Effect of Vitamin G Administration on Vitamin G of Milk and Urine of Lactating Mothers

Abstract

The relation of the vitamin C intake and the urinary excretion of the vitamin has been recently studied by a number of observers.– But little could be found in the literature regarding the effect of the diet on the vitamin C content of human milk. It is generally agreed that human milk is richer in the antiscorbutic vitamin than cow's milk and that the clinical manifestation of scurvy is very rare in breast-fed infants. In the case of cow's milk its vitamin C content is said to remain quite constant in different seasons despite the changes in the diet of the cow. One may ask whether the human milk constantly provides an optimal amount of vitamin C regardless of the dietary supply of the same. The present report is based upon the result of simultaneous determinations of vitamin C in the milk and urine of 2 lactating mothers for 26 and 27 consecutive days respectively. Their diet was adequate in the caloric intake but very low in vitamin C and consisted of food articles which were usually taken in the Chinese families of lower class. The diet was kept constant throughout except for a short period beginning on the fifth day of the study in which large doses of additional vitamin C substance were given. In case 1, the additional vitamin C consisted of 1000 cc. of canned orange juice (“Absopure”) daily for 12 days; while in case 2, 600 mg. of ascorbic acid crystal (Schering-Kahlbaum) were given daily for 8 days. A total amount of 3500 cc. of fluids was allowed daily in each case. It was found that a sudden increase in the urinary excretion of vitamin C did not happen until the large dose of vitamin C substance had been given for 6 days in case 1 and for 3 days in case 2, showing that the storage of vitamin C in the tissue of these mothers was very low at the beginning of the experiment. Once the peak was reached the daily urinary output of the vitamin C tended to be fairly constant which amounted to about 60% of the intake. The excretion dropped abruptly with the discontinuance of the added vitamin in the diet.