The relation of a fat-free diet to the scaly tail condition in rats described by Burr and Burr

Abstract

Rats receiving diets with and without fat developed a scaly tail condition which, when mild, could be cured by the addition to the diet of whole dried yeast but not auto-claved yeast, showing that the condition was not due to an insufficiency of vitamin R2 in the diet. It may be correlated with some deficiency in the yeast vitamin complex and it is influenced by factors affecting the action of the B vitamins, i.e., opportunities for cop-rophagy and the amount of fat in the diet.