Evening star., 1948-06-02
Stars, Men and Atoms
New Vitumin From Liver
Seen as Potent Medicine
B II in Minute Dose Produces
Response in Anemia Cases
By Thomas r. Henry


The new vitamin II, recently isolated from
liver, apparently is the most potent medicine
In existence.
Human victims Of pernicious anemia show .
definite favorable response with injections 81
less than billionth Of an ounce. It now ap-
pears-althought dificulties may be met later
as the final remedy for all the so-called macro-
cytic anemias, probably due to some primary
defect In the digestive process in which there
is q great decrease In number and increase in
size Of the red blood cells and decrease In
number Of the white blood cells
Such Is the belief Of nutrition experts Of the
National Institute Of Health who are following
closely all work throughout the country with
this most remarkable of the vitamins which so
long eluded discovery. The discovery came
when hopes for folio acid, another OF the B
vitamins which had shown great promise in
anemic conditions were starting to fade. It
has been found that some of the symptoms Of
the diseases, especially the nerve symptoms,
have tendency to explode suddenly. leaving
the patient worse than at the beginning.
Diseases are Rare.
For the past 20 years it has been known that
the various forms of pernicious anema could.
be kept under control by liver diet and there
has been a constant progress in liver extracts,
the best Of which were very weak indeed COM
pared to the new vitamin. The diseases are
rare but extremely disabling and are almost
entirely confined to blue-eyed blonds ap-
preaching middle age with prematurely grey
hair. They are found so rarely in Negroes,
Chinese or dark-haired white men that q dag
nosis is automatically questioned.
The only possible rival for B IL Is the
most potent Of biological substances is biotin.
~ ha vi Nh
biotin deficiency has been found in human
beings so there is no possibility of measur-
ing its effects. In rats. however . serious
skin malady can be produced by feeding excess
amounts of sulfa drugs. This can be cured
by biotin injections. The indications are that
the two vitamins have just about the same
potency, the Public Health Service expert.
ments show.
Meanwhile science is on the trail Of two
other members of the B vitamin complex,
both supposedly found in liver and in tomato
Juice. The clue. however came originally
from the fact that chickens kept in barnyards
where there was ar abundance of COW DROP
pings seemed to do better, on the same basic
diets, than those kept in Immediately clean
surroundings. It turns out that one, perhaps
both of these substances are contained in
barnyard manure.
Function Is Obscure.
The function remains somewhat obscure.
1t Is supposed to make vegetable proteins
equivalent to animal proteins in diet. The
proteins are the nitrogen containing elements
Of food which are the building stones Of
animal tissues. Chemically 1t is impossible
to find any difference between those produced
by plants and by animals.
Presumably animals which subsist on a pure
ly vegetable diet, like chickens, must have
something additional to make the plant pro-
teins Of equivalent food value. Man, or any
other meat-eating animal. ordinarily would
not need the addition. There may be obscure
cases, however. in which the new vitamins
would prove of definite value. Their utility
has been shown in animal experiments.
At Purdue University, according to reports
received by the Public Health Service, one
Of these vitamins has been produced In q
fairly concentrated preparation but still far
from pure. The other still eludes detection.