotin is
in some way concerned in the nu-
triton of cancer cells. The evil
denee is still not clear, but in the
enormous volume of research that
is being done on cancer chemistry,
the role Of biotin may possibly be
found TO have possibilities for
cancer control.
This article IL not supposed TO
have any practical application. 1t
aims to suggest some Of the new
ideas in research in food factors.
Perhaps something wonderfully
useful will come out of them.
What use is it," asked Bismark,
when Helmholz described TO him a
new idea in pure scientific theory.
what use is a new born baby7"
replied the scientist.