Vitamin Supplementation of U. S. Army Rations in Relation to Fatigue and the Ability to do Muscular Work

Abstract

Soldiers maintained on standard U. S. Army garrison rations were repeatedly subjected to standarized severe exercise on the motor-driven treadmill. Circulatory, metabolic and blood chemical responses were measured. In four series of studies involving 256 experiments, large daily supplements of thiamine chloride, riboflavin, nicotinic acid, pyridoxine, pantothenic acid and ascorbic acid were administered over periods of 4 to 6 weeks alternating with equal periods of placebo administration. In neither brief extreme exercise nor in prolonged severe exercise and semi-starvation were there indications of any effects, favorable or otherwise, of the vitamin supplementation on muscular ability, endurance, resistance to fatigue or recovery from exertion. Healthy young men expending an average of 3700 to 4200 calories per day are not benefited by a daily supply of more than 1.7 mg. thiamine chloride, 2.4 mg. riboflavin, and 70 mg. of ascorbic acid. It is concluded that no useful purpose would be served by enrichment of present U. S. Army garrison rations with the vitamins studied.