Evening star., 1953-12-11
Nutritionists Seeking
Mothers Milk Vitumin
Micro-orgonism Moy Be
Key to Opening New Study
By Thomos R. Henry

An intensive search for q mothers
milk vitamin" now Is in progress.
It is one Of three still unknown ma.
terials essential to the growth of bac-
terra which normally may be found in
the intestinal tract and perhaps play
some part in the still mysterious chem.
istry Of nutrition. 1t is reported by DR..
w. H. Sebrell. jr., director of the Ma
tional Institutes of Health.
One of these cro-organisms is the
so-called "bifldus." It is found in
abundance in the intestinal tracts Of
breast-fed babies, but not when infants
are fed on formulas. It has been
learned that for growth in the labora-
tory, DR.. Sebrell says, the bifidus or
ganism requires growth factor which
has been studied by European workers.
It is important. he says in a report
to the National Vitamin Foundation,
to determine first whether there may
not be inf1nitesimally minute amounts
OF this growth factor in human milk.
Then. he explains, it can be deter
mined whether the organism itself con-
tributes to the health Of infants. This
investigation may determine whether
there is any validity to the claim that
breast-fed babies often thrive better
than bottle-fed, although there are no
known chemical factors in the milks
which should make any difference.
New Vitamin Isolated.
An apparently potent new growth
vitamin, DR.. Sebrell believes, has Just
been isolated by National Institutes of
Health workers from coconut milk.
But here again nobody knows whether
it plays any part in human nutrition.
It has been demonstrated with the test
tube growth of vegetable tissues BY
means of the substance it has been
possible to grow carrot tissue for more
than year in complete darkness.
The field of human nutrition, espe-
cially that Of the significance Of trace
substances in diets, still is one for
pioneering Investigations, DIR. Sebrell
says. Among the largely unknown fields
is that Of the metaboliSm of calcium,
the basic material of bones.
"The skeleton" DR.. Sebrell reports,
''now is regarded as living tissue, rather
than as inert framework. Isotopic
tracer studies have shown that the CAL
cium ion enters and leaves the skele-
ton with considerable rapidity. Both
the calcif1cation and decalciflcation Of
tissues are fields in which much re-
search is needed. If we could gain
control over calcium metaboliSm, we
would possibly have a new approach
to the deformitieS Of arthritiS. In
leproSy, although bacterial disease,
entire bones may disappear and in
tuberculosis calcium often occurs in
the LESSONS"
AS yet. DR.. Sebrell indicates, there Is
no essential clue to the factors govern
ing the disposition of calcium in the
food by the body.
Thesis Discounted.
For generations cancer has been
associated in the public mind with
various foods, but there is no scientific
support for any such thesis and many
specialists have entirely discounted it.
The fact remains, DR.. Sebrell says, that
the formation of experimental cancers
in animals can be prevented or delayed
by restriction of sugars and StarcheS
and by leaving out Of the diet certain
essential amino acids, the building
blocks Of proteins which form about
s a. fifth Of all animal tissue. Deficiency
OF one of these amino acids, choline,
on the other hand, induces liver can
GERS in rats.
AS yet these observations have no
practical significance, Dr. Sebrell con-
cedes. 1t would be almost impossible,
for example, to determine precisely
the amount of choline in the average
diet.
"The established effect of dietary
alterations on human tumors," he said,
''has been slight. In animal expert
ments, however, alternate restriction
and supply of vitamin, such as ribo-
flavin or pantothenic acid, has appre-
ciably prolonged life. In some children
folio acid antagonists have produced
temporary remiSSions of acute leukemia.
This suggests clinical study of the other
anti-vitaminS."