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Harris (19504. The data obtained for a number of foods indicated they had exceptionally high nutritive values and could make significant contributions to the nutritive value of the diet.Results from analyses of 51 samples collected in Eicaragua in November, 1946, and of four samples shipped from Panama, are shown in the present report. The samples from Nicaragua included 40 of fresh foods, 10 of dry cereals and legumes, and one classified as miscellaneous; those from Panama, three of citrus fruits and one of a nut.The fresh samples were stabilized by the procedure already described, Munsell et al. (1949), and shipped by air express to Cambridge, where the analytical work was done. Two slurries only were made of each sample a t this time of the study. Subsamples of the citrus fruits from Panama were stabilized in Honduras for final shipment. The dry samples were packed in tight metal containers for shipment. The same constituents were measured as shown in the preceding reports and methods of analyses used were the same as described in the first paper, Munsel e t al. (1949), except for the determination of ascorbic acid in the three samples of citrus fruits from Panama. For these analyses the modified method described in the second report, Munsell et al. (1950a), was used.Values obtained from the analyses and the places of origin of the samples are shown (Table 1). The majority of samples from Nicaragua originated in the western coastal-to-highland area, where the altitude ranges from 200 to 2,000 feet and the soil is predominantly volcanic. No estimates of the annual rainfall were obtained. All except three of the samples were purchased in markets or local stores. These three samples, ayote, sandia, and zapote amnrillo, were taken directly from plants. The 51 samples from Nicaragua represent 42 foods; there were more than one sample €or only four of these. 355

Riboflavin is now known to be an essential constituent of the diet of man as shown by the work of Sebrell and Butler (1938) ;Oden, Oden, and Sebrell (1939) ; and Sydenstricker, Geeslin, Templeton, and Weaver (1939). Many of the acute symptoms indicating an inadequate intake of this factor have been identified in the investigations carried out by Sebrell and Butler (1939) ; Jolliffe, Fein, and Rosenblum (1939) ; Kruse, Sydenstricker, Sebrell, and Cleckley (1940) ; and Sydenstricker, Sebrell, Cleckley, and Kruse (1940). Studies recently reported by Spies, Bean, Vilter, and Huff (1940) indicate that the use of diets containing insufficient riboflavin for good nutrition may be much more common than is generally realized. To help correct this situation it is desirable to extend our knowledge of the occurrence of riboflavin in foods. The present study was undertaken to obtain information on the riboflavin content of some of our more common foods including representatives from the different food groups. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURENethad of Assay: The rat-growth method was used. Young rats, weaned when 28 days old and weighing between 45 and 55 grams, were given a diet made u p of vitamin-free casein, 18 per cent; starch, 66 per cent; corn oil, 8 per cent; cod liver oil, 2 per cent; desiccated rice polish extract,2 2 per cent; and salts (U. S. P. XI, second supplement, p. 133), 4 per cent. This diet contained no more than traces of riboflavin, and when supplemented with riboflavin, supported normal growth for periods in excess of eight weeks. The animals were housed separately in cages that had raised bottoms of large mesh screening; each animal had access to the basal diet and distilled water ad libitum. At the end of one week they were weighed and outfitted with harnesses as designed by Page (1932) to prevent coprophagy. A record of the weight was made again at the end of the second week and daily thereafter until a majority in the litter showed constant or declining weight when supplemental feeding of the test material and the standard riboflavin solution was begun.The general plan for the assay involved selecting three quantities of the test material and one of the standard of reference for feeding. The quantity of the standard considered to give the most satisfactory results with the test animals available for these assays was three micrograms per The work here published was carried out through the cooperation of the Bureau of Home Economies of the United States Department of Agriculture and the Department of Chemistry of Columbia University. The author is indebted to Professor H. C. Sherman of the latter department for suggestions in the course of the work.A commercial desiccated extract of rice polish prepared under controlled conditions. This product is guaranteed by the manufacturers as a source of vitamin BI substantially free of riboflavin and is described as an efficient source of other water-soluble vitamins. 85