The Vitamin A Story ( World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics )

Publication series ： World Review of Nutrition and Dietetics

Author： Koletzko B.  

Publisher： S. Karger AG‎

Publication year： 2012

E-ISBN: 9783318021899

P-ISBN(Paperback): 9783318021882

Subject： Q5 Biochemistry;R-0 General Theory;R1 Preventive Medicine , Health;R15 Nutrition, food hygiene;R72 Pediatrics;R77 Ophthalmology

Keyword： 生物化学,预防医学、卫生学,儿科学,眼科学,营养卫生、食品卫生,一般理论

Language： ENG

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Description

This book shows how vitamin A deficiency – before the vitamin was known to scientists – affected millions of people throughout history. It is a story of sailors and soldiers, penniless mothers, orphaned infants, and young children left susceptible to blindness and fatal infections. We also glimpse the fortunate ones who, with ample vitamin A-rich food, escaped this elusive stalker. Why were people going blind and dying? To unravel this puzzle, scientists around the world competed over the course of a century. Their persistent efforts led to the identification of vitamin A and its essential role in health. As a primary focus of today’s international public health efforts, vitamin A has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. But, we discover, they could save many more were it not for obstacles erected by political and ideological zealots who lack a historical perspective of the problem. Although exhaustively researched and documented, this book is written for intellectually curious lay readers as well as for specialists. Public health professionals, nutritionists, and historians of science and medicine have much to learn from this book about the cultural and scientific origins of their disciplines. Likewise, readers interested in military and cultural history will learn about the interaction of health, society, science, and politics. The author’s presentation of vitamin A deficiency is likely to become a classic case study of health disparities in the past as well as the presen

Chapter

Cover

Front Matter

Contents

Dedication

Preface

Glossary

Chapter 1: Vitamin A Deficiency in Nineteenth Century Naval Medicine

Night Blindness at Sea

Night Blindness Linked to Other Diseases of Malnutrition

Diagnosis and the Search for a Cause

Something Missing from the Food

References

Chapter 2: Paris in the Time of François Magendie

Different but Hardly Better

Bad Gets Worse

First Steps in the Science of Public Health

D’Arcet’s Gelatin for the Needy and the Dietary Nitrogen Studies of Magendie

References

Chapter 3: Deprivation Provides a Laboratory

‘A Defect in Alimentation. . .’

Gains in Nutrition, Then a Disastrous Reversal

References

Chapter 4: Free but Not Equal

Race and Rank: Differences in Diet and Susceptibility

Uneven Nutrition outside the Union Army

References

Chapter 5: The Long, Rocky Road to Understanding Vitamins

Moving Beyond Old Assumptions and Around New Certainties

Connecting the ‘Accessory Factors’ and the Vitamin Deficiency Diseases

Finding an Elusive Panacea in Milk

Obstructions, Chicanery, and Perseverance

Lafayette Mendel’s Far-Flung Progeny and His Legacy

References

Chapter 6: Milk, Butter, and Early Steps in Human Trials

The High Health Cost of a Booming Dairy Industry

Milk Studies in Britain: Experiments in Experimentation

Interference from Within and Without

Lessons Learned

References

Chapter 7: Rise of the ‘Anti-Infective Vitamin’

Abating Childbed Fever: A Path with Forks and Obstacles

A Gentle Warrior Confronts a Children’s Predator

A Vitamin’s Short Stay at the Limelight

References

Chapter 8: Vitamin A Deficiency in Europe’s Former Colonies

Dutch Initiative versus the Free Market

Health in the Developing World Becomes a Multinational Concern

References

Chapter 9: Saving the Children: Rescue Missions against Strong Undertow

Ideals for a New Era

The Best Laid Plans. . .

Getting It Right and on the International Agenda

External Obstructions

Much Accomplished, More to Do

More Vegetables and Fruit: Nice Idea, but. . .

References

Appendix: Night Blindness Among Black Troops and White Troops in the US Civil War

Bibliography

Manuscript Sources

Published Sources

Subject Index

Cover

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