Experimenteller C-vitaminhunger am Menschen, ein Beitrag zur Frage des C-Vitaminbedarfs

The influence of intermittent consumption of vitamin C on the development of scurvy

“…By utilizing the vitamin C requirements of the guinea-pig as a basis for calculation it was found that the dose for the human being could be deduced from them [Kellie & Zilva, 1939], the dose-of about 15 mg. per'day being found in this way to be necessary to protect man from scurvy. Apart from popular experience recent direct experiments on human beings suggest that this dose is of the right order [Rietschel & Mensching, 1939;Fox & Dangerfield, 1940;Widdowson & Alington, 1941]. There is good reason to believe that the indications obtained in this present investigation are also correct.…”

“…Crandon et al [1940] found that the plasma ascorbic acid level fell rapidly and reached zero after 41 days. In Rietschel & Mensching's [1939] experiment it fell to 0*17 mg./100 ml. of serum in 58 days.…”

“…Much more convincing are some recent and carefully controlled investigations that militate against the exaggerated importance of saturation. Mensching [Rietschel & Mensching, 1939], after subsisting on a scorbutic diet for about 40 days, developed a cold as a result of exposure to a draught after becoming overheated by performing strenuous storm troop exercises. This infection cleared up normally.…”

Vitamin C Requirements of Native Mine Labourers. An Experimental Study

“…The matter is discussed in an excellent paper by Rietschel and Mensching (1939). Mensching describes how fit and active he was after 100 days on a diet very deficient in vitamin C and with blood ascorbic acid values that had fallen so low that he could no longer measure them.…”