Excretion of Thiamine and Riboflavin by Children

Abstract

Few reports are available on urinary excretion of thiamine and riboflavin by children, in relation to different food sources in the diet. An opportunity for such study presented itself in connection with a study of utilization of various foodstuffs. Each child in the original study was given in succession a basal diet, which was planned as a diet adequate in all known nutrients, and two experimental diets, wherein one food was substituted at two levels for the given percentage of each food in the basal diet. Thiamine intake varied from 0.47 to 2.83 mg. daily ; riboflavin intake, from 0.79 to 3.23 mg. a day. In addition, six children were given diets containing 0.35 mg. or less of thiamine daily until urinary excretion of this vitamin had apparently reached a minimum level or until it was deemed medically desirable to increase the thiamine intake. Materials and MethodsThe data comprise 84 six-day studies and 45 four-day studies of 21 children, 5 girls and 16 boys, who ranged in age from 4^4 to 13 years and in weight from 16 to 42 kg. Choice of age and sex of the subjects was determined largely by availability. One subject was a healthy 12-yearold boy from a poor home who was housed nine months in the study ward and was the subject of seven studies. Two children served as subjects while housed for therapy of squint; these chil¬ dren were indigent patients. The other children came from a large orphanage; their habitual diets approximated those of the lower middle class. Milk and vegetables were available from the orphanage farm; bread was made with en¬ riched flour. None of the children was "saturated" with vitamins before the study. The object of this study was to determine the amounts of thia¬ mine and riboflavin excreted by children ingesting different amounts of those vitamins from foods and to estimate from the results obtained the re¬ quirements of children for thiamine and ribo¬ flavin.The children were brought to the study ward in small groups. By allowing the children par¬ ticipation in the planning and by the daily in¬ clusion of a few foods usually considered as special treats, such as ice cream or bananas, whenever the test foods were not well accepted, excellent cooperation was achieved. The success of the study was due as much to the cooperation of the children as to the nursing staff and labora¬ tory.All diets were planned to be calorically ade¬ quate. Occasionally, the children were unable to maintain as high a caloric intake as the National Research Council Allowances provide, and the diet was adjusted to the child's capacity. At times, a child lost a little weight during the 27 days of each group study ; sometimes the child gained. In no case were weight changes great enough to be of concern. The caloric intake and distribution of calories for each study are given in Table 1, and two illustrative basal diets are shown in Table 2.Other than diets, the daily life of the children approximated that of the average school child. They attended the hospital school, had their own playground, and were taken ...