Preface
Mysterious Diseases Caused by Lack of Vitamins
Great Findings Arise from Raising Chickens
Vitamin C and B were Discovered
Vitamin B2--- the Second Water Soluble B Nutrient
Corn Pellagra and Niacin a Member of Vitamin B Complex
Search for Treatment of Pernicious Anemia
Sunshine Vitamin D and Rickets
Night Blindness and Vitamin A
Bringing Forth Offspring Vitamin E
Blood Clotting and Vitamin K
Take Care of Your Vitamin Intake
Like many other important discoveries, luck played an important role in the course of discovering vitamins and a stingy cook played a crucial role. The Dutch physician Christaan Ejjkman found that some of the chickens also suffered from beriberi. A short time later, he noticed that the beriberi dramatically disappeared among the chickens. He discovered that a new cook was hired who, in an effort to same money, was feeding his chickens raw rice instead of refined or polished, a process that removes the outer brown layers of the grain leaving behind smooth, white kernels. It was the hush in the raw rice that was saving the chickens’ lives. Dr. Ejjkman also noted that the island’s native peoples who ate raw rice did not suffer from beriberi, but the criminals being fed refined rice were ill. Dr. Ejjkman thought that it might be the rice husk, which contains some useful substance that was lost in the polished course by mill. A British physician named Frederich Hopkins found, through his animal experiments, that humans need far more complicated nutrients than carbohydrates, proteins, fats, minerals and water. He thought there existed many other nutritional substances the body needed. One of them Dr. Ejjkman found in rice polishing.