THE VALUE OF SUNSHINE

Hokitika Guardian, 1 November 1924, Page 1

THE VALUE OF SUNSHINE

A CUBE FOB. RICKETS. (By Science Service.) Foods given a sunbath are as effective in preventing and curing rickets as foods rich in the anti-rachitic vitamin A, Dr. Harry Steen bock, professor of agricultural chemistry at the University of Wisconsin here, has discovered. As a result of experiments, ho lias found that merely placing food in tho sunlight will endow it with growth promoting properties supposed to ho possessed only by foods rich in vitamins, in spite of the fact that “irradiated or “illuminated” foods may contain no vitamins Indore exposure to tin* light. •‘Hundreds of rats have been used for these experiments,” Dr. Stcenbock explained. “Rickets was produced n these animals bv first feeding rations known to produce this disease. Then they were cured by feeding them with exactly the same ration which had been exposed to sunlight. “For man these findings have particular value, because prominent medical authorities have found that in northern climates, 40 to 00 per cent, of the children in industrial areas show signs of rickets. Such a condition, while seldom fatal, leads to more or less permanent abnormalities, such as bowed logs, deformed chests, and poor teeth, due to the inability of tho child to assimilate lime. In the nursing mother also there often results a like condition, indicated by wasiages of lime leading to loss of teeth and broken hones.” By exposing them to sunlight, cereal grains, breakfast foods, salad oil, cooking fats, 0100-margarincs, and modified infant foods may all l>e made protective agents without affecting their taste and apjiarently this property is not destroyed by aging. In the past cod liver oil has been the standard remedy for rickets, hut as a result of Dr. Steenbock’s experiments it may become possible to dispense with cod liver oil, a remedy which has been tolerated rather than relished. Olive oil and lard, as well as other plant and animal fats, can ho made as active as cod liver oil by Dr .Steenboek’s method. “Rickets is rarely found in the trop-

ics, because direct illumination with sunlight acts as a preventative,” Dr Stcenbock said. “But with the infant in northern climes, direct exposure to sunlight is impossible for a considerable portion of the year, and sunlight filtered through glass is of no value. Dietetic treatment., therefore is necessary as a part of the daily ration. Activated oils may he given ns medicine, nr tho\- may he incorporated in modified cow’s milk. For the adult the same may be accomplished by using activated oils i as salad dressings or otherwise. “Whether this will have its application in animal production remains to he seen. Chickens suffer from ‘leg weakness,’ pigs from ‘neuritis,’ and cows from wastage of lime during periods of heavy milk production. Probably direct sunlight treatment will there ho found more practical.” Dr Sleciibock’s discovery grow out of Hie work of other investigators, wbo had found that animals fed on the same foods and kept in the shade failed to grow. They had also found that if the livers of “sunned” rats were fed to •Shaded” rates, these stunted cannibals gained Hie power of growth iroiu ll„. remains of their departed brethren. |)r KtccnbocL trier! pulling •Sunned” and “shaded” rats in the same cages, and learned that even this slight contact transferred the power of normal growth to the loss fortunate individuals. Finally, ho took the regular vitaminA- free ration that served as a basis for the diets used in ]"« experiments, and instead of adding vitamins, simply set it in the sun. B its fed upon this “irradiated food crew just as well as those that received a dole of vitamin A, while the “check” or “control” animals, receiving neither vitamins nor “irradiated food, failed to thrive. To protect the interest of the public i„ the possible commercial use of these findings, applications for j.atonts, both „a to processes and products have been liled. and will l‘e handled through the University ef Winconsin.