Vitamin B Complex Studies with Diets Differing in the Carbohydrate Component

Abstract

A study has been made of the growth, food consumption, intestinal flora, leucocyte picture, fecal elimination and hepatic storage of folic acid, biotin, pantothenic acid, nicotinic acid and riboflavin of rats receiving highly purified diets containing glucose, sucrose, lactose, dextrin or corn starch as the carbohydrate component, with and without the addition of succinylsulfathiazole (SST). The inclusion of SST in highly purified diets irrespective of the carbohydrate component is effective in producing a combined folic acid and biotin deficiency. The intestinal synthesis of folic acid, and consequently the amount available to the animals, is depressed directly by the administration of SST. The feeding of purified diets containing no drug promotes the synthesis of sub-optimal amounts of folic acid since prolonged feeding of such diets may result in hepatic stores of folic acid indicative of an incipient deficiency. In the absence of SST, the carbohydrate component of the diet, as in the case of dextrin, may influence the synthesis of certain B vitamins in the intestine of the rat, and indirectly the tissue storage of pantothenic acid.