New International Standard for Vitamin B1

Abstract

IT is announced that the first International Standard for Vitamin Bx, which consisted of an adsorbate of the antineuritic vitamin, made from rice polishings, on fuller's earth, has now been replaced by a preparation of crystalline vitamin Ba hydrochloride. In recent years, progress in the study of the antineuritic vitamin has been rapid, and this change in the form of the international standard has been made possible by the synthetic preparation of the vitamin in pure crystalline form. Through the generosity of four manufacturers, an adequate quantity of the new crystalline material was placed at the disposal of the National Institute for Medical Research, Hampstead, to enable a new standard to be prepared consisting of the pure crystalline substance. Extensive international investigations of the properties of this material, and, in particular, the determination of its potency in terms of the original international standard by a variety of methods, have now been completed, and the members of the International Conference on Vitamin Standardization have unanimously recommended that the sample be adopted as the Second International Standard for Vitamin B15 and that the international unit be defined as the antineuritic activity of 3 micrograms of the international standard preparation. This recommendation has been adopted by the Permanent Commission on Biological Standardisation of the Health Organisation of the League of Nations.